Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

195 CRASHES IN
TAUNTON, MA
JULY 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstJuly 2022

In July 2023, Taunton recorded 195 crashes, an increase of 19.63% compared to 163 crashes in July 2022. A notable shift is the increase in total fatalities, from 0 in July 2022 to 2 in July 2023.

195

19.6%was 163

Total Crash Events

2

Persons Killed

78

52.9%was 51

Persons Injured

21

23.5%was 17

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 11 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash data for Taunton indicates an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 19.63% from 163 in July 2022 to 195 in July 2023. This period also saw a significant increase in fatalities, from 0 to 2, and total injuries rose by 52.94%, from 51 to 78.

21

Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2023

23.5% vs prior (17)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 17 in July 2022 to 21 in July 2023. The hit-and-run rate also saw a slight increase, rising from 10.4% in the prior period to 10.8% in the current period, indicating an upward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

76

Motorists Injured

Prior: 4955.1%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year, with the peak day moving from Tuesday in July 2022 (28 crashes) to Friday in July 2023 (34 crashes). While the peak hour remained at 19 crashes, it shifted from 4p in July 2022 to 5p in July 2023. Notably, Monday crashes increased significantly from 17 to 31, and Friday crashes rose from 25 to 34.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The most significant change in crash severity is the increase in fatal crashes from 0 in July 2022 to 2 in July 2023, resulting in a current fatal crash rate of 1.03%. Crashes resulting in minor injuries (B) saw a substantial increase in count, rising from 22 to 36, and their share of total crashes increased from 13.5% to 18.5%. Serious injury crashes (A) also increased in count from 4 to 5, with their share rising slightly from 2.5% to 2.6%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes1%
Serious Injury5serious injury crashes2.6%
25.0%prior 4
Minor Injury36minor injury crashes18.5%
63.6%prior 22
Possible Injury13possible injury crashes6.7%
44.4%prior 9
No Injury128no injury crashes65.6%
15.3%prior 111

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factors saw increases in counts year-over-year, with 'No improper driving' rising from 34 to 38, and 'Inattention' increasing from 31 to 37. 'Followed too closely' crashes increased by 36.36%, from 11 to 15. Notably, 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' crashes saw a substantial increase from 1 in July 2022 to 11 in July 2023, becoming a top five factor.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving38 (19.5%)11.8%prior 34
Inattention37 (19%)19.4%prior 31
Failed to yield right of way24 (12.3%)9.1%prior 22
Followed too closely15 (7.7%)36.4%prior 11
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings11 (5.6%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road10 (5.1%)25.0%prior 8
Other improper action7 (3.6%)
Operating defective equipment5 (2.6%)
Distracted5 (2.6%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner4 (2.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of crashes by conditions remained largely consistent, with the majority occurring in clear weather and daylight. Crashes in dry road conditions increased from 152 in July 2022 to 178 in July 2023, while those on wet roads increased from 9 to 12. Daylight crashes rose from 127 to 143, and crashes in dark-lighted roadway conditions increased from 24 to 37.

Weather

Clear94 (48.5%)
-15.3%prior 111
Clear/Clear78 (40.2%)
143.8%prior 32
Rain7 (3.6%)
40.0%prior 5
Cloudy5 (2.6%)
-28.6%prior 7
Cloudy/Cloudy3 (1.5%)
Cloudy/Rain3 (1.5%)
Clear/Cloudy2 (1.0%)
Unknown/Unknown1 (0.5%)
Cloudy/Clear1 (0.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight143 (74.1%)
12.6%prior 127
Dark - lighted roadway37 (19.2%)
54.2%prior 24
Dawn4 (2.1%)
Dark - roadway not lighted4 (2.1%)
Dusk3 (1.6%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (1.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry178 (93.2%)
17.1%prior 152
Wet12 (6.3%)
33.3%prior 9
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 296 in July 2022 to 362 in July 2023. All top five vehicle makes saw an increase in their involvement counts, with Toyota remaining the most frequent. The 26-34 age group showed a notable increase in persons involved, rising from 73 to 100, and the 35-44 age group increased from 52 to 72, while the 65+ age group also rose from 26 to 37.

Top Vehicle Makes (362 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA59 (16.3%)
20.4%prior 49
2
HONDA41 (11.3%)
13.9%prior 36
3
FORD38 (10.5%)
22.6%prior 31
4
CHEVROLET29 (8%)
16.0%prior 25
5
NISSAN25 (6.9%)
8.7%prior 23
6
HYUNDAI21 (5.8%)
50.0%prior 14
7
JEEP19 (5.2%)
5.6%prior 18
8
GMC14 (3.9%)
75.0%prior 8
9
SUBARU11 (3%)
83.3%prior 6
10
DODGE11 (3%)
37.5%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Vehicle unit records

32 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (405 persons with recorded sex)

Male246 (60.7%)
32.3%prior 186
Female159 (39.3%)
2.6%prior 155

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 30 mph speed zones increased from 82 in July 2022 to 99 in July 2023, and crashes in 65 mph zones rose from 8 to 15. Fatalities occurred in both 30 mph and 65 mph zones in July 2023, with one fatal crash in each zone, whereas no fatalities were recorded in any speed zone in July 2022. The fatal rate in 65 mph zones was 6.667% in July 2023.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 99 (1.01%) · 65 mph: 1 of 15 (6.667%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), accessed programmatically via the Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.

Data Retrieval

  • Access method: Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SoQL queries)
  • Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
  • Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
  • Date filter applied: 2023-07-01 through 2023-07-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-07-01 through 2023-07-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: TAUNTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 195
  • Total persons involved: 447
  • Total vehicles involved: 362

Analytical Methodology

  • Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
  • Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
  • Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
  • Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
  • Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
  • Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
  • AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.

Limitations & Disclaimers

  • Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
  • Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
  • Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
  • AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
  • Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.

Non-Affiliation Disclosure

This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.

Data License

The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.

Corrections & Feedback

If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.

Suggested Citation

ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "TAUNTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: July 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/taunton/july-2023-report

About the Publisher

ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.

Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai

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Taunton, MA Crash Report — July 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com