Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

148 CRASHES IN
TAUNTON, MA
MAY 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2021

In May 2022, Taunton experienced 148 crashes, a decrease from the 169 crashes recorded in May 2021, representing a 12.43% reduction. The most significant year-over-year shift was the increase in total fatalities from 0 in May 2021 to 1 in May 2022. Total injuries also decreased, from 57 to 44.

148

-12.4%was 169

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

44

-22.8%was 57

Persons Injured

11

175.0%was 4

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 20 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a decrease in crash incidents year-over-year, with total crashes falling by 12.43% from 169 in May 2021 to 148 in May 2022. Despite this reduction in total crashes, there was an increase in crash severity, marked by the occurrence of one fatal crash in May 2022 compared to zero in the prior period.

11

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2022

175.0% vs prior (4)

Hit-and-run crashes increased substantially, rising from 4 incidents in May 2021 to 11 incidents in May 2022. This represents an increase of 7 crashes year-over-year. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate more than doubled, increasing from 2.4% to 7.4% of all crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 10.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

42

Motorists Injured

Prior: 56-25.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns for crashes shifted between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Thursday with 34 incidents in May 2021 to Monday with 30 incidents in May 2022. Similarly, the peak hour for crashes changed from 5 PM with 23 incidents in May 2021 to 4 PM with 18 incidents in May 2022.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity distribution saw a notable change with the occurrence of 1 fatal crash in May 2022, compared to 0 fatal crashes in May 2021. The fatal crash rate consequently increased from 0% to 0.68%. While total injuries decreased from 57 to 44, the proportion of crashes resulting in minor or possible injuries remained relatively stable, accounting for 21.62% of crashes in May 2022 and 20.71% in May 2021.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.7%
Minor Injury20minor injury crashes13.5%
-25.9%prior 27
Possible Injury12possible injury crashes8.1%
71.4%prior 7
No Injury95no injury crashes64.2%
-24.0%prior 125

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' decreased from 43 crashes in May 2021 to 31 crashes in May 2022, a reduction of 12 incidents. 'Inattention' also saw a decrease, falling from 32 to 26 crashes, a change of 6. Conversely, 'Followed too closely' incidents increased by 3 crashes, from 15 to 18, and 'Failed to yield right of way' saw a slight increase from 20 to 21 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving31 (20.9%)-27.9%prior 43
Inattention26 (17.6%)-18.8%prior 32
Failed to yield right of way21 (14.2%)5.0%prior 20
Followed too closely18 (12.2%)20.0%prior 15
Other improper action7 (4.7%)0.0%prior 7
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings6 (4.1%)20.0%prior 5
Distracted4 (2.7%)-50.0%prior 8
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (2%)-50.0%prior 6
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road3 (2%)
Over-correcting/over-steering2 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 140 in May 2021 to 92 in May 2022. Similarly, crashes on wet road surfaces saw a significant reduction, dropping from 22 incidents to 8. Crashes during daylight hours also decreased, from 131 to 115, while crashes in dark conditions saw a minor decrease from 27 to 25.

Weather

Clear76 (66.1%)
-45.3%prior 139
Cloudy17 (14.8%)
183.3%prior 6
Clear/Clear16 (13.9%)
Rain4 (3.5%)
-75.0%prior 16
Cloudy/Clear1 (0.9%)
Rain/Rain1 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight115 (77.7%)
-12.2%prior 131
Dark - lighted roadway23 (15.5%)
21.1%prior 19
Dusk4 (2.7%)
-20.0%prior 5
Dawn3 (2.0%)
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (1.4%)
-75.0%prior 8
Other1 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry140 (94.6%)
-3.4%prior 145
Wet8 (5.4%)
-63.6%prior 22

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 297 in May 2021 to 278 in May 2022. There was a notable increase in the number of Toyota vehicles involved, rising from 45 to 53, making it the top make in both periods. The age group 65+ saw an increase in persons involved, from 26 to 34, while the 0-15 age group saw a decrease from 9 to 3 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (278 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA53 (19.1%)
17.8%prior 45
2
HONDA32 (11.5%)
-13.5%prior 37
3
CHEVROLET26 (9.4%)
-13.3%prior 30
4
NISSAN25 (9%)
38.9%prior 18
5
FORD21 (7.6%)
-32.3%prior 31
6
HYUNDAI17 (6.1%)
0.0%prior 17
7
KIA11 (4%)
57.1%prior 7
8
JEEP11 (4%)
-21.4%prior 14
9
DODGE11 (4%)
-15.4%prior 13
10
BMW9 (3.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (305 persons with recorded sex)

Male174 (57.0%)
3.6%prior 168
Female131 (43.0%)
-6.4%prior 140

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 30 MPH zones increased from 64 in May 2021 to 70 in May 2022. Conversely, crashes in 35 MPH zones decreased from 33 to 27, and 65 MPH zones saw a decrease from 15 to 8 crashes. One fatal crash occurred in a 35 MPH speed zone in May 2022, whereas no fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone in May 2021.

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 1 of 27 (3.704%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · 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: 2022-05-01 through 2022-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-05-01 through 2022-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: TAUNTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 148
  • Total persons involved: 339
  • Total vehicles involved: 278

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: May 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/taunton/may-2022-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 — May 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com