ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · TAUNTON, MA · MAY 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/taunton/may-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
184 CRASHES IN
TAUNTON, MA
MAY 2023
In May 2023, Taunton experienced 184 total crashes, an increase of 24.32% compared to the 148 crashes reported in May 2022. A notable shift is the absence of fatalities in May 2023, down from one fatality in May 2022. Additionally, hit-and-run crashes increased significantly by 54.55% year-over-year.
184
▲ 24.3%was 148
Total Crash Events
0
▼ -100.0%was 1
Persons Killed
45
▲ 2.3%was 44
Persons Injured
17
▲ 54.5%was 11
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 10 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
The overall trend indicates an increase in crashes year-over-year, with total crashes rising from 148 in May 2022 to 184 in May 2023. This represents a 24.32% increase in crash incidents for the month.
17
Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2023
▲ 54.5% vs prior (11)
Hit-and-run crashes increased from 11 in May 2022 to 17 in May 2023, representing a 54.55% increase in count. The hit-and-run crash rate also rose from 7.4% to 9.2% of all crashes year-over-year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Motorists Killed
45
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes remained Monday in both periods, with counts increasing from 30 in May 2022 to 37 in May 2023. The peak hour also remained consistent at 4 PM, seeing an increase from 18 crashes in May 2022 to 27 crashes in May 2023.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatalities decreased from 1 in May 2022 to 0 in May 2023. Total injuries saw a slight increase from 44 to 45 year-over-year. While May 2022 recorded 1 fatal crash, May 2023 reported 1 serious injury crash.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor shifted from 'No improper driving' in May 2022 (31 crashes) to 'Inattention' in May 2023 (33 crashes), representing a 26.92% increase in inattention-related crashes. Crashes attributed to 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' saw a substantial increase from 3 to 15, a 400% change in count. Conversely, crashes with 'No improper driving' decreased by 32.26% in count, from 31 to 21.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions (including Clear/Clear) increased from 92 in May 2022 to 158 in May 2023. Crashes during daylight hours also increased from 115 to 154 year-over-year. Incidents on dry road surfaces rose from 140 to 167, while those on wet surfaces increased from 8 to 14.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 278 in May 2022 to 336 in May 2023. While TOYOTA remained a top make, its count decreased from 53 to 44. FORD saw a significant increase in involvement, from 21 vehicles in May 2022 to 41 in May 2023, and HONDA increased from 32 to 41.
Top Vehicle Makes (336 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
34 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (357 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone increased from 70 in May 2022 to 85 in May 2023. Conversely, crashes in the 35 mph zone decreased from 27 to 20. There were no fatalities recorded in any speed zone in May 2023, compared to one fatality in the 35 mph zone in May 2022.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · 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: 2023-05-01 through 2023-05-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-05-01 through 2023-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: TAUNTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 184
- Total persons involved: 397
- Total vehicles involved: 336
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 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/taunton/may-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-05-01 – 2023-05-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved