ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · TOWNSEND, MA · 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/townsend/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
152 CRASHES IN
TOWNSEND, MA
2023
In 2023, Townsend recorded 152 total traffic crashes, a 5% decrease from the 160 crashes reported in 2022. While overall crashes, fatalities, and serious injuries declined, the most notable year-over-year shift was a significant increase in hit-and-run incidents, which rose from 1 in 2022 to 11 in 2023.
152
▼ -5.0%was 160
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -50.0%was 2
Persons Killed
37
▲ 2.8%was 36
Persons Injured
11
▲ 1000.0%was 1
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. 4 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Traffic crashes in Townsend showed a modest downward trend year-over-year, with total incidents decreasing by 5% from 160 in 2022 to 152 in 2023. Fatalities also decreased from two to one. The number of injuries remained nearly stable, increasing by just one person from 36 to 37.
11
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▲ 1000.0% vs prior (1)
The number of hit-and-run incidents increased substantially year-over-year, rising from one crash in 2022 to 11 in 2023. This represents a change in the hit-and-run rate from 0.6% of all crashes in the prior year to 7.2% in the current year, indicating a significant upward trend.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Motorists Killed
37
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2023, the peak day for crashes was Wednesday with 32 incidents, a change from 2022 when Tuesday and Friday were the busiest days with 29 crashes each. The afternoon peak hour also shifted earlier, from 5 p.m. in 2022 (17 crashes) to 3 p.m. in 2023 (20 crashes).
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The severity of crashes saw a mixed shift year-over-year. While fatal crashes decreased from two in 2022 to one in 2023, and serious injury crashes fell from six to three, crashes resulting in minor injuries more than doubled, increasing from 10 in 2022 to 21 in 2023. Consequently, the share of all incidents involving minor injuries rose from 6.3% to 13.8%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Inattention remained a leading contributing factor, with the count of related crashes increasing from 32 in 2022 to 38 in 2023. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' saw a substantial decrease in count, dropping from 12 incidents in 2022 to just 3 in 2023. 'Disregarded traffic signs' was a more prominent factor in 2023 with 7 crashes, compared to a lower count in the prior year.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes in 2023 were more likely to occur in clear weather, which accounted for 120 incidents (78.9% of total), up from 114 incidents (71.3% of total) in 2022. Correspondingly, the number of crashes during adverse weather like rain, snow, or sleet decreased from 19 in 2022 to 12 in 2023. The proportion of crashes occurring on dry road surfaces and during daylight hours remained relatively stable across both years.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The makes of vehicles involved in crashes showed some shifts; while Ford remained the most common make in both years, its involvement decreased from 50 vehicles in 2022 to 39 in 2023. Among persons involved in crashes, there was an increase in the representation of older adults, with the 55-64 and 65+ age groups accounting for a combined 32.3% of individuals in 2023, up from 27.5% in 2022.
Top Vehicle Makes (236 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
21 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (283 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
There was a notable shift in where crashes occurred relative to posted speed limits. Crashes in 40 mph zones increased from 26 incidents in 2022 to 40 in 2023. Conversely, crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 44 to 25 over the same period. The single fatal crash in 2023 occurred in a 40 mph zone, whereas the two fatal crashes in 2022 happened in 35 mph and 45 mph zones.
Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 1 of 40 (2.5%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: TOWNSEND, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 152
- Total persons involved: 303
- Total vehicles involved: 236
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). "TOWNSEND, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/townsend/2023-annual-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: 2023-01-01 – 2023-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved