Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

29 CRASHES IN
WAKEFIELD, MA
JANUARY 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2021

Total crashes in Wakefield remained stable at 29 in January 2022, mirroring the 29 crashes reported in January 2021. However, the most notable shift was the increase in fatalities from 0 in the prior period to 1 in the current period.

29

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

5

-16.7%was 6

Persons Injured

2

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. 2 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

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

Trend Summary

The overall number of crashes in Wakefield remained stable year-over-year, with 29 crashes reported in both January 2021 and January 2022. Despite this stability in total crashes, there was a significant increase in fatalities from 0 to 1, while total injuries slightly decreased from 6 to 5.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2022

0.0% vs prior (2)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained stable at 2 for both January 2021 and January 2022. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also remained unchanged at 6.9% of total crashes in both periods.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

5

Motorists Injured

Prior: 6-16.7%

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

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Tuesday in January 2021, which saw 7 crashes, to Monday in January 2022, which recorded 10 crashes. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 3 PM with 5 crashes in the prior period to 8 PM with 4 crashes in the current period.

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

The current period recorded 1 fatal crash, accounting for 3.4% of total crashes, and 1 fatality, a significant increase from zero fatal crashes and zero fatalities in the prior period. Total injuries decreased from 6 in January 2021 to 5 in January 2022. Minor injury crashes decreased from 4 (13.8% of total crashes) to 3 (10.3% of total crashes) year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes3.4%
Minor Injury3minor injury crashes10.3%
-25.0%prior 4
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes3.4%
0.0%prior 1
No Injury22no injury crashes75.9%
4.8%prior 21

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Top Contributing Factors

The count of crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' decreased from 9 to 8. 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes decreased from 5 to 3, and 'Inattention' crashes decreased from 4 to 1. Conversely, crashes where 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' was a factor increased from 1 to 2.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving8 (27.6%)-11.1%prior 9
Failed to yield right of way3 (10.3%)-40.0%prior 5
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (6.9%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit2 (6.9%)
Operating defective equipment1 (3.4%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (3.4%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (3.4%)
Visibility obstructed1 (3.4%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (3.4%)
History heart/epilepsy/fainting1 (3.4%)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather decreased slightly from 23 to 22. Crashes in daylight conditions decreased from 20 to 14, while crashes in dark conditions (both lighted and unlighted combined) increased from 9 to 15. There was also a shift in road surface conditions, with dry surface crashes decreasing from 24 to 19, while wet surface crashes increased from 4 to 5, and slush-related crashes increased from 1 to 2.

Weather

Clear22 (78.6%)
-4.3%prior 23
Clear/Cloudy1 (3.6%)
Cloudy1 (3.6%)
Cloudy/Fog, smog, smoke1 (3.6%)
Rain1 (3.6%)
Rain/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (3.6%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (3.6%)

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

Lighting

Daylight14 (48.3%)
-30.0%prior 20
Dark - lighted roadway10 (34.5%)
11.1%prior 9
Dark - roadway not lighted5 (17.2%)

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

Road Surface

Dry19 (67.9%)
-20.8%prior 24
Wet5 (17.9%)
Slush2 (7.1%)
Ice1 (3.6%)
Snow1 (3.6%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 61 in January 2021 to 51 in January 2022. Toyota remained the top make involved, though its count decreased from 11 to 9. The 0-15 age group, which was not present in the prior period, accounted for 2 persons involved in the current period, while the 21-25 age group saw a decrease from 12 to 4 persons involved.

Top Vehicle Makes (51 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA9 (17.6%)
-18.2%prior 11
2
FORD7 (13.7%)
-22.2%prior 9
3
HONDA4 (7.8%)
-42.9%prior 7
4
CHEVROLET4 (7.8%)
-20.0%prior 5
5
NISSAN4 (7.8%)
6
HYUNDAI3 (5.9%)
7
LEXUS2 (3.9%)
8
MERCEDES-BENZ2 (3.9%)
9
LINC1 (2%)
10
LNDR1 (2%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (51 persons with recorded sex)

Male30 (58.8%)
-16.7%prior 36
Female21 (41.2%)
31.3%prior 16

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

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph zone decreased from 18 to 14, but this zone recorded 1 fatal crash in the current period compared to 0 in the prior period. Crashes in the 55 mph zone increased from 6 to 8. The current period also reported crashes in 5 mph, 15 mph, and 65 mph zones, which were not present in the prior period's data.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 14 (7.143%)

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WAKEFIELD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 29
  • Total persons involved: 59
  • Total vehicles involved: 51

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). "WAKEFIELD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/wakefield/january-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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Wakefield, MA Crash Report — January 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com