ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · WALTHAM, MA · 2024
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/waltham/2024-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
1,276 CRASHES IN
WALTHAM, MA
2024
In 2024, Waltham recorded 1,276 total vehicle crashes, a 12.4% decrease from the 1,456 crashes reported in 2023. While total crashes declined, the most significant year-over-year change was a 56.0% reduction in hit-and-run incidents, which fell from 277 in 2023 to 122 in 2024.
1,276
▼ -12.4%was 1,456
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -66.7%was 3
Persons Killed
304
▲ 2.4%was 297
Persons Injured
122
▼ -56.0%was 277
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. 49 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, traffic crashes in Waltham showed a downward trend year-over-year, with total incidents falling by 12.4% from 1,456 in 2023 to 1,276 in 2024. Despite the decrease in total crashes, the number of reported injuries saw a slight increase of 2.4%, rising from 297 to 304. Fatalities also decreased from 3 in the prior year to 1 in the current year.
122
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2024
▼ -56.0% vs prior (277)
Hit-and-run incidents saw a substantial year-over-year decrease. The total number of hit-and-run crashes fell by 56.0%, from 277 in 2023 to 122 in 2024. This decline is also reflected in the hit-and-run rate, which dropped from 19.0% of all crashes in the prior year to 9.6% in the current year, indicating a significant downward trend.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
21
Pedestrians Injured
12
Cyclists Injured
265
Motorists Injured
6
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes remained broadly consistent year-over-year, with Friday being the peak day for crashes in both 2024 (218 crashes) and 2023 (244 crashes). There was a slight shift in the afternoon rush hour peak, moving from 5 p.m. in 2023 (150 crashes) to 4 p.m. in 2024 (110 crashes). Weekday crashes, particularly on Tuesdays and Fridays, continued to account for the highest volumes in both periods.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatal crashes decreased from 2 in 2023 to 1 in 2024, with total fatalities dropping from 3 to 1. A significant shift occurred in the classification of injury severity; crashes involving 'Serious Injury' dropped from 143 (9.8% of total) in 2023 to 12 (0.9% of total) in 2024. Conversely, crashes with 'Minor Injury' increased from 31 (2.1% of total) to 164 (12.9% of total), suggesting a shift towards less severe injury outcomes or a change in reporting standards.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
In 2024, 'Inattention' became the leading contributing factor, with the count of such crashes increasing by 31.9% from 188 in 2023 to 248. This displaced 'No improper driving' from the top spot, which saw its count decrease by 36.8% from 318 to 201. Crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way' also increased in count by 34.7% year-over-year, rising from 147 to 198.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The proportion of crashes occurring in adverse conditions decreased from 2023 to 2024. Crashes on wet road surfaces fell from 260 to 182, representing a drop in share from 17.9% to 14.3% of all incidents. Similarly, crashes during rain decreased from 130 to 84. The majority of crashes in both years occurred during daylight (69.6% in 2024 vs. 63.7% in 2023) and on dry roads (82.7% in 2024 vs. 78.0% in 2023).
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Honda, and Ford—remained unchanged in ranking between 2023 and 2024, with their involvement counts staying relatively stable. Analysis of persons involved shows that while the total number decreased from 3,766 to 3,024, the proportional involvement of some age groups increased. For instance, the 26-34 age group's share of persons involved rose from 14.9% in 2023 to 17.6% in 2024.
Top Vehicle Makes (2,487 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
407 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (2,621 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
A significant redistribution of crashes by speed zone occurred between the two periods. In 2023, the vast majority of crashes with a recorded speed limit occurred in 30 mph zones (912 incidents). In 2024, this shifted dramatically, with 25 mph zones accounting for the most crashes (567 incidents), while incidents in 30 mph zones fell to 293. The single fatal crash in 2024 occurred in a 25 mph zone, whereas the two fatal crashes in 2023 with recorded speed limits occurred in 30 mph and 45 mph zones.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 567 (0.176%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
- Geographic scope: WALTHAM, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 1,276
- Total persons involved: 3,024
- Total vehicles involved: 2,487
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). "WALTHAM, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/waltham/2024-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: 2024-01-01 – 2024-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved