Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

129 CRASHES IN
WALTHAM, MA
NOVEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2022

Total crashes in Waltham decreased by 7.2%, from 139 in November 2022 to 129 in November 2023. The most notable shift was a significant reduction in total injuries, which dropped by 62.5% from 64 to 24 year-over-year.

129

-7.2%was 139

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

24

-62.5%was 64

Persons Injured

30

11.1%was 27

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes showed a downward trend, decreasing by 7.2% from 139 in November 2022 to 129 in November 2023. Fatalities decreased from 1 to 0, and total injuries saw a substantial reduction of 62.5%, falling from 64 to 24. This indicates a positive shift towards fewer and less severe crash outcomes.

30

Hit-and-Run Crashes — November 2023

11.1% vs prior (27)

The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 27 in November 2022 to 30 in November 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also rose from 19.4% to 23.3% of all crashes year-over-year. This indicates an upward trend in the proportion of hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 5-60.0%

22

Motorists Injured

Prior: 59-62.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · 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 Wednesday in both periods, with 28 crashes in November 2022 and 27 crashes in November 2023. The peak hour for crashes shifted from 4 PM with 15 crashes in November 2022 to 3 PM with 16 crashes in November 2023. These patterns suggest a consistent daily and hourly distribution of crash incidents.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes decreased from 1 in November 2022 to 0 in November 2023, resulting in a fatal crash rate drop from 0.72% to 0%. Total injuries decreased significantly from 64 to 24, a 62.5% reduction. While serious injury crashes increased slightly from 13 (9.4% share) to 14 (10.9% share), possible injury crashes decreased from 8 (5.8% share) to 2 (1.6% share).

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury14serious injury crashes10.9%
7.7%prior 13
Minor Injury3minor injury crashes2.3%
50.0%prior 2
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes1.6%
-75.0%prior 8
No Injury97no injury crashes75.2%
-6.7%prior 104

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' remained consistent with 26 crashes in both periods. 'Followed too closely' crashes increased by 35.3% in count, from 17 to 23, moving from the third to the second most frequent factor. Conversely, 'Inattention' crashes decreased by 33.3% in count, from 24 to 16, dropping from the second to the fourth most frequent factor. 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes saw an increase of 12.5% in count, from 16 to 18.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving26 (20.2%)0.0%prior 26
Followed too closely23 (17.8%)35.3%prior 17
Failed to yield right of way18 (14%)12.5%prior 16
Inattention16 (12.4%)-33.3%prior 24
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road4 (3.1%)-20.0%prior 5
Over-correcting/over-steering4 (3.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (2.3%)-66.7%prior 9
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings3 (2.3%)
Other improper action3 (2.3%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit2 (1.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions slightly increased from 99 to 102, while those in rainy conditions decreased from 14 to 10. The number of crashes during daylight hours decreased from 74 to 69, and crashes in dark-lighted roadway conditions decreased from 43 to 38. Incidents on wet road surfaces also decreased from 21 to 15, suggesting fewer crashes under adverse road conditions.

Weather

Clear102 (81.6%)
3.0%prior 99
Rain10 (8.0%)
-28.6%prior 14
Cloudy8 (6.4%)
-46.7%prior 15
Cloudy/Rain2 (1.6%)
Clear/Clear2 (1.6%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight69 (54.3%)
-6.8%prior 74
Dark - lighted roadway38 (29.9%)
-11.6%prior 43
Dark - roadway not lighted12 (9.4%)
100.0%prior 6
Dusk6 (4.7%)
-25.0%prior 8
Dawn1 (0.8%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry112 (88.2%)
-5.1%prior 118
Wet15 (11.8%)
-28.6%prior 21

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 272 in November 2022 to 256 in November 2023. HONDA and TOYOTA swapped positions as the most frequent vehicle makes involved, with HONDA increasing from 33 to 44 and TOYOTA increasing from 35 to 43. The 16-20 age group saw a substantial decrease in persons involved, dropping from 57 to 15, while the 0-15 age group also decreased from 23 to 6.

Top Vehicle Makes (256 vehicles)

1
HONDA44 (17.2%)
33.3%prior 33
2
TOYOTA43 (16.8%)
22.9%prior 35
3
FORD17 (6.6%)
-29.2%prior 24
4
JEEP12 (4.7%)
0.0%prior 12
5
NISSAN12 (4.7%)
6
CHEVROLET12 (4.7%)
-33.3%prior 18
7
MERCEDES-BENZ10 (3.9%)
8
BMW10 (3.9%)
9
HYUNDAI9 (3.5%)
10
KIA7 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (235 persons with recorded sex)

Male137 (58.3%)
-18.5%prior 168
Female98 (41.7%)
-34.7%prior 150

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone decreased significantly from 94 to 49, a 47.9% reduction. Conversely, crashes in the 25 mph speed zone saw a substantial increase from 2 to 39. The single fatal crash recorded in November 2022 occurred in a 30 mph speed zone, while no fatal crashes were reported in any speed zone in November 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · 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: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: WALTHAM, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 129
  • Total persons involved: 317
  • Total vehicles involved: 256

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: November 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/waltham/november-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

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Waltham, MA Crash Report — November 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com