Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

24 CRASHES IN
WATERTOWN, MA
AUGUST 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2024

Total crashes in Watertown increased by 14.3% from 21 in August 2024 to 24 in August 2025. The most notable shift was the emergence of 3 hit-and-run crashes in August 2025, compared to none in the prior year. Total injuries decreased by 28.6%, from 7 to 5.

24

14.3%was 21

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

5

-28.6%was 7

Persons Injured

3

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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a slight increase in total crashes, rising from 21 to 24, representing a 14.3% increase year-over-year. Concurrently, total injuries decreased by 28.6%, from 7 to 5, while fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2025

12.5% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

2

Motorists Injured

Prior: 6-66.7%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · 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 Friday with 7 crashes in August 2024 to Wednesday with 6 crashes in August 2025. Similarly, the peak crash hour changed from 10 AM with 3 crashes in August 2024 to 2 PM with 5 crashes in August 2025.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both August 2024 and August 2025. The total number of injured persons decreased from 7 in August 2024 to 5 in August 2025. While minor injuries accounted for 23.8% of crashes in August 2024, they represented 8.3% in August 2025, with serious and possible injuries appearing in August 2025 at 4.2% and 8.3% respectively.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes4.2%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes8.3%
-60.0%prior 5
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes8.3%
No Injury18no injury crashes75%
12.5%prior 16

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The count of crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased from 8 in August 2024 to 7 in August 2025. 'Inattention' crashes saw a significant reduction from 8 to 3. Conversely, 'Followed too closely' and 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' each increased from 0 to 4 crashes, becoming prominent factors in August 2025.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Failed to yield right of way7 (29.2%)-12.5%prior 8
Followed too closely4 (16.7%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings4 (16.7%)
Inattention3 (12.5%)-62.5%prior 8
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (8.3%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (4.2%)
History heart/epilepsy/fainting1 (4.2%)
Made an improper turn1 (4.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 16 in August 2024 to 21 in August 2025, while those in adverse weather (cloudy or rain) decreased from 5 to 1. Crashes on dry road surfaces rose from 17 to 22, whereas crashes on wet surfaces decreased from 4 to 2. Daylight crashes slightly increased from 17 to 18, and crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' decreased from 4 to 2.

Weather

Clear21 (87.5%)
31.3%prior 16
Clear/Clear2 (8.3%)
Cloudy1 (4.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight18 (75.0%)
5.9%prior 17
Dusk3 (12.5%)
Dark - lighted roadway2 (8.3%)
Dawn1 (4.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry22 (91.7%)
29.4%prior 17
Wet2 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (44 vehicles)

1
FORD7 (15.9%)
2
TOYOTA7 (15.9%)
-30.0%prior 10
3
HONDA7 (15.9%)
4
VOLKSWAGEN4 (9.1%)
5
NISSAN3 (6.8%)
6
CHEVROLET3 (6.8%)
7
ACURA2 (4.5%)
8
MAZDA2 (4.5%)
9
JEEP2 (4.5%)
10
VOLVO1 (2.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (53 persons with recorded sex)

Male33 (62.3%)
6.5%prior 31
Female20 (37.7%)
5.3%prior 19

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone increased from 21 in August 2024 to 23 in August 2025. Additionally, 1 crash occurred in a 15 mph speed zone in August 2025, a zone not present in the prior year's data. Fatalities remained at zero in all reported speed zones for both periods.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · 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: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WATERTOWN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 24
  • Total persons involved: 57
  • Total vehicles involved: 44

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). "WATERTOWN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/watertown/august-2025-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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Watertown, MA Crash Report — August 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com