Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

21 CRASHES IN
WATERTOWN, MA
MARCH 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMarch 2024

In March 2025, Watertown recorded 21 crashes, a decrease of 22.2% compared to the 27 crashes reported in March 2024. Total injuries also saw a slight reduction from 8 to 7. There were no fatalities reported in either period.

21

-22.2%was 27

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

7

-12.5%was 8

Persons Injured

2

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 · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Watertown show a notable decrease year-over-year, with total crashes falling by 22.2% from 27 in March 2024 to 21 in March 2025. This reduction was accompanied by a slight decrease in total injuries, from 8 to 7.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2025

9.5% 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%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1200.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

3

Motorists Injured

Prior: 7-57.1%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year. In March 2024, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 6 incidents, and the peak hour was 3 PM with 6 incidents. However, in March 2025, the peak day shifted to Sunday with 5 crashes, and the peak hour became 10 AM with 4 crashes.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at zero in both March 2024 and March 2025. Total injuries decreased slightly from 8 to 7 year-over-year. The proportion of minor injury crashes (severity B) decreased from 11.1% in March 2024 to 9.5% in March 2025, while possible injury crashes (severity C) increased from 11.1% to 19%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury2minor injury crashes9.5%
-33.3%prior 3
Possible Injury4possible injury crashes19%
33.3%prior 3
No Injury14no injury crashes66.7%
-33.3%prior 21

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor, 'Failed to yield right of way,' remained constant at 7 crashes in both March 2024 and March 2025, though its share of total crashes increased from 25.9% to 33.3%. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' decreased from 4 in March 2024 to 3 in March 2025. Additionally, 'Followed too closely' crashes decreased from 4 to 2 year-over-year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Failed to yield right of way7 (33.3%)0.0%prior 7
Inattention3 (14.3%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (14.3%)
Made an improper turn2 (9.5%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (9.5%)
Followed too closely2 (9.5%)
Other improper action1 (4.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather remained at 15 incidents in both periods, increasing their share from 55.6% in March 2024 to 71.4% in March 2025. Crashes on wet road surfaces decreased from 7 to 3 year-over-year. Incidents during daylight hours saw a slight decrease from 18 to 17, while crashes in dark-lighted roadway conditions decreased from 6 to 3.

Weather

Clear15 (71.4%)
0.0%prior 15
Cloudy3 (14.3%)
Cloudy/Rain2 (9.5%)
Rain1 (4.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight17 (81.0%)
-5.6%prior 18
Dark - lighted roadway3 (14.3%)
-50.0%prior 6
Dusk1 (4.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry18 (85.7%)
-10.0%prior 20
Wet3 (14.3%)
-57.1%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (35 vehicles)

1
FORD5 (14.3%)
2
HONDA4 (11.4%)
-33.3%prior 6
3
ACURA3 (8.6%)
4
DODGE2 (5.7%)
5
RAM2 (5.7%)
6
TOYOTA2 (5.7%)
-84.6%prior 13
7
INTL2 (5.7%)
8
BMW2 (5.7%)
9
MAZDA2 (5.7%)
10
VOLKSWAGEN1 (2.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (38 persons with recorded sex)

Male26 (68.4%)
-25.7%prior 35
Female12 (31.6%)
-50.0%prior 24

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The majority of crashes in both periods occurred in 30 mph zones, though the count decreased from 25 crashes in March 2024 to 19 crashes in March 2025. Crashes in 25 mph zones, which accounted for 2 incidents in March 2024, were not observed in March 2025. Conversely, March 2025 saw 1 crash in a 20 mph zone and 1 crash in a 35 mph zone, neither of which were present in the prior year.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · 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: 2025-03-01 through 2025-03-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-03-01 through 2025-03-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WATERTOWN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 21
  • Total persons involved: 46
  • Total vehicles involved: 35

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: March 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/watertown/march-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 — March 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com