Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

29 CRASHES IN
WEBSTER, MA
MAY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2023

In May 2024, WEBSTER, MA experienced 29 crashes, a 70.6% increase compared to 17 crashes in May 2023. This period saw a notable rise in bicycle crashes, increasing from 0 in May 2023 to 3 in May 2024, accompanied by an increase in cyclist injuries from 0 to 2.

29

70.6%was 17

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

15

66.7%was 9

Persons Injured

2

100.0%was 1

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a significant increase in crash activity year-over-year, with total crashes rising from 17 in May 2023 to 29 in May 2024, representing a 70.6% increase. Concurrently, total injuries also saw an upward trend, increasing by 66.7% from 9 injuries in May 2023 to 15 injuries in May 2024.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2024

100.0% vs prior (1)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 1 in May 2023 to 2 in May 2024. The hit-and-run rate also saw a slight increase year-over-year, rising from 5.9% of all crashes in May 2023 to 6.9% in May 2024.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

13

Motorists Injured

Prior: 944.4%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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, with the peak day moving from Tuesday with 5 crashes in May 2023 to Friday with 9 crashes in May 2024. The peak hour also changed, occurring at 5 PM with 4 crashes in May 2023, compared to 2 PM with 6 crashes in May 2024.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities and fatal crashes remained at zero in both May 2023 and May 2024. However, the proportion of crashes resulting in possible injuries increased significantly, rising from 5.9% (1 crash) in May 2023 to 17.2% (5 crashes) in May 2024. Consequently, the share of crashes with no injuries decreased from 70.6% (12 crashes) to 58.6% (17 crashes) year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury7minor injury crashes24.1%
75.0%prior 4
Possible Injury5possible injury crashes17.2%
400.0%prior 1
No Injury17no injury crashes58.6%
41.7%prior 12

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' significantly increased from 4 crashes in May 2023 to 12 crashes in May 2024, representing a 200% rise in count. Conversely, 'Inattention' decreased by 57.1%, dropping from 7 crashes in the prior period to 3 crashes in the current period. 'Followed too closely' also saw a substantial increase, rising from 1 crash to 4 crashes year-over-year, a 300% increase in count.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving12 (41.4%)
Followed too closely4 (13.8%)
Inattention3 (10.3%)-57.1%prior 7
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (6.9%)
Glare1 (3.4%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (3.4%)
Distracted1 (3.4%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (3.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a notable shift in adverse weather and road conditions year-over-year. Crashes occurring in rainy conditions increased from 1 in May 2023 to 5 in May 2024, and crashes on wet road surfaces similarly rose from 1 to 5. This led to a decrease in the share of crashes occurring in clear weather and on dry roads, from 94.1% to 79.3% and 94.1% to 82.8% respectively.

Weather

Clear23 (79.3%)
43.8%prior 16
Rain5 (17.2%)
Cloudy1 (3.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight23 (79.3%)
64.3%prior 14
Dark - roadway not lighted3 (10.3%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (3.4%)
Dawn1 (3.4%)
Dusk1 (3.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry24 (82.8%)
50.0%prior 16
Wet5 (17.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (50 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA8 (16%)
2
FORD7 (14%)
3
CHEVROLET6 (12%)
4
HONDA5 (10%)
-37.5%prior 8
5
NISSAN4 (8%)
6
RAM3 (6%)
7
ACURA2 (4%)
8
MAZDA2 (4%)
9
HYUNDAI1 (2%)
10
JEEP1 (2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (68 persons with recorded sex)

Female34 (50.0%)
100.0%prior 17
Male34 (50.0%)
54.5%prior 22

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone significantly increased, rising from 7 crashes in May 2023 to 21 crashes in May 2024, a 200% increase in count. Conversely, crashes in the 25 mph zone decreased from 4 to 3. Additionally, 2 crashes occurred in a 35 mph zone in May 2024, a speed zone not present in the May 2023 data.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WEBSTER, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 29
  • Total persons involved: 72
  • Total vehicles involved: 50

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). "WEBSTER, MA Crash Intelligence Report: May 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/webster/may-2024-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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Webster, MA Crash Report — May 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com