Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

12 CRASHES IN
WELLFLEET, MA
MAY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2024

In May 2025, WELLFLEET experienced 12 total crashes, a substantial increase compared to the 4 crashes reported in May 2024. This represents a 200% rise in total crash incidents year-over-year. The most notable shift was the occurrence of one fatal crash and one fatality in May 2025, whereas no fatalities were recorded in the prior period.

12

200.0%was 4

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

3

Persons Injured

1

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash incidents in WELLFLEET showed a significant upward trend, with total crashes increasing by 200% from 4 in May 2024 to 12 in May 2025. This period also saw the introduction of a fatal crash and one fatality, which was not present in the prior year. Total injuries remained stable at 3 across both periods.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2025

8.3% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

3

Motorists Injured

Prior: 250.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

Temporal patterns for crashes shifted notably year-over-year. In May 2024, the peak day for crashes was Saturday with 1 incident, and the peak hour was 11 PM with 1 crash. In contrast, May 2025 saw Wednesday as the peak day with 3 crashes, and 3 PM emerged as the peak hour with 2 crashes, indicating a shift towards weekday afternoons.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity distribution of crashes changed significantly, with May 2025 recording one fatal crash, resulting in a fatal crash rate of 8.33%, up from 0% in May 2024. While the count of minor injury crashes decreased from 3 to 2, their proportion of total crashes dropped from 75% to 16.7%. Conversely, no-injury crashes increased from 1 to 9, becoming the dominant severity type at 75% of all crashes in May 2025, compared to 25% in the prior year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes8.3%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes16.7%
-33.3%prior 3
No Injury9no injury crashes75%
800.0%prior 1

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Contributing factors saw shifts in both prevalence and ranking. 'Inattention' increased in count from 2 crashes in May 2024 to 3 crashes in May 2025, remaining a significant factor. 'No improper driving' was the most frequent factor in May 2025 with 4 crashes, a category not explicitly listed in the prior period's top factors. Additionally, new factors like 'Distracted' (2 crashes) and 'Failed to yield right of way' (1 crash) appeared in May 2025, while 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' (1 crash) was present in May 2024 but not among the top factors for May 2025.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving4 (33.3%)
Inattention3 (25%)
Distracted2 (16.7%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (8.3%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (8.3%)
Made an improper turn1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Daylight' conditions saw a substantial increase, rising from 2 incidents in May 2024 to 10 incidents in May 2025. Incidents in 'Dark - roadway not lighted' conditions remained consistent with 1 crash in both periods. Comparative analysis for weather and road surface conditions is not possible due to missing data for the prior period.

Weather

Clear7 (58.3%)
Cloudy3 (25.0%)
Clear/Other1 (8.3%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight10 (83.3%)
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (8.3%)
Dusk1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry11 (91.7%)
Wet1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (24 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA3 (12.5%)
2
CHEVROLET3 (12.5%)
3
NISSAN2 (8.3%)
4
FORD2 (8.3%)
5
INTL2 (8.3%)
6
HINO1 (4.2%)
7
KIA1 (4.2%)
8
MAZDA1 (4.2%)
9
MITS1 (4.2%)
10
VOLKSWAGEN1 (4.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (34 persons with recorded sex)

Male21 (61.8%)
425.0%prior 4
Female13 (38.2%)
550.0%prior 2

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones shifted year-over-year. Crashes in the 25 mph zone decreased from 2 incidents in May 2024 to 1 incident in May 2025, with no fatalities in either period. Crashes in the 45 mph zone increased from 2 to 6 incidents, also with no fatalities recorded. Notably, the 35 mph zone, which was not present in the prior period's data, accounted for 5 crashes and the sole fatality in May 2025.

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 1 of 5 (20%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WELLFLEET, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 12
  • Total persons involved: 37
  • Total vehicles involved: 24

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). "WELLFLEET, MA Crash Intelligence Report: May 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/wellfleet/may-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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Wellfleet, MA Crash Report — May 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com