Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

103 CRASHES IN
WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA
JULY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstJuly 2023

Total crashes in WEST SPRINGFIELD increased from 77 in July 2023 to 103 in July 2024, representing a 33.77% rise year-over-year. This period saw a notable shift in contributing factors, with crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' increasing by 200% and 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes increasing by 85.71%.

103

33.8%was 77

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

33

13.8%was 29

Persons Injured

15

15.4%was 13

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 · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash data for WEST SPRINGFIELD indicates a rising trend year-over-year. Total crashes increased by 33.77%, from 77 in July 2023 to 103 in July 2024. Concurrently, total injuries rose by 13.79%, from 29 to 33, while fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

15

Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2024

15.4% vs prior (13)

The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 13 in July 2023 to 15 in July 2024, a 15.38% rise in count. However, the overall hit-and-run rate decreased from 16.9% of total crashes in July 2023 to 14.6% in July 2024. This indicates that while the absolute number of hit-and-run incidents rose, they represent a smaller proportion of the higher total crash count.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

31

Motorists Injured

Prior: 2810.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted significantly between the two periods. In July 2023, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 21 incidents, and the peak hour was 4 PM with 10 crashes. However, in July 2024, Monday became the peak day with 24 crashes, and the peak hour shifted to 2 PM with 12 crashes.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

There were no fatal crashes in either July 2023 or July 2024 in WEST SPRINGFIELD. The number of serious injury crashes remained constant at 3, though their share of total crashes decreased from 3.9% to 2.9%. Minor injury crashes increased from 15 to 19, and possible injury crashes rose from 4 to 6 year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury3serious injury crashes2.9%
0.0%prior 3
Minor Injury19minor injury crashes18.4%
26.7%prior 15
Possible Injury6possible injury crashes5.8%
50.0%prior 4
No Injury74no injury crashes71.8%
37.0%prior 54

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Several contributing factors showed significant year-over-year changes in crash counts. Crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' saw a 200% increase, rising from 3 in July 2023 to 9 in July 2024. 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes also increased substantially, from 7 to 13, marking an 85.71% rise. Conversely, 'Inattention' crashes decreased by 46.15%, from 13 to 7, and 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' crashes decreased by 50%, from 4 to 2.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving34 (33%)13.3%prior 30
Failed to yield right of way13 (12.6%)85.7%prior 7
Followed too closely9 (8.7%)
Inattention7 (6.8%)-46.2%prior 13
Other improper action3 (2.9%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (1.9%)
Distracted2 (1.9%)
Driving too fast for conditions2 (1.9%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit2 (1.9%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (1.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring under clear weather conditions increased from 44 to 79, while those in cloudy conditions decreased from 17 to 9. The proportion of crashes on dry road surfaces increased from 76.6% (59 of 77 crashes) in July 2023 to 88.3% (91 of 103 crashes) in July 2024. Similarly, crashes during daylight hours rose from 64 to 91, representing an increase in both count and proportion.

Weather

Clear79 (76.7%)
79.5%prior 44
Cloudy9 (8.7%)
-47.1%prior 17
Rain5 (4.9%)
0.0%prior 5
Clear/Cloudy4 (3.9%)
Clear/Unknown2 (1.9%)
Cloudy/Rain2 (1.9%)
Rain/Cloudy2 (1.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight91 (88.3%)
42.2%prior 64
Dark - lighted roadway7 (6.8%)
-22.2%prior 9
Dusk5 (4.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry91 (88.3%)
54.2%prior 59
Wet12 (11.7%)
-33.3%prior 18

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 35.6%, from 146 in July 2023 to 198 in July 2024. Toyota and Honda remained the top two most frequently involved vehicle makes, with Toyota increasing from 20 to 29 and Honda from 18 to 24. The 26-34 age group saw the largest increase in persons involved, rising from 28 to 50, while the 65+ age group was the only one to see a decrease, from 21 to 18.

Top Vehicle Makes (198 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA29 (14.6%)
45.0%prior 20
2
HONDA24 (12.1%)
33.3%prior 18
3
HYUNDAI17 (8.6%)
183.3%prior 6
4
CHEVROLET16 (8.1%)
23.1%prior 13
5
FORD15 (7.6%)
7.1%prior 14
6
NISSAN15 (7.6%)
114.3%prior 7
7
JEEP10 (5.1%)
25.0%prior 8
8
SUBARU8 (4%)
0.0%prior 8
9
MAZDA7 (3.5%)
10
DODGE6 (3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (217 persons with recorded sex)

Male126 (58.1%)
53.7%prior 82
Female91 (41.9%)
40.0%prior 65

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 30 mph zones, which were the most frequent, saw a slight increase from 35 in July 2023 to 38 in July 2024. Crashes in 40 mph zones decreased from 18 to 17, while those in 10 mph zones increased from 4 to 6. There were no fatal crashes recorded in any speed limit zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · 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: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 103
  • Total persons involved: 243
  • Total vehicles involved: 198

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). "WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: July 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/west-springfield/july-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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

West Springfield, MA Crash Report — July 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com