ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA · MARCH 2026
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
103 CRASHES IN
WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA
MARCH 2026
Total crashes in WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA increased by 27.16% year-over-year, rising from 81 in March 2025 to 103 in March 2026. Despite this rise, total fatalities decreased significantly by 66.67%, from 3 to 1. Total injuries also increased by 16.67%, from 12 to 14, over the same period.
103
▲ 27.2%was 81
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -66.7%was 3
Persons Killed
14
▲ 16.7%was 12
Persons Injured
15
▲ 66.7%was 9
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. 3 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crashes in March 2026 increased by 27.16% compared to March 2025, rising from 81 to 103 total crashes. Despite this increase in total crashes, fatalities decreased by 66.67%, from 3 to 1, while total injuries saw a 16.67% rise, from 12 to 14.
15
Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2026
▲ 66.7% vs prior (9)
Hit-and-run crashes increased by 66.67%, from 9 in March 2025 to 15 in March 2026. The hit-and-run rate also rose from 11.1% to 14.6% year-over-year. This indicates an upward trend in both the number and proportion of hit-and-run incidents.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
1
Pedestrians Injured
12
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · 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 Monday (16 crashes) in March 2025 to Tuesday (23 crashes) in March 2026. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 3p (11 crashes) in the prior period to 4p (14 crashes) in the current period. Tuesday experienced a notable increase in crashes, rising from 9 to 23 year-over-year.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatal crashes remained at 1 in both periods, with the fatal crash rate decreasing from 1.23% in March 2025 to 0.97% in March 2026. Total fatalities decreased by 66.67% from 3 to 1. Serious injury crashes remained consistent at 1 in both periods, while minor injury crashes increased from 5 to 6, and possible injury crashes rose from 3 to 5.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, "No improper driving," increased by 18 crashes, from 25 to 43, representing a 72% change in count. "Failed to yield right of way" also increased by 3 crashes, from 11 to 14, a 27.27% change in count. Conversely, "Followed too closely" crashes decreased by 3, from 7 to 4, a -42.86% change in count, and "Distracted" crashes decreased by 1, from 4 to 3, a -25% change in count.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather conditions increased by 20, from 52 to 72, while crashes in "Rain" decreased by 6, from 13 to 7. There was an increase of 4 crashes each reported in "Snow" and "Sleet, hail" conditions, which had no occurrences in the prior period. Crashes during "Daylight" increased by 29, from 61 to 90, whereas crashes in "Dark - lighted roadway" decreased by 7, from 15 to 8.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 156 to 192. TOYOTA moved from the third most involved make with 14 vehicles to the top spot with 36 vehicles, while NISSAN dropped from second with 15 vehicles to eighth with 7 vehicles. The 65+ age group saw the largest increase in persons involved, rising from 22 to 33, a 50% increase, while the 0-15 age group experienced a decrease of 5 persons, from 18 to 13.
Top Vehicle Makes (192 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Vehicle unit records
17 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (228 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes occurring in 40 mph speed zones increased by 9, from 18 to 27, and crashes in 65 mph zones increased by 3, from 2 to 5. The 30 mph zone also saw an increase of 3 crashes, rising from 39 to 42. A fatal crash occurred in a 30 mph zone in March 2025, but in March 2026, the single fatal crash was in a 40 mph zone, which had a fatal rate of 3.704%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 1 of 27 (3.704%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31 · 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: 2026-03-01 through 2026-03-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2026-03-01 through 2026-03-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 103
- Total persons involved: 242
- Total vehicles involved: 192
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: March 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-03-01 to 2026-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/west-springfield/march-2026-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
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2026-03-01 – 2026-03-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved