ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · WESTFORD, MA · 2023
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.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/westford/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
453 CRASHES IN
WESTFORD, MA
2023
In 2023, Westford recorded 453 total crashes, a 3.7% increase from the 437 crashes reported in 2022. The most significant year-over-year shift was the occurrence of one fatal crash in 2023, whereas there were no fatal crashes in the prior year. While total crashes increased, the number of people injured decreased from 95 to 82.
453
▲ 3.7%was 437
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
82
▼ -13.7%was 95
Persons Injured
22
▼ -15.4%was 26
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. 9 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, total crashes in Westford increased by 3.7%, rising from 437 in 2022 to 453 in 2023. Despite the rise in crash volume, the total number of injuries decreased by 13.7% from 95 to 82. The period was marked by one fatality in 2023, compared to zero in the previous year.
22
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▼ -15.4% vs prior (26)
Hit-and-run incidents in Westford saw a decrease between the two periods. The total count of hit-and-run crashes fell from 26 in 2022 to 22 in 2023. This corresponds to a downward trend in the hit-and-run rate, which declined from 5.9% of all crashes in 2022 to 4.9% in 2023.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
2
Pedestrians Injured
1
Cyclists Injured
79
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes showed some changes year-over-year. The peak day for crashes shifted from Friday (78 incidents) in 2022 to Tuesday (80 incidents) in 2023. The peak hour for collisions remained 4 p.m. in both periods, though the number of crashes during this hour increased from 44 to 52.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity changed notably with the recording of one fatal crash in 2023, which accounted for 0.2% of all crashes, compared to zero fatal crashes in 2022. The proportion of serious injury crashes was stable at 1.8% in both years. However, the share of crashes resulting in minor injuries decreased from 9.6% to 8.6%, and possible injury crashes fell from 6.2% to 3.1% of the total.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top three contributing factors remained the same in both periods: 'No improper driving,' 'Inattention,' and 'Failed to yield right of way.' The count of crashes where 'No improper driving' was cited increased by 27.8%, from 97 in 2022 to 124 in 2023. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' rose from 84 to 89, and incidents involving 'Failed to yield right of way' increased from 43 to 50.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
While crashes in clear weather and on dry roads were the most common and remained stable in count, incidents during adverse weather increased. Crashes in rain more than doubled from 13 in 2022 to 29 in 2023, and crashes in snow increased from 12 to 22. Correspondingly, collisions on wet road surfaces rose from 47 to 67. Crashes on dark, unlighted roadways also increased from 29 to 44.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
Toyota, Honda, and Ford were the top three vehicle makes involved in crashes in both years. The number of Toyotas involved increased from 123 to 145, and Hondas from 100 to 108. An analysis of all persons involved in crashes reveals a significant increase in the 0-15 age group, which grew from 48 individuals in 2022 to 114 in 2023. The 45-54 age group also saw its involvement increase from 105 to 146 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (771 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
50 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (916 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The distribution of crashes across speed zones shifted, with a notable increase in incidents in higher-speed areas. Crashes in 65 mph zones rose by 39.6%, from 48 in 2022 to 67 in 2023. The 30 mph zone had a stable number of crashes (238 in 2022 vs. 239 in 2023) but was the location of the single fatal crash recorded in 2023.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 239 (0.418%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: WESTFORD, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 453
- Total persons involved: 988
- Total vehicles involved: 771
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). "WESTFORD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/westford/2023-annual-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: 2023-01-01 – 2023-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved