ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · WESTFORD, MA · 2024
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/2024-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
446 CRASHES IN
WESTFORD, MA
2024
In 2024, Westford recorded 446 total traffic crashes, a 1.5% decrease from the 453 crashes reported in 2023. While overall crashes and the number of people injured declined, the number of fatalities rose from one in the prior year to three in the current year. One of the most significant year-over-year changes was a sharp reduction in crashes where a driver was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol, which fell from 21 incidents in 2023 to 8 in 2024.
446
▼ -1.5%was 453
Total Crash Events
3
▲ 200.0%was 1
Persons Killed
71
▼ -13.4%was 82
Persons Injured
25
▲ 13.6%was 22
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 10 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crashes in Westford showed a slight decline, falling by 1.5% from 453 in 2023 to 446 in 2024. The number of people injured in these incidents also decreased by 13.4%, from 82 to 71. However, the number of fatalities increased from one in the prior year to three in the current year.
25
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2024
▲ 13.6% vs prior (22)
The number of hit-and-run incidents increased from 22 in 2023 to 25 in 2024. This corresponds to an increase in the hit-and-run rate, which rose from 4.9% of all crashes in the prior year to 5.6% in the current year. The data indicates an upward trend in collisions where a driver left the scene.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
3
Motorists Killed
2
Pedestrians Injured
4
Cyclists Injured
65
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes in Westford remained broadly consistent year-over-year. The peak hour for collisions was 4 p.m. in both 2024 (56 crashes) and 2023 (52 crashes). The peak day for crashes shifted from Tuesday (80 crashes) in 2023 to Thursday (79 crashes) in 2024, with Wednesday also seeing a notable increase in incidents from 67 to 75.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While the total number of crashes resulting in an injury was identical at 61 for both years, the severity profile shifted. In 2024, there were three fatal crashes, an increase from one in 2023, raising the fatal crash rate from 0.22 to 0.67 per 100 crashes. Crashes resulting in serious injuries decreased from 8 to 3, while those with possible injuries increased from 14 to 24. The proportion of non-injury crashes remained high but decreased slightly from 84.3% in 2023 to 83.4% in 2024.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors remained consistent, though their counts shifted between periods. 'Inattention' was the top cited driver-related factor in both years, though its count decreased by 9.0% from 89 in 2023 to 81 in 2024. Incidents attributed to 'Followed too closely' saw a significant count increase of 29.8%, rising from 47 to 61 and moving from the fourth to the third most common factor. Crashes where 'Failed to yield right of way' was a factor also increased in count from 50 to 60.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
In both 2024 and 2023, the majority of crashes occurred during daylight hours (324 and 320, respectively) in clear weather on dry road surfaces. There was a notable decrease in crashes under adverse road conditions in 2024, as collisions on wet roads fell from 67 to 37. Crashes during rainy conditions also dropped from 29 to 20, while incidents on snowy or icy surfaces remained relatively stable at 35 in 2024 compared to 30 in 2023.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes were Toyota, Honda, and Ford in both years. While Toyota's involvement was stable (143 vehicles in 2024 vs. 145 in 2023), the number of Hondas involved increased from 108 to 124. Analysis of persons involved shows a shift in age demographics; the 35-44 age group saw its representation increase from 123 to 153 individuals, making it the largest group in 2024. In contrast, involvement of the 45-54 age group decreased from 146 to 112 individuals.
Top Vehicle Makes (793 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
56 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (914 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The 30 mph speed zone was the location for the highest number of crashes in both periods, though the count decreased from 239 in 2023 to 228 in 2024. A significant shift occurred in the location of fatal crashes; the sole fatality in 2023 was in a 30 mph zone, whereas all three fatalities in 2024 occurred in a 65 mph zone. Crashes in 40 mph zones also saw a notable decrease from 96 to 71 incidents year-over-year.
Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 3 of 63 (4.762%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
- Geographic scope: WESTFORD, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 446
- Total persons involved: 986
- Total vehicles involved: 793
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: 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/westford/2024-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: 2024-01-01 – 2024-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved