Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

361 CRASHES IN
WESTPORT, MA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

In 2023, Westport recorded 361 total traffic crashes, a 4.8% decrease from the 379 crashes in 2022. The most notable year-over-year change was the reduction in traffic fatalities, which fell from two in the prior year to zero in the current period. While total crashes and fatalities decreased, the number of reported injuries saw a slight increase from 119 to 123.

361

-4.7%was 379

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 2

Persons Killed

123

3.4%was 119

Persons Injured

8

60.0%was 5

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. 7 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 traffic safety trends in Westport showed improvement, with total crashes decreasing by 4.8% from 379 in 2022 to 361 in 2023. This positive trend was underscored by a significant drop in fatalities from two to zero. However, the total number of injuries rose slightly by 3.4%, from 119 to 123.

8

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023

60.0% vs prior (5)

Hit-and-run incidents trended upward year-over-year. The absolute count of hit-and-run crashes increased by 60%, from 5 in 2022 to 8 in 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of total crashes, also rose from 1.3% to 2.2%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2-100.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

120

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1181.7%

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 shifted between the two periods. In 2023, the peak day for crashes was Sunday with 57 incidents, a change from 2022 when Friday was the peak day with 71 crashes. The peak hour for collisions remained the 4 p.m. hour in both years, though the number of crashes during this hour decreased from 38 in 2022 to 30 in 2023.

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 improved significantly year-over-year, with fatal crashes falling from two in 2022 to zero in 2023. The count of serious injury crashes also decreased from 13 to 9. Conversely, crashes resulting in minor injuries increased from 49 in 2022 to 64 in 2023, representing a shift in proportion from 12.9% to 17.7% of all crashes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury9serious injury crashes2.5%
-30.8%prior 13
Minor Injury64minor injury crashes17.7%
30.6%prior 49
Possible Injury16possible injury crashes4.4%
-30.4%prior 23
No Injury265no injury crashes73.4%
-6.0%prior 282

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 leading contributing factors remained consistent, with 'No improper driving' and 'Inattention' being the top two cited reasons in both 2022 and 2023. However, the counts for specific factors shifted; crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' increased by 50%, from 14 to 21 incidents. In contrast, crashes involving 'Distracted' driving saw a significant decrease in count, falling by 54.5% from 11 to 5.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving135 (37.4%)-1.5%prior 137
Inattention50 (13.9%)-2.0%prior 51
Failed to yield right of way28 (7.8%)7.7%prior 26
Followed too closely21 (5.8%)50.0%prior 14
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner13 (3.6%)-7.1%prior 14
Driving too fast for conditions12 (3.3%)-20.0%prior 15
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road12 (3.3%)-25.0%prior 16
Other improper action9 (2.5%)-18.2%prior 11
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway9 (2.5%)0.0%prior 9
Exceeded authorized speed limit7 (1.9%)16.7%prior 6

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

The distribution of crashes across environmental conditions remained largely stable, with most incidents in both years occurring in daylight on dry roads. However, there was a noticeable increase in crashes on wet road surfaces, which rose from 45 incidents (11.9% of total) in 2022 to 58 incidents (16.1% of total) in 2023. Crashes on dark, unlit roadways also increased from 89 to 99 incidents.

Weather

Clear242 (67.8%)
-3.2%prior 250
Cloudy35 (9.8%)
25.0%prior 28
Rain26 (7.3%)
23.8%prior 21
Clear/Cloudy16 (4.5%)
33.3%prior 12
Cloudy/Rain9 (2.5%)
Clear/Unknown8 (2.2%)
-52.9%prior 17
Fog, smog, smoke3 (0.8%)
Clear/Other3 (0.8%)
-72.7%prior 11
Cloudy/Clear3 (0.8%)
Rain/Cloudy2 (0.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight213 (59.2%)
-9.7%prior 236
Dark - roadway not lighted99 (27.5%)
11.2%prior 89
Dark - lighted roadway25 (6.9%)
-26.5%prior 34
Dawn12 (3.3%)
100.0%prior 6
Dusk6 (1.7%)
0.0%prior 6
Dark - unknown roadway lighting5 (1.4%)
-16.7%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry298 (83.0%)
-3.2%prior 308
Wet58 (16.2%)
28.9%prior 45
Snow3 (0.8%)
-72.7%prior 11

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top five vehicle makes involved in crashes were identical in both years, though their rankings changed slightly; Toyota and Honda remained the top two, while Chevrolet, Ford, and Nissan shifted positions. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes was also consistent, with the 65+ age group having high involvement in both 2023 (106 persons) and 2022 (105 persons). The 16-20 age group saw a slight increase in involvement from 88 persons in 2022 to 96 in 2023.

Top Vehicle Makes (534 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA84 (15.7%)
-3.4%prior 87
2
HONDA52 (9.7%)
-5.5%prior 55
3
FORD50 (9.4%)
16.3%prior 43
4
NISSAN49 (9.2%)
28.9%prior 38
5
CHEVROLET44 (8.2%)
-18.5%prior 54
6
GMC27 (5.1%)
92.9%prior 14
7
HYUNDAI25 (4.7%)
8.7%prior 23
8
JEEP25 (4.7%)
0.0%prior 25
9
DODGE19 (3.6%)
11.8%prior 17
10
SUBARU17 (3.2%)
-5.6%prior 18

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (641 persons with recorded sex)

Male364 (56.8%)
0.8%prior 361
Female277 (43.2%)
-3.8%prior 288

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

In 2023, crashes were most frequent in 30 mph (84 crashes) and 35 mph (56 crashes) zones, a slight shift from 2022 where 30 mph (91 crashes) and 45 mph (55 crashes) zones were most common. Notably, the two fatal crashes in 2022 occurred in 30 mph and 65 mph zones. In 2023, there were no fatal crashes recorded in any speed zone.

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: WESTPORT, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 361
  • Total persons involved: 685
  • Total vehicles involved: 534

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). "WESTPORT, 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/westport/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

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Westport, MA Crash Report — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com