Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

23 CRASHES IN
WESTWOOD, MA
AUGUST 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2021

Total crashes in August 2022 were 23, a decrease from 38 crashes in August 2021. This represents a 39.5% reduction in overall crashes year-over-year. Despite the decrease in total crashes, the number of injuries rose by 66.7%, from 3 injuries in August 2021 to 5 injuries in August 2022.

23

-39.5%was 38

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

5

66.7%was 3

Persons Injured

2

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in August 2022 decreased by 39.5% compared to August 2021, with 23 crashes versus 38. While fatalities remained at zero in both periods, the number of injuries increased from 3 to 5, representing a 66.7% rise year-over-year. This indicates a decrease in crash frequency but an increase in injury severity per crash.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2022

0.0% vs prior (2)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained stable at 2 in both August 2021 and August 2022. However, the rate of hit-and-run crashes increased from 5.3% of total crashes in August 2021 to 8.7% in August 2022. This indicates that a larger proportion of the fewer crashes involved a hit-and-run incident.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

5

Motorists Injured

Prior: 366.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · 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 Tuesday in August 2021, which had 11 crashes, to Monday in August 2022, which recorded 7 crashes. The peak hour for crashes also moved from 2 PM with 6 crashes in August 2021 to 5 PM with 4 crashes in August 2022. These shifts suggest changes in the timing of peak crash activity.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both August 2021 and August 2022. The number of minor injuries remained stable at 1 in both periods, while possible injuries also remained stable at 2. However, the proportion of crashes resulting in minor injuries increased from 2.6% in August 2021 to 4.3% in August 2022, and possible injury crashes rose from 5.3% to 8.7% of total crashes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury1minor injury crashes4.3%
0.0%prior 1
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes8.7%
0.0%prior 2
No Injury20no injury crashes87%
-42.9%prior 35

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The contributing factor "Followed too closely" remained constant at 9 crashes in both periods, though its share of total crashes increased from 23.7% to 39.1%. Crashes attributed to "Inattention" decreased by 4, from 8 in August 2021 to 4 in August 2022. "Failed to yield right of way" also saw a decrease in count by 4, from 5 crashes in the prior period to 1 crash in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too closely9 (39.1%)0.0%prior 9
Inattention4 (17.4%)-50.0%prior 8
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (8.7%)
Distracted2 (8.7%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (4.3%)-80.0%prior 5
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (4.3%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (4.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in "Clear" or "Clear/Clear" weather conditions decreased from 30 in August 2021 to 18 in August 2022. Conversely, crashes during "Rain" or "Rain/Rain" conditions increased from 2 to 3 year-over-year. Crashes under "Daylight" conditions decreased from 35 in August 2021 to 22 in August 2022, while crashes on "Dry" road surfaces fell from 33 to 19.

Weather

Clear11 (47.8%)
83.3%prior 6
Clear/Clear7 (30.4%)
-70.8%prior 24
Cloudy2 (8.7%)
Rain2 (8.7%)
Rain/Rain1 (4.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight22 (95.7%)
-37.1%prior 35
Other1 (4.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry19 (82.6%)
-42.4%prior 33
Wet3 (13.0%)
-40.0%prior 5
Water (standing, moving)1 (4.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (46 vehicles)

1
BMW6 (13%)
2
CHEVROLET5 (10.9%)
0.0%prior 5
3
JEEP5 (10.9%)
4
HONDA5 (10.9%)
-28.6%prior 7
5
TOYOTA5 (10.9%)
-73.7%prior 19
6
FORD4 (8.7%)
-60.0%prior 10
7
NISSAN4 (8.7%)
8
HYUNDAI2 (4.3%)
9
LEXUS2 (4.3%)
10
MERCEDES-BENZ1 (2.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (49 persons with recorded sex)

Male30 (61.2%)
-50.8%prior 61
Female19 (38.8%)
-44.1%prior 34

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 30 MPH speed zones saw the largest decrease, falling by 10 crashes from 15 in August 2021 to 5 in August 2022. Conversely, crashes in 55 MPH speed zones increased by 5, from 4 in August 2021 to 9 in August 2022. Fatalities remained at zero across all speed zones in both periods.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · 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: 2022-08-01 through 2022-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-08-01 through 2022-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WESTWOOD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 23
  • Total persons involved: 53
  • Total vehicles involved: 46

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). "WESTWOOD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/westwood/august-2022-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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Westwood, MA Crash Report — August 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com