Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

11 CRASHES IN
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
JANUARY 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2025

In January 2026, WILLIAMSTOWN experienced 11 crashes, a 10% increase from the 10 crashes reported in January 2025. Notably, total injuries decreased from 1 in the prior year to 0 in the current year.

11

10.0%was 10

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Injured

1

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. 11 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in WILLIAMSTOWN saw a slight increase of 10% year-over-year, rising from 10 crashes in January 2025 to 11 crashes in January 2026. Despite this increase in crash volume, total injuries decreased from 1 to 0 during the same period.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2026

0.0% vs prior (1)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained stable at 1 incident in both January 2025 and January 2026. The hit-and-run crash rate slightly decreased from 10% in the prior period to 9.1% in the current period.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted significantly year-over-year. In January 2026, the peak day for crashes was Thursday with 4 incidents, whereas in January 2025, Monday saw the highest count with 3 crashes. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 6 p.m. with 3 crashes in the prior year to 11 a.m. with 3 crashes in the current year.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Top Contributing Factors

Comparing contributing factors, 'Inattention' crashes increased from 1 in January 2025 to 3 in January 2026, a 200% increase in count. 'Followed too closely' crashes, which were not among the top factors in the prior period, accounted for 2 crashes in the current period. Conversely, 'No improper driving' decreased from 3 crashes to 2 crashes, and 'Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway' decreased from 2 crashes to 1 crash.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention3 (27.3%)
Followed too closely2 (18.2%)
No improper driving2 (18.2%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (9.1%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway1 (9.1%)
Visibility obstructed1 (9.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Regarding weather conditions, crashes occurring in 'Clear' conditions increased from 5 in January 2025 to 8 in January 2026, while snow-related crashes decreased from 3 to 1. Under lighting conditions, 'Daylight' crashes rose significantly from 3 to 9, and 'Dark - lighted roadway' crashes decreased from 5 to 1. For road surface, 'Wet' road crashes increased from 2 to 5, and crashes on 'Snow' covered roads were eliminated, down from 3 in the prior period.

Weather

Clear8 (72.7%)
60.0%prior 5
Cloudy1 (9.1%)
Rain1 (9.1%)
Snow1 (9.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight9 (81.8%)
Dark - lighted roadway1 (9.1%)
-80.0%prior 5
Dusk1 (9.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry6 (54.5%)
20.0%prior 5
Wet5 (45.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (17 vehicles)

1
FORD4 (23.5%)
2
HONDA3 (17.6%)
3
SUBARU3 (17.6%)
4
KIA2 (11.8%)
5
PT1 (5.9%)
6
JEEP1 (5.9%)
7
MERCEDES-BENZ1 (5.9%)
8
NISSAN1 (5.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (18 persons with recorded sex)

Female9 (50.0%)
50.0%prior 6
Male9 (50.0%)
-30.8%prior 13

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 40 mph speed zones saw a substantial increase, rising from 1 in January 2025 to 6 in January 2026. Crashes in 5 mph zones also increased from 1 to 2. Notably, crashes in 30 mph zones, which accounted for 6 incidents in the prior period, were not recorded in the current period's data, and crashes in 25 mph and 45 mph zones also disappeared.

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2026-01-01 through 2026-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 11
  • Total persons involved: 21
  • Total vehicles involved: 17

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). "WILLIAMSTOWN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/williamstown/january-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

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Williamstown, MA Crash Report — January 2026 | ThatCarHitMe.com