Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

25 CRASHES IN
WINCHENDON, MA
JANUARY 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2025

Total crashes in WINCHENDON increased by 31.6% from 19 in January 2025 to 25 in January 2026. This period also saw a substantial 333.3% increase in total injuries, rising from 3 to 13. Serious injury crashes, specifically, increased from 0 to 3 year-over-year.

25

31.6%was 19

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

13

333.3%was 3

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. 2 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 crash activity in WINCHENDON showed an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 31.6% from 19 in January 2025 to 25 in January 2026. This rise was accompanied by a significant 333.3% increase in total injuries, which climbed from 3 to 13 over the same period.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2026

4.0% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

13

Motorists Injured

Prior: 3333.3%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year. While Monday remained a high-crash day, crashes on Saturday significantly increased from 1 in January 2025 to 7 in January 2026, making it the joint peak day with Monday. The peak crash hour also shifted from 6 PM with 5 crashes in January 2025 to 1 PM with 4 crashes in January 2026.

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)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both January 2025 and January 2026. However, there was a notable increase in injury severity, with serious injury crashes rising from 0 in the prior period to 3 in the current period. The proportion of crashes resulting in any injury (A, B, or C) increased from 15.8% (3 crashes) in January 2025 to 32% (8 crashes) in January 2026.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury3serious injury crashes12%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes8%
0.0%prior 2
Possible Injury3possible injury crashes12%
200.0%prior 1
No Injury15no injury crashes60%
0.0%prior 15

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor shifted from 'Inattention' in January 2025 (6 crashes) to 'No improper driving' in January 2026 (9 crashes), an increase of 4 crashes for the latter. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' decreased by 1, from 6 to 5. 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' crashes doubled from 1 to 2, while 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes decreased from 2 to 1.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving9 (36%)80.0%prior 5
Inattention5 (20%)-16.7%prior 6
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (8%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway2 (8%)
Driving too fast for conditions2 (8%)
Followed too closely1 (4%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (4%)
Visibility obstructed1 (4%)

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

There was a notable shift towards adverse weather and road conditions in January 2026 compared to the prior year. Crashes occurring on snowy road surfaces more than doubled, increasing from 4 to 11. Concurrently, crashes in snowy weather conditions rose from 3 to 10, while crashes on dry roads decreased from 12 to 8. Crashes occurring in daylight increased from 10 to 16, and crashes in unlighted dark conditions rose from 2 to 5.

Weather

Clear10 (40.0%)
-9.1%prior 11
Snow6 (24.0%)
Cloudy3 (12.0%)
Snow/Cloudy3 (12.0%)
Cloudy/Snow1 (4.0%)
Clear/Cloudy1 (4.0%)
Rain1 (4.0%)

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

Lighting

Daylight16 (64.0%)
60.0%prior 10
Dark - roadway not lighted5 (20.0%)
Dark - lighted roadway4 (16.0%)
-20.0%prior 5

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

Road Surface

Snow11 (44.0%)
Dry8 (32.0%)
-33.3%prior 12
Wet3 (12.0%)
Ice2 (8.0%)
Slush1 (4.0%)

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 (38 vehicles)

1
FORD7 (18.4%)
40.0%prior 5
2
TOYOTA6 (15.8%)
3
HONDA4 (10.5%)
4
SUBARU4 (10.5%)
5
MACK3 (7.9%)
6
MAZDA2 (5.3%)
7
CHEVROLET2 (5.3%)
8
GMC2 (5.3%)
9
FRHT1 (2.6%)
10
JEEP1 (2.6%)

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 (49 persons with recorded sex)

Male32 (65.3%)
113.3%prior 15
Female17 (34.7%)
-22.7%prior 22

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

Fatal crash rates remained at 0 across all speed zones in both periods. Crashes in 40 mph zones saw a significant increase, rising from 2 in January 2025 to 7 in January 2026. Crashes in 25 mph zones also increased from 2 to 5, while 30 mph zones experienced a decrease from 4 to 3 crashes. Additionally, new crash occurrences were reported in 5 mph and 10 mph zones in January 2026, which had no reported crashes in the prior year.

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: WINCHENDON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 25
  • Total persons involved: 52
  • Total vehicles involved: 38

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). "WINCHENDON, 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/winchendon/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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Winchendon, MA Crash Report — January 2026 | ThatCarHitMe.com