Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

93 CRASHES IN
WOBURN, MA
AUGUST 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2022

Total crashes in WOBURN, MA increased by 25.68% year-over-year, rising from 74 in August 2022 to 93 in August 2023. This period also saw a significant increase in total injuries, which rose from 8 to 27, marking a 237.5% increase. Additionally, one fatality was recorded in August 2023, compared to zero in August 2022.

93

25.7%was 74

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

27

237.5%was 8

Persons Injured

13

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 6 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash activity in WOBURN, MA showed an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 25.68% from 74 to 93. This rise was accompanied by a substantial 237.5% increase in total injuries, from 8 to 27, and the occurrence of one fatal crash in the current period compared to none in the prior period.

13

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2023

0.0% vs prior (13)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained constant at 13 incidents in both August 2022 and August 2023. However, due to an increase in overall crashes, the hit-and-run rate decreased from 17.6% in the prior period to 14% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

24

Motorists Injured

Prior: 8200.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes remained Tuesday in both periods, with 21 crashes in the current period compared to 17 in the prior period. The peak hour for crashes shifted from 6 PM in August 2022 (11 crashes) to 4 PM in August 2023 (11 crashes).

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The current period recorded one fatal crash, resulting in a 1.08% fatal rate, compared to zero fatal crashes in the prior period. Crashes resulting in any injury (serious, minor, or possible) accounted for 21.5% of total crashes in the current period, a notable increase from 9.46% in the prior period. Specifically, minor injury crashes increased from 4 to 12, and possible injury crashes increased from 3 to 7.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes1.1%
Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.1%
Minor Injury12minor injury crashes12.9%
200.0%prior 4
Possible Injury7possible injury crashes7.5%
133.3%prior 3
No Injury66no injury crashes71%
11.9%prior 59

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factors remained consistent in ranking between the two periods, but all saw an increase in counts. 'No improper driving' increased by 7 crashes (53.8%) from 13 to 20, while 'Inattention' increased by 7 crashes (58.3%) from 12 to 19. 'Failed to yield right of way' increased by 2 crashes (22.2%) from 9 to 11, and 'Followed too closely' increased by 2 crashes (25%) from 8 to 10.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving20 (21.5%)53.8%prior 13
Inattention19 (20.4%)58.3%prior 12
Failed to yield right of way11 (11.8%)22.2%prior 9
Followed too closely10 (10.8%)25.0%prior 8
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road4 (4.3%)-20.0%prior 5
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (3.2%)
Made an improper turn2 (2.2%)
Distracted2 (2.2%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit2 (2.2%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in adverse weather conditions (cloudy, rain, or mixed) increased from 15 in the prior period to 26 in the current period, representing an increase in their proportion from 20.3% to 28% of total crashes. Crashes on wet road surfaces also saw a notable increase, rising from 8 incidents in the prior period to 18 in the current period, which is an increase from 10.8% to 19.4% of total crashes. The proportion of crashes occurring in dark conditions remained relatively stable, with 15.1% in the current period and 16.2% in the prior period.

Weather

Clear62 (69.7%)
6.9%prior 58
Cloudy8 (9.0%)
14.3%prior 7
Cloudy/Rain6 (6.7%)
Rain6 (6.7%)
-14.3%prior 7
Clear/Other3 (3.4%)
Cloudy/Other1 (1.1%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (1.1%)
Rain/Fog, smog, smoke1 (1.1%)
Clear/Rain1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight75 (84.3%)
27.1%prior 59
Dark - lighted roadway13 (14.6%)
116.7%prior 6
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry72 (80.0%)
10.8%prior 65
Wet18 (20.0%)
125.0%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 15.19%, from 158 in August 2022 to 182 in August 2023. The ranking of top vehicle makes shifted, with Toyota moving from third to first (18 to 22 vehicles), while Honda moved from first to third (20 to 20 vehicles), and Ford remained second (19 to 21 vehicles). All comparable age groups saw an increase in the number of persons involved, with the 16-20 age group experiencing an 84.6% increase from 13 to 24 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (182 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA22 (12.1%)
22.2%prior 18
2
FORD21 (11.5%)
10.5%prior 19
3
HONDA20 (11%)
0.0%prior 20
4
NISSAN13 (7.1%)
85.7%prior 7
5
CHEVROLET10 (5.5%)
-23.1%prior 13
6
KIA9 (4.9%)
7
HYUNDAI9 (4.9%)
8
SUBARU8 (4.4%)
-20.0%prior 10
9
JEEP5 (2.7%)
-16.7%prior 6
10
MAZDA5 (2.7%)
-16.7%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (181 persons with recorded sex)

Male108 (59.7%)
31.7%prior 82
Female73 (40.3%)
46.0%prior 50

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone increased by 13 incidents (48.1%), from 27 to 40, representing the largest count increase for any speed zone. Conversely, crashes in the 55 mph zone decreased by 7 incidents (58.3%), from 12 to 5. One fatal crash occurred in a 35 mph speed zone in August 2023, whereas no fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone in August 2022.

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 1 of 12 (8.333%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · 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: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WOBURN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 93
  • Total persons involved: 209
  • Total vehicles involved: 182

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). "WOBURN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/woburn/august-2023-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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Woburn, MA Crash Report — August 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com