Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

383 CRASHES IN
WORCESTER, MA
JANUARY 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2022

Total crashes in Worcester decreased by 12% from 435 in January 2022 to 383 in January 2023. This period also saw a significant reduction in crashes attributed to speeding, with 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' and 'Driving too fast for conditions' decreasing from a combined 16 to 8 crashes. Total fatalities remained constant at 1 in both periods.

383

-12.0%was 435

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

95

-7.8%was 103

Persons Injured

77

13.2%was 68

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. 67 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 2023-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash trends in Worcester show a decrease, with total crashes falling by 52, from 435 in January 2022 to 383 in January 2023. Total fatalities remained stable at 1 for both periods. Total injuries also saw a reduction, decreasing from 103 to 95.

77

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2023

13.2% vs prior (68)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 68 in January 2022 to 77 in January 2023. This represents an increase of 9 crashes year-over-year. The hit-and-run rate also rose from 15.6% in the prior period to 20.1% in the current period, indicating an upward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

4

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 2100.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

90

Motorists Injured

Prior: 100-10.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · 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 Wednesday, with 91 crashes in January 2022, to Monday, with 68 crashes in January 2023. Wednesday crashes saw a substantial decrease of 45 year-over-year. The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 2 PM with 36 crashes in the prior period to 5 PM with 33 crashes in the current period.

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

The number of fatal crashes remained constant at 1 for both January 2022 and January 2023, resulting in a slight increase in the fatal crash rate from 0.23% to 0.26% due to fewer total crashes. Total injuries decreased from 103 to 95. The combined proportion of serious, minor, and possible injury crashes remained stable at approximately 17.5% of all crashes in both periods.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.3%
0.0%prior 1
Serious Injury6serious injury crashes1.6%
0.0%prior 6
Minor Injury32minor injury crashes8.4%
3.2%prior 31
Possible Injury29possible injury crashes7.6%
-25.6%prior 39
No Injury248no injury crashes64.8%
-13.3%prior 286

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' decreased by 25 crashes, from 163 in January 2022 to 138 in January 2023. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' decreased by 5, from 20 to 15. Conversely, 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes increased by 3, from 24 to 27.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving138 (36%)-15.3%prior 163
Failed to yield right of way27 (7%)12.5%prior 24
Inattention15 (3.9%)-25.0%prior 20
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings11 (2.9%)-26.7%prior 15
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road10 (2.6%)66.7%prior 6
Followed too closely10 (2.6%)-28.6%prior 14
Other improper action5 (1.3%)0.0%prior 5
Exceeded authorized speed limit5 (1.3%)-28.6%prior 7
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner4 (1%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway4 (1%)-60.0%prior 10

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a notable shift in weather conditions, with 'Clear' weather crashes decreasing from 219 to 167, while 'Rain' crashes increased significantly from 8 to 41. Correspondingly, 'Dry' road surface crashes decreased from 243 to 213. Crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces nearly doubled, increasing from 60 to 117.

Weather

Clear167 (44.9%)
-23.7%prior 219
Rain41 (11.0%)
412.5%prior 8
Cloudy40 (10.8%)
-21.6%prior 51
Clear/Clear32 (8.6%)
-30.4%prior 46
Cloudy/Rain15 (4.0%)
150.0%prior 6
Snow12 (3.2%)
-55.6%prior 27
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)10 (2.7%)
25.0%prior 8
Cloudy/Snow8 (2.2%)
Rain/Cloudy6 (1.6%)
Cloudy/Cloudy6 (1.6%)

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

Lighting

Daylight199 (53.4%)
-25.5%prior 267
Dark - lighted roadway135 (36.2%)
4.7%prior 129
Dark - roadway not lighted15 (4.0%)
66.7%prior 9
Dusk13 (3.5%)
18.2%prior 11
Dawn7 (1.9%)
40.0%prior 5
Dark - unknown roadway lighting3 (0.8%)
Other1 (0.3%)

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

Road Surface

Dry213 (57.7%)
-12.3%prior 243
Wet117 (31.7%)
95.0%prior 60
Snow23 (6.2%)
-62.9%prior 62
Ice10 (2.7%)
-82.5%prior 57
Slush2 (0.5%)
Water (standing, moving)2 (0.5%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.3%)
Other1 (0.3%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained Toyota, Honda, and Ford in both periods. The number of Toyota vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 156 to 139. The counts for Honda and Ford vehicles involved in crashes remained stable at 93 and 75, respectively.

Top Vehicle Makes (714 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA139 (19.5%)
-10.9%prior 156
2
HONDA93 (13%)
0.0%prior 93
3
FORD75 (10.5%)
0.0%prior 75
4
NISSAN51 (7.1%)
-7.3%prior 55
5
CHEVROLET45 (6.3%)
-32.8%prior 67
6
SUBARU24 (3.4%)
-44.2%prior 43
7
HYUNDAI23 (3.2%)
-39.5%prior 38
8
JEEP20 (2.8%)
-31.0%prior 29
9
ACURA19 (2.7%)
18.8%prior 16
10
KIA17 (2.4%)
0.0%prior 17

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

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

Sex Distribution (702 persons with recorded sex)

Male401 (57.1%)
-10.3%prior 447
Female301 (42.9%)
-9.3%prior 332

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

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 MPH speed limit zone decreased from 86 to 72. Crashes in the 50 MPH speed limit zone decreased from 27 to 25. A fatal crash occurred in the 50 MPH zone in January 2023, while no fatal crashes were recorded in this zone in January 2022.

Fatal crashes by zone: 50 mph: 1 of 25 (4%)

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: WORCESTER, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 383
  • Total persons involved: 861
  • Total vehicles involved: 714

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). "WORCESTER, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/worcester/january-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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Worcester, MA Crash Report — January 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com