ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · WORCESTER, MA · SEPTEMBER 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/worcester/september-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
477 CRASHES IN
WORCESTER, MA
SEPTEMBER 2023
In September 2023, WORCESTER, MA experienced 477 crashes, a notable increase from the 398 crashes recorded in September 2022, representing a 19.85% rise. The most significant year-over-year shift was a 100% increase in total fatalities, rising from 1 in September 2022 to 2 in September 2023.
477
▲ 19.8%was 398
Total Crash Events
2
▲ 100.0%was 1
Persons Killed
133
▲ 34.3%was 99
Persons Injured
92
▲ 55.9%was 59
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 66 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash data for WORCESTER, MA shows an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 19.85% from 398 in September 2022 to 477 in September 2023. This increase is accompanied by a 34.34% rise in total injuries, from 99 to 133, and a 100% increase in total fatalities, from 1 to 2.
92
Hit-and-Run Crashes — September 2023
▲ 55.9% vs prior (59)
Hit-and-run crashes increased by 33 incidents, from 59 in September 2022 to 92 in September 2023. The hit-and-run rate also rose from 14.8% of all crashes in September 2022 to 19.3% in September 2023, indicating an upward trend.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
2
Motorists Killed
6
Pedestrians Injured
4
Cyclists Injured
123
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · 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 Friday in both periods, with 94 crashes in September 2023 compared to 77 in September 2022. The peak hour shifted from 5 PM with 39 crashes in September 2022 to 3 PM with 44 crashes in September 2023. Crashes occurring during the 7 AM hour decreased from 24 in September 2022 to 18 in September 2023, while crashes during the 8 PM hour increased from 18 to 32.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate increased from 0.25% in September 2022 to 0.42% in September 2023, with the number of fatal crashes rising from 1 to 2. Minor injury crashes saw an increase from 33 (8.3% of total) to 50 (10.5% of total), and possible injury crashes increased from 30 (7.5% of total) to 42 (8.8% of total). The proportion of serious injury crashes remained stable at 1% in both periods.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, 'No improper driving', increased by 22 crashes, from 132 in September 2022 to 154 in September 2023. 'Followed too closely' saw a significant decrease of 16 crashes, dropping from 34 to 18, and 'Inattention' decreased by 17 crashes, from 25 to 8. Meanwhile, 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' increased by 4 crashes, from 15 to 19.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Rain' conditions increased significantly, from 21 in September 2022 to 59 in September 2023. Correspondingly, crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces rose from 51 to 129. Crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions increased from 72 to 117, while crashes in 'Daylight' conditions saw a smaller increase from 293 to 307.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 789 to 952, a 20.66% rise year-over-year. The 45-54 age group saw the largest increase in persons involved, rising from 105 to 146, a 39.05% increase. Toyota remained the most frequently involved vehicle make, increasing from 159 to 208, while Ford saw a substantial increase from 61 to 98 involved vehicles.
Top Vehicle Makes (952 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Vehicle unit records
216 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (975 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes occurring in 30 mph speed zones increased from 62 in September 2022 to 101 in September 2023, with one fatal crash reported in this zone during the current period where there were none prior. Crashes in 50 mph zones decreased from 31 to 21. There was a slight increase in crashes in 65 mph zones, from 11 to 12, with no fatalities reported in these higher speed zones in either period.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 101 (0.99%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · 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: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30 (30 days)
- Geographic scope: WORCESTER, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 477
- Total persons involved: 1,204
- Total vehicles involved: 952
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: September 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/worcester/september-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-09-01 – 2023-09-30
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved