Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

822 CRASHES IN
GARFIELD HEIGHTS, OH
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

Total crashes in Garfield Heights increased by 8.3% from 759 in the prior year to 822 in the current year. A significant shift was observed in DUI crashes, which decreased by 83.3%, from 6 in the prior year to 1 in the current year. Fatal crashes also decreased by 50% year-over-year.

822

8.3%was 759

Total Crash Events

1

-50.0%was 2

Persons Killed

251

-2.0%was 256

Persons Injured

218

11.8%was 195

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.

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash incidents in Garfield Heights show an upward trend, with total crashes increasing by 8.3% from 759 in the prior year to 822 in the current year. This represents an increase of 63 crashes year-over-year. Despite the rise in total crashes, total fatalities decreased from 2 to 1.

218

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2025

11.8% vs prior (195)

Hit-and-run crashes increased by 11.79% year-over-year, from 195 incidents in the prior year to 218 in the current year. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also saw a slight increase, rising from 25.7% to 26.5% of all crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 10.0%

6

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 9-33.3%

245

Motorists Injured

Prior: 247-0.8%

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · 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 Thursday in the prior year (134 crashes) to Friday in the current year (138 crashes). Similarly, the peak hour for crashes moved from 4 PM (62 crashes) in the prior year to 5 PM (69 crashes) in the current year. Sundays saw the largest increase in crashes, rising from 72 to 94.

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.26% in the prior year to 0.12% in the current year, with total fatal crashes dropping from 2 to 1. Serious injury crashes also decreased from 12 (1.6%) to 10 (1.2%) year-over-year. However, minor injury crashes saw an increase from 76 (10%) to 89 (10.8%).

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.1%
-50.0%prior 2
Serious Injury10serious injury crashes1.2%
-16.7%prior 12
Minor Injury89minor injury crashes10.8%
17.1%prior 76
Possible Injury79possible injury crashes9.6%
-17.7%prior 96
No Injury643no injury crashes78.2%
12.2%prior 573

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 410 in the prior year to 468 in the current year, while crashes in cloudy conditions slightly decreased. Crashes on dry road surfaces increased from 561 to 581, and crashes on wet road surfaces also rose from 135 to 165. There was a notable increase in crashes during snowy conditions, from 56 to 78.

Weather

Clear468 (56.9%)
14.1%prior 410
Cloudy185 (22.5%)
-4.1%prior 193
Snow78 (9.5%)
39.3%prior 56
Rain75 (9.1%)
-3.8%prior 78
Other/Unknown11 (1.3%)
10.0%prior 10
Sleet; Hail2 (0.2%)
-66.7%prior 6
Fog; Smog; Smoke2 (0.2%)
-60.0%prior 5
Freezing Rain or Freezing Drizzle1 (0.1%)

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight530 (64.5%)
11.1%prior 477
Dark - Lighted Roadway226 (27.5%)
-0.9%prior 228
Dawn/Dusk45 (5.5%)
2.3%prior 44
Dark - Roadway Not Lighted13 (1.6%)
116.7%prior 6
Dark - Unknown Roadway Lighting5 (0.6%)
Other/Unknown3 (0.4%)

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry581 (70.7%)
3.6%prior 561
Wet165 (20.1%)
22.2%prior 135
Snow62 (7.5%)
31.9%prior 47
Ice12 (1.5%)
-7.7%prior 13
Sand; Mud; Dirt; Oil; Gravel1 (0.1%)
Water (Standing; Moving)1 (0.1%)

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 145, from 1454 in the prior year to 1599 in the current year. Ford became the most frequently involved vehicle make, rising from 170 to 209, surpassing Chevrolet which decreased from 198 to 184. The 35-44 age group saw the largest increase in persons involved, rising from 272 to 314.

Top Vehicle Makes (1,599 vehicles)

1
FORD209 (13.1%)
22.9%prior 170
2
CHEVROLET184 (11.5%)
-7.1%prior 198
3
KIA99 (6.2%)
28.6%prior 77
4
TOYOTA97 (6.1%)
16.9%prior 83
5
JEEP95 (5.9%)
28.4%prior 74
6
HONDA93 (5.8%)
-4.1%prior 97
7
NISSAN89 (5.6%)
-19.8%prior 111
8
HYUNDAI86 (5.4%)
43.3%prior 60
9
DODGE67 (4.2%)
-23.9%prior 88
10
GMC47 (2.9%)
9.3%prior 43

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (1,796 persons with recorded sex)

Male974 (54.2%)
5.6%prior 922
Female822 (45.8%)
5.2%prior 781

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS), accessed programmatically via the Csv 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: Csv 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: Garfield Heights, OH
  • Total crash records analyzed: 822
  • Total persons involved: 1,945
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,599

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). "Garfield Heights, OH Crash Intelligence Report: 2025." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Data source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS), Csv Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/ohio/garfield-heights/2025-annual-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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Garfield Heights, OH Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com