Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

26 CRASHES IN
BETHEL, VT
2018

All metrics benchmarked against2017

In 2018, Bethel experienced 26 crashes, a significant decrease of 62.9% compared to the 70 crashes recorded in 2017. This substantial reduction in overall incidents marks the single most notable year-over-year shift. Total injuries also saw a decrease, falling from 9 in 2017 to 7 in 2018.

26

-62.9%was 70

Total Crash Events

0

Fatal Crashes

7

-22.2%was 9

Injury Crashes

0

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 4 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash incidents in Bethel showed a substantial downward trend year-over-year. The total number of crashes decreased by 62.9%, from 70 in 2017 to 26 in 2018. This indicates a significant reduction in overall crash frequency within the jurisdiction.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year. In 2017, the peak day for crashes was Saturday with 17 incidents, whereas in 2018, Thursday became the peak day with 5 crashes. The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 5 PM with 8 incidents in 2017 to 6 PM with 4 incidents in 2018.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both 2017 and 2018. The total number of injuries decreased from 9 in 2017 to 7 in 2018. However, the proportion of all crashes classified as resulting in injury increased from 12.9% in 2017 to 26.9% in 2018, while the proportion of crashes with no injury also increased from 24.3% to 57.7%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Injury7minor injury crashes26.9%
-22.2%prior 9
No Injury15no injury crashes57.7%
-11.8%prior 17

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of crash conditions showed several shifts year-over-year. The proportion of crashes occurring in clear weather increased from 14.3% in 2017 to 30.8% in 2018, and crashes in freezing precipitation significantly increased from 1.4% to 15.4%. Additionally, the proportion of crashes occurring on dry road surfaces rose from 20.0% in 2017 to 46.2% in 2018, while the proportion of crashes in dark conditions increased from 30.0% to 38.5%.

Weather

Clear8 (42.1%)
-20.0%prior 10
Cloudy6 (31.6%)
-45.5%prior 11
Freezing Precipitation4 (21.1%)
Rain1 (5.3%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight16 (61.5%)
-66.7%prior 48
Dark10 (38.5%)
-52.4%prior 21

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry12 (66.7%)
-14.3%prior 14
Snow4 (22.2%)
Ice1 (5.6%)
Wet1 (5.6%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from Vermont Crash Data, accessed programmatically via the Arcgis 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 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: 2018-01-01 through 2018-12-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2018-01-01 through 2018-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: Bethel, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 26

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). "Bethel, VT Crash Intelligence Report: 2018." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/bethel/2018-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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Bethel, VT Crash Report — 2018 | ThatCarHitMe.com