Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

31 CRASHES IN
CHESTER, VT
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In 2021, Chester recorded 31 total crashes, a decrease from 37 crashes in 2020, representing a 16.22% reduction year-over-year. A significant shift was observed in fatalities, which increased from 0 in 2020 to 1 in 2021. DUI-related crashes also saw a notable decrease, falling from 4 incidents in 2020 to 2 in 2021.

31

-16.2%was 37

Total Crash Events

1

Fatal Crashes

4

Injury Crashes

1

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 · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a decrease in total crashes, with 31 crashes reported in 2021 compared to 37 crashes in 2020. This represents a 16.22% reduction in crash incidents year-over-year. While total crashes declined, the number of fatalities increased from 0 in 2020 to 1 in 2021.

When Crashes Happen

Temporal patterns shifted notably between the two periods. In 2020, the peak day for crashes was Saturday with 7 incidents, and the peak hour was 2a with 4 incidents. However, in 2021, the peak day moved to Thursday with 8 crashes, and the peak hour shifted significantly to 4p, also with 8 crashes.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity distributions saw a critical change year-over-year. Fatal crashes increased from 0 in 2020 to 1 in 2021, resulting in 1 fatality in 2021 compared to 0 in 2020. The number of injury crashes remained stable at 4 in both years, though their proportion of total crashes increased from 10.8% in 2020 to 12.9% in 2021.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes3.2%
Injury4minor injury crashes12.9%
0.0%prior 4
No Injury22no injury crashes71%
-24.1%prior 29

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Significant shifts were observed in crash conditions. Crashes occurring in clear weather decreased from 27 in 2020 to 14 in 2021, while crashes in cloudy conditions increased from 1 to 4. Crashes occurring in dark conditions dramatically decreased from 13 in 2020 to just 1 in 2021, shifting the majority of crashes to daylight conditions, which increased from 24 to 30. Regarding road surface, dry road crashes decreased from 23 to 18, and crashes on snow-covered roads increased from 2 to 3.

Weather

Clear14 (63.6%)
-48.1%prior 27
Cloudy4 (18.2%)
Freezing Precipitation3 (13.6%)
Rain1 (4.5%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight30 (96.8%)
25.0%prior 24
Dark1 (3.2%)
-92.3%prior 13

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry18 (78.3%)
-21.7%prior 23
Snow3 (13.0%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (4.3%)
Slush1 (4.3%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · 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: 2021-01-01 through 2021-12-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2021-01-01 through 2021-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: Chester, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 31

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). "Chester, VT Crash Intelligence Report: 2021." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/chester/2021-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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Chester, VT Crash Report — 2021 | ThatCarHitMe.com