Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

26 CRASHES IN
CHESTER, VT
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

Total crashes in Chester, VT decreased from 50 in 2022 to 26 in 2023, representing a 48% reduction. The most significant shift observed was a 100% decrease in total fatalities and fatal crashes, dropping from 2 fatalities in 2 fatal crashes in 2022 to zero in 2023.

26

-48.0%was 50

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 2

Fatal Crashes

6

-57.1%was 14

Injury Crashes

0

-100.0%was 2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Chester, VT show a significant decline year-over-year. Total crashes decreased by 48%, from 50 in 2022 to 26 in 2023. This reduction was accompanied by a 100% decrease in total fatalities, from 2 in 2022 to 0 in 2023, and a 57.1% decrease in total injuries, from 14 to 6.

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Wednesday, which had 10 crashes in 2022, to Thursday, which recorded 6 crashes in 2023. Similarly, the peak hour for crashes moved from 3 PM, with 8 crashes in 2022, to 4 PM, with 5 crashes in 2023. While the specific peak times changed, the overall number of crashes during peak periods also decreased.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

There was a notable improvement in crash severity, with no fatal crashes or fatalities reported in 2023, compared to 2 fatal crashes and 2 fatalities in 2022. The proportion of injury crashes decreased from 28% (14 out of 50) in 2022 to 23.1% (6 out of 26) in 2023. Concurrently, crashes resulting in no injuries increased proportionally from 68% (34 out of 50) in 2022 to 76.9% (20 out of 26) in 2023.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Injury6minor injury crashes23.1%
-57.1%prior 14
No Injury20no injury crashes76.9%
-41.2%prior 34

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 29 in 2022 to 15 in 2023, though their proportion of total crashes remained stable at approximately 58%. Crashes under freezing precipitation conditions decreased from 7 in 2022 to 2 in 2023, representing a proportional decrease from 14% to 7.7% of all crashes. The proportion of crashes occurring in dark lighting conditions increased slightly from 22% (11 out of 50) in 2022 to 26.9% (7 out of 26) in 2023, despite a decrease in the absolute number of such crashes. Crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 28 in 2022 to 17 in 2023, while their proportion of total crashes increased from 56% to 65.4%.

Weather

Clear15 (65.2%)
-48.3%prior 29
Cloudy3 (13.0%)
-40.0%prior 5
Rain3 (13.0%)
Freezing Precipitation2 (8.7%)
-71.4%prior 7

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight19 (73.1%)
-50.0%prior 38
Dark7 (26.9%)
-36.4%prior 11

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry17 (70.8%)
-39.3%prior 28
Wet4 (16.7%)
-20.0%prior 5
Ice1 (4.2%)
Snow1 (4.2%)
-83.3%prior 6
Water (standing / moving)1 (4.2%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: Chester, 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). "Chester, VT Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/chester/2023-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 — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com