Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

244 CRASHES IN
COLCHESTER, VT
2018

All metrics benchmarked against2017

In 2018, Colchester experienced 244 crashes, marking a 20.78% decrease from the 308 crashes recorded in 2017. A significant shift was the absence of fatalities in 2018, down from 1 fatality in the prior year.

244

-20.8%was 308

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Fatal Crashes

83

15.3%was 72

Injury Crashes

0

-100.0%was 1

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 6 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 data for Colchester indicates a declining trend in total crashes, with a 20.78% reduction from 308 crashes in 2017 to 244 crashes in 2018. Fatalities saw a 100% decrease, dropping from 1 in 2017 to 0 in 2018, while total injuries increased by 15.28%, from 72 to 83.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Thursday in 2017, which had 54 crashes, to Friday in 2018, with 45 crashes. Similarly, the peak crash hour shifted from 3 PM in 2017 (30 crashes) to 5 PM in 2018 (27 crashes).

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

A notable change in crash severity is the absence of fatal crashes in 2018, down from 1 fatal crash in 2017, representing a 100% decrease. Despite an overall reduction in total crashes, the proportion of injury crashes increased from 23.4% of all crashes in 2017 to 34% in 2018.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Injury83minor injury crashes34%
15.3%prior 72
No Injury155no injury crashes63.5%
-9.4%prior 171

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

Crashes occurring in clear weather decreased from 139 in 2017 to 126 in 2018, while crashes in wet road conditions increased from 36 to 51 during the same period. Crashes occurring during daylight hours decreased from 214 in 2017 to 175 in 2018, and crashes in dark conditions also saw a reduction from 94 to 69.

Weather

Clear126 (56.3%)
-9.4%prior 139
Cloudy51 (22.8%)
6.3%prior 48
Freezing Precipitation28 (12.5%)
-12.5%prior 32
Rain19 (8.5%)
26.7%prior 15

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

Lighting

Daylight175 (71.7%)
-18.2%prior 214
Dark69 (28.3%)
-26.6%prior 94

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

Road Surface

Dry144 (62.9%)
-7.7%prior 156
Wet51 (22.3%)
41.7%prior 36
Snow22 (9.6%)
-18.5%prior 27
Ice5 (2.2%)
-37.5%prior 8
Slush3 (1.3%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel2 (0.9%)
Other - Explain in Narrative2 (0.9%)

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: Colchester, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 244

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). "Colchester, 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/colchester/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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Colchester, VT Crash Report — 2018 | ThatCarHitMe.com