Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

36 CRASHES IN
SOUTH HERO, VT
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

Total crashes in South Hero decreased slightly from 37 in 2020 to 36 in 2021, a 2.7% reduction. Despite this decrease in total crashes, total injuries increased by 33.3%, rising from 3 in 2020 to 4 in 2021. A notable shift is the emergence of DUI-related crashes in 2021, with one recorded incident, compared to zero in 2020.

36

-2.7%was 37

Total Crash Events

0

Fatal Crashes

4

33.3%was 3

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. 23 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

Overall, the number of crashes in South Hero remained relatively stable year-over-year, decreasing slightly from 37 crashes in 2020 to 36 crashes in 2021, a 2.7% reduction. While fatalities remained at zero in both periods, total injuries increased by 33.3%, from 3 in 2020 to 4 in 2021.

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Friday in 2020, with 10 crashes, to Monday in 2021, with 8 crashes. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 10 AM in 2020, with 5 crashes, to 6 PM in 2021, with 4 crashes. In 2021, October recorded the highest number of crashes with 7, compared to October and February sharing the highest in 2020 with 6 crashes each.

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

Fatalities remained at zero in both 2020 and 2021. However, total injuries increased from 3 in 2020 to 4 in 2021, representing a 33.3% rise. The proportion of crashes resulting in injury (code 'U') also increased from 8.1% in 2020 to 11.1% in 2021.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Injury4minor injury crashes11.1%
33.3%prior 3
No Injury9no injury crashes25%
0.0%prior 9

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

The number of crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather increased from 3 in 2020 to 5 in 2021, and 'Freezing Precipitation' conditions were noted in 2 crashes in 2021, not appearing in 2020 data. Crashes in 'Daylight' conditions decreased from 29 in 2020 to 21 in 2021, while crashes in 'Dark' conditions increased from 8 to 15 during the same period. Crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces doubled from 3 in 2020 to 6 in 2021.

Weather

Clear5 (55.6%)
Freezing Precipitation2 (22.2%)
Cloudy1 (11.1%)
Rain1 (11.1%)

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

Lighting

Daylight21 (58.3%)
-27.6%prior 29
Dark15 (41.7%)
87.5%prior 8

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

Road Surface

Dry6 (66.7%)
Wet2 (22.2%)
Snow1 (11.1%)

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: South Hero, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 36

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). "South Hero, 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/south-hero/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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South Hero, VT Crash Report — 2021 | ThatCarHitMe.com