Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

10,533 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In 2021, Vermont recorded 10,533 total traffic crashes, a figure nearly identical to the 10,549 crashes recorded in 2020, representing a decrease of less than 0.2%. Despite the stable number of total incidents, the number of fatalities rose significantly. The most notable year-over-year shift was a 21.1% increase in total fatalities, which climbed from 57 in 2020 to 69 in 2021.

10,533

▼ -0.2%was 10,549

Total Crash Events

▲ 21.1%was 57

Fatal Crashes

1,556

▲ 7.0%was 1,454

Injury Crashes

▲ 21.1%was 57

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 3,507 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 number of traffic crashes in Vermont remained stable year-over-year, with 10,533 incidents in 2021 compared to 10,549 in 2020, a marginal decrease of 0.15%. However, the severity of these crashes increased. The state saw a 21.1% rise in fatalities, from 57 to 69, and a 7.0% increase in injuries, from 1,454 to 1,556, indicating a trend towards more severe crash outcomes.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes in Vermont showed consistency year-over-year. Friday remained the peak day for crashes in 2021 (1,862 incidents), as it was in 2020 (1,758 incidents). Similarly, the peak hour for collisions was unchanged, occurring at 3 PM in both periods, with 861 crashes in 2021 and 855 in 2020. The overall daily and hourly distributions of crashes did not exhibit significant shifts between the two years.

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

Analysis of crash severity reveals a shift toward more serious outcomes in 2021 compared to 2020. The proportion of crashes resulting in a fatality increased from 0.5% (57 incidents) in 2020 to 0.7% (69 incidents) in 2021. Similarly, the share of crashes involving an injury rose from 13.8% (1,454 incidents) to 14.8% (1,556 incidents). This indicates that while the total number of crashes was stable, the incidents that did occur were more likely to result in injury or death.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal69fatal crashes0.7%

↑21.1%prior 57

Injury1,556minor injury crashes14.8%

↑7.0%prior 1,454

No Injury5,401no injury crashes51.3%

↑2.2%prior 5,285

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

Environmental conditions during crashes were broadly similar year-over-year, with daylight crashes accounting for about 74% of incidents in both 2020 and 2021. There was a decrease in crashes occurring on adverse road surfaces, including a drop in incidents on snowy roads from 630 to 518 and on icy roads from 220 to 124. Crashes during freezing precipitation also declined from 694 to 546. Despite fewer crashes in these challenging conditions, overall crash severity increased.

Weather

Clear3,478 (64.1%)

↓-0.1%prior 3,481

Cloudy1,009 (18.6%)

↑9.7%prior 920

Freezing Precipitation546 (10.1%)

↓-21.3%prior 694

Rain379 (7.0%)

↑18.8%prior 319

Wind11 (0.2%)

→0.0%prior 11

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

Lighting

Daylight7,782 (74.3%)

↑0.2%prior 7,764

Dark2,692 (25.7%)

↓-0.6%prior 2,707

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

Road Surface

Dry3,892 (71.3%)

↑4.3%prior 3,730

Wet784 (14.4%)

↑8.6%prior 722

Snow518 (9.5%)

↓-17.8%prior 630

Ice124 (2.3%)

↓-43.6%prior 220

Slush52 (1.0%)

↓-22.4%prior 67

Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel38 (0.7%)

→0.0%prior 38

Other - Explain in Narrative35 (0.6%)

↓-14.6%prior 41

Water (standing / moving)17 (0.3%)

↑70.0%prior 10

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: vermont, VT
Total crash records analyzed: 10,533

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). "vermont, 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/statewide/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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10,533 CRASHES INVERMONT, VT2021