Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

889 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
AUGUST 2017

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2016

In August 2017, Vermont recorded 889 total crashes, a 17.3% decrease from the 1,075 crashes in August 2016. Despite the overall decline in collisions, the most notable year-over-year shift was an increase in traffic fatalities from 5 to 8. Total reported injuries decreased from 218 to 161 during the same period.

889

-17.3%was 1,075

Total Crash Events

8

60.0%was 5

Fatal Crashes

161

-26.1%was 218

Injury Crashes

8

60.0%was 5

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 109 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend in traffic collisions was downward in August 2017 compared to the prior year. Total crashes fell by 17.3%, from 1,075 to 889 incidents. While total injuries also decreased by 26.1%, from 218 to 161, the number of fatalities increased from 5 to 8.

When Crashes Happen

Temporal crash patterns shifted year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Monday (199 crashes) in August 2016 to Wednesday (163 crashes) in August 2017. The peak hour for collisions, however, remained consistent at 4 p.m. in both periods, though the number of crashes during that hour fell from 103 to 82.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes declined, the severity of outcomes increased in August 2017 compared to the prior year. The fatal crash rate rose from 0.5% to 0.9%, with the number of fatal crashes increasing from 5 to 8. The proportion of crashes resulting in an injury decreased slightly from 20.3% to 18.1%, while the share of no-injury crashes grew from 62.5% to 68.7%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal8fatal crashes0.9%
60.0%prior 5
Injury161minor injury crashes18.1%
-26.1%prior 218
No Injury611no injury crashes68.7%
-9.1%prior 672

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in August 2017 occurred under drier conditions compared to the same month in 2016. The proportion of collisions on wet roads was more than halved, falling from 9.6% to 4.3% of all crashes. Similarly, the share of crashes happening in rainy weather dropped from 7.0% to 3.5%. The distribution of crashes in daylight versus dark conditions remained stable, with daylight crashes accounting for approximately 79% in both periods.

Weather

Clear561 (80.7%)
-13.6%prior 649
Cloudy102 (14.7%)
0.0%prior 102
Rain31 (4.5%)
-58.7%prior 75
Freezing Precipitation1 (0.1%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight702 (79.8%)
-18.1%prior 857
Dark178 (20.2%)
-17.6%prior 216

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry659 (93.2%)
-8.5%prior 720
Wet38 (5.4%)
-63.1%prior 103
Water (standing / moving)6 (0.8%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel3 (0.4%)
-40.0%prior 5
Slush1 (0.1%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31 · 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: 2017-08-01 through 2017-08-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2017-08-01 through 2017-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 889

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: August 2017." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2017-08-01 to 2017-08-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/statewide/august-2017-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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Vermont (Statewide) Crash Report — August 2017 | ThatCarHitMe.com