Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

808 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
AUGUST 2018

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2017

In August 2018, there were 808 total crashes, a 9.1% decrease from the 889 crashes recorded in August 2017. While overall crashes and fatalities declined, the number of pedestrian-involved crashes doubled from 7 in the prior year period to 14 in the current period.

808

-9.1%was 889

Total Crash Events

5

-37.5%was 8

Fatal Crashes

177

9.9%was 161

Injury Crashes

5

-37.5%was 8

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 · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for August 2018 indicates a downward trend compared to the same month in the previous year. Total crashes decreased by 9.1%, from 889 to 808, and total fatalities fell from 8 to 5. However, the number of reported injuries increased by 9.9%, rising from 161 in August 2017 to 177 in August 2018.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between August 2017 and August 2018. The peak day for crashes moved from Wednesday (163 crashes) in the prior year to Friday (149 crashes) in the current period. Similarly, the peak hour for collisions shifted from the 4 p.m. hour (82 crashes) in 2017 to the 12 p.m. hour (72 crashes) in 2018.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes shows a mixed trend year-over-year. The proportion of fatal crashes decreased from 0.9% of all incidents in August 2017 to 0.6% in August 2018. Conversely, the share of crashes resulting in an injury increased, rising from 18.1% in the prior year to 21.9% in the current period.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.6%
-37.5%prior 8
Injury177minor injury crashes21.9%
9.9%prior 161
No Injury626no injury crashes77.5%
2.5%prior 611

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in August 2018 occurred more frequently during adverse weather and road conditions compared to August 2017. The proportion of crashes happening in the rain increased from 3.5% to 6.7% year-over-year, and incidents on wet road surfaces rose from 4.3% to 7.1% of the total. In terms of lighting, a higher percentage of crashes occurred during daylight in 2018 (83.0%) compared to 2017 (79.0%), with a corresponding decrease in the share of crashes in dark conditions.

Weather

Clear470 (75.4%)
-16.2%prior 561
Cloudy99 (15.9%)
-2.9%prior 102
Rain54 (8.7%)
74.2%prior 31

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight671 (84.2%)
-4.4%prior 702
Dark126 (15.8%)
-29.2%prior 178

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry560 (89.9%)
-15.0%prior 659
Wet57 (9.1%)
50.0%prior 38
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel3 (0.5%)
Water (standing / moving)2 (0.3%)
-66.7%prior 6
Other - Explain in Narrative1 (0.2%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31 · 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: 2018-08-01 through 2018-08-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2018-08-01 through 2018-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 808

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 2018." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-08-01 to 2018-08-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/statewide/august-2018-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 2018 | ThatCarHitMe.com