Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

874 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
AUGUST 2021

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2020

In August 2021, Vermont recorded 874 total traffic crashes, a 13.5% increase from the 770 crashes documented in August 2020. While total collisions rose, the number of reported injuries slightly decreased from 138 to 133. The most notable year-over-year shift was the overall increase in total crash volume.

874

13.5%was 770

Total Crash Events

10

11.1%was 9

Fatal Crashes

133

-3.6%was 138

Injury Crashes

10

11.1%was 9

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 296 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data indicates an upward trend in traffic collisions for August, with total crashes rising by 104 incidents, from 770 in 2020 to 874 in 2021. This represents a 13.5% increase in overall crash volume. Despite this increase in total incidents, the number of resulting fatalities rose by one (from 9 to 10), and total injuries saw a slight decline from 138 to 133.

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In August 2021, the peak day for crashes was Monday with 157 incidents, a change from Friday (133 incidents) in the prior year. Similarly, the peak hour for collisions moved from 1 p.m. (68 crashes) in 2020 to 4 p.m. (79 crashes) in 2021, indicating a higher concentration of incidents during the later afternoon commute.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes increased, the overall severity of crashes decreased proportionally. The rate of fatal crashes per 100 incidents declined slightly from 1.17 to 1.14, even as the absolute number of fatalities increased from 9 to 10. The proportion of crashes resulting in any injury also decreased, from 17.9% in August 2020 to 15.2% in August 2021, corresponding with a drop in total injuries from 138 to 133.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal10fatal crashes1.1%
11.1%prior 9
Injury133minor injury crashes15.2%
-3.6%prior 138
No Injury435no injury crashes49.8%
16.0%prior 375

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash conditions remained broadly similar year-over-year, with the majority of incidents in both periods occurring during daylight on dry roads. In August 2021, 707 crashes happened in daylight, up from 606 in the prior year, consistent with the overall increase in crashes. The number of crashes on wet roads increased from 38 to 47, while crashes in rainy conditions remained unchanged at 31 incidents for both periods.

Weather

Clear354 (80.1%)
5.0%prior 337
Cloudy56 (12.7%)
1.8%prior 55
Rain31 (7.0%)
0.0%prior 31
Wind1 (0.2%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight707 (81.5%)
16.7%prior 606
Dark161 (18.5%)
1.3%prior 159

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry392 (87.5%)
2.1%prior 384
Wet47 (10.5%)
23.7%prior 38
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel5 (1.1%)
Other - Explain in Narrative4 (0.9%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · 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: 2021-08-01 through 2021-08-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2021-08-01 through 2021-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 874

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 2021." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/statewide/august-2021-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 2021 | ThatCarHitMe.com