Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,139 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
DECEMBER 2012

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2011

In December 2012, Vermont recorded 1,139 total traffic crashes, a decrease from the 1,239 crashes reported in December 2011. This represents an 8.1% year-over-year decline in total collisions. The most notable shift in crash circumstances was a substantial increase in incidents occurring during freezing precipitation, which rose from 232 to 349 cases.

1,139

▼ -8.1%was 1,239

Total Crash Events

4

▲ 33.3%was 3

Fatal Crashes

180

▼ -23.1%was 234

Injury Crashes

4

▲ 33.3%was 3

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 · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, traffic safety trends showed a decrease in crash volume in December 2012 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes decreased by 8.1%, from 1,239 to 1,139. The number of injuries also saw a significant decline of 23.1%, falling from 234 to 180, although the number of fatalities increased from 3 to 4.

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In December 2012, the peak day for crashes moved to Saturday with 233 incidents, compared to Friday (242 incidents) in the prior year. While the peak hour remained in the late afternoon, crashes on Saturday and Sunday combined increased from 278 in 2011 to 416 in 2012, indicating a shift toward more weekend incidents.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While the total number of crashes decreased, the severity profile shifted slightly. The number of fatalities rose from 3 to 4 year-over-year, and the fatality rate per crash increased from 0.24% to 0.35%. Conversely, the proportion of crashes resulting in any injury decreased from 18.9% in December 2011 to 15.8% in December 2012, with a corresponding increase in the share of no-injury incidents from 80.8% to 83.8%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal4fatal crashes0.4%
↑33.3%prior 3
Injury180minor injury crashes15.8%
↓-23.1%prior 234
No Injury955no injury crashes83.8%
↓-4.6%prior 1,001

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash conditions varied significantly between the two periods, primarily driven by weather. In December 2012, crashes occurring during freezing precipitation increased by over 50% to 349 incidents, becoming the most common weather condition for crashes. This corresponded with a sharp rise in crashes on snowy road surfaces, which grew from 161 to 305. Conversely, collisions in clear weather and on dry roads saw substantial decreases from the prior year.

Weather

Freezing Precipitation349 (33.4%)
↑50.4%prior 232
Clear327 (31.3%)
↓-35.2%prior 505
Cloudy289 (27.7%)
↓-1.0%prior 292
Rain77 (7.4%)
↓-22.2%prior 99
Wind2 (0.2%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight830 (73.3%)
↓-6.5%prior 888
Dark303 (26.7%)
↓-9.6%prior 335

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry396 (37.5%)
↓-27.5%prior 546
Snow305 (28.9%)
↑89.4%prior 161
Wet214 (20.3%)
↓-9.7%prior 237
Ice91 (8.6%)
↓-47.1%prior 172
Slush42 (4.0%)
↑133.3%prior 18
Other - Explain in Narrative5 (0.5%)
↓-54.5%prior 11
Water (standing / moving)1 (0.1%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.1%)
↓-85.7%prior 7

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31 · 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: 2012-12-01 through 2012-12-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2012-12-01 through 2012-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,139

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: December 2012." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2012-12-01 to 2012-12-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/statewide/december-2012-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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Vermont (Statewide) Crash Report — December 2012 | ThatCarHitMe.com