Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

983 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
DECEMBER 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2019

In December 2020, Vermont recorded 983 traffic crashes, a 6.7% increase from the 921 crashes reported in December 2019. Despite the rise in total incidents, the number of fatalities saw a substantial year-over-year decrease, falling from seven in December 2019 to one in December 2020.

983

6.7%was 921

Total Crash Events

1

-85.7%was 7

Fatal Crashes

124

-31.1%was 180

Injury Crashes

1

-85.7%was 7

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 380 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data for December shows a 6.7% increase in total crashes, rising from 921 in 2019 to 983 in 2020. In contrast to the rise in overall incidents, the severity of these crashes decreased, with total injuries falling by 31.1% and fatalities dropping from seven to one.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. In December 2020, the highest number of crashes occurred on Thursday with 210 incidents, while in the prior year, Friday was the peak day with 164 incidents. The peak hour for crashes also shifted, moving from 4 p.m. in 2019 (87 crashes) to 5 p.m. in 2020 (82 crashes).

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity decreased significantly in December 2020 compared to the previous year. The number of fatal crashes fell from seven to one, and the total number of injuries declined by 31.1%, from 180 in December 2019 to 124 in December 2020.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.1%
-85.7%prior 7
Injury124minor injury crashes12.6%
-31.1%prior 180
No Injury478no injury crashes48.6%
-34.8%prior 733

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

A notable year-over-year shift occurred in the conditions under which crashes happened. In December 2019, 235 crashes occurred during freezing precipitation, but this number fell to 93 in December 2020. Correspondingly, crashes on snow-covered roads decreased from 198 to 104, and incidents on icy roads dropped from 73 to 32. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight conditions remained relatively stable, accounting for 71.8% of incidents in 2020 compared to 74.3% in 2019.

Weather

Clear227 (48.0%)
-25.6%prior 305
Cloudy130 (27.5%)
-24.4%prior 172
Freezing Precipitation93 (19.7%)
-60.4%prior 235
Rain21 (4.4%)
-30.0%prior 30
Wind2 (0.4%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight706 (72.2%)
3.2%prior 684
Dark272 (27.8%)
22.5%prior 222

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry228 (47.6%)
-25.2%prior 305
Snow104 (21.7%)
-47.5%prior 198
Wet96 (20.0%)
-30.9%prior 139
Ice32 (6.7%)
-56.2%prior 73
Other - Explain in Narrative10 (2.1%)
66.7%prior 6
Slush6 (1.3%)
-78.6%prior 28
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel3 (0.6%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · 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: 2020-12-01 through 2020-12-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-12-01 through 2020-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 983

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 2020." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/statewide/december-2020-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 — December 2020 | ThatCarHitMe.com