Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,479 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
JANUARY 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2019

In January 2020, Vermont recorded 1,479 total traffic crashes, representing a 17.6% decrease from the 1,795 crashes in January 2019. While the overall number of collisions and injuries declined, the number of fatalities increased from two to three year-over-year. The most notable trend was the significant overall reduction in crash volume across the state.

1,479

▼ -17.6%was 1,795

Total Crash Events

3

▲ 50.0%was 2

Fatal Crashes

143

▼ -19.2%was 177

Injury Crashes

3

▲ 50.0%was 2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 583 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

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

Trend Summary

Traffic safety metrics showed a general improvement in January 2020 compared to the prior year, with total crashes falling from 1,795 to 1,479. The number of people injured in these incidents also decreased from 177 to 143. However, the number of fatalities went against this trend, increasing from two to three.

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In January 2020, the peak day for crashes was Thursday with 329 incidents, a change from January 2019 when Tuesday was the peak day with 350 crashes. The busiest hour also moved slightly later in the day, from the 4 p.m. hour in 2019 (146 crashes) to the 5 p.m. hour in 2020 (131 crashes).

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes decreased, the rate of the most severe outcomes increased. The number of fatal crashes rose from two in January 2019 to three in January 2020, with the fatal crash rate increasing from 0.1% to 0.2% of reported collisions. The proportion of crashes resulting in any injury remained relatively stable, moving from 9.9% in the prior year to 9.7% in the current year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes0.2%
↑50.0%prior 2
Injury143minor injury crashes9.7%
↓-19.2%prior 177
No Injury750no injury crashes50.7%
↓-20.4%prior 942

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

An analysis of crash conditions reveals a notable change in road surface contributions year-over-year. The proportion of crashes occurring on snowy roads decreased from 19.3% of all crashes in January 2019 to 14.9% in January 2020. Conversely, the share of crashes on dry roads increased from 13.7% to 17.1%. The distribution of crashes by lighting and weather conditions remained largely consistent between the two periods.

Weather

Clear300 (42.3%)
↓-23.5%prior 392
Freezing Precipitation245 (34.5%)
↓-14.9%prior 288
Cloudy149 (21.0%)
↓-19.5%prior 185
Rain13 (1.8%)
↓-35.0%prior 20
Wind3 (0.4%)
↓-76.9%prior 13

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

Lighting

Daylight1,063 (72.5%)
↓-19.5%prior 1,320
Dark404 (27.5%)
↓-13.3%prior 466

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

Road Surface

Dry253 (34.9%)
↑2.8%prior 246
Snow220 (30.3%)
↓-36.6%prior 347
Wet131 (18.1%)
↓-0.8%prior 132
Ice84 (11.6%)
↓-36.4%prior 132
Slush29 (4.0%)
↓-31.0%prior 42
Other - Explain in Narrative7 (1.0%)
↓-12.5%prior 8
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.1%)

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-01-01 through 2020-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,479

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