Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

582 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
MAY 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2019

In May 2020, Vermont recorded 582 traffic crashes, a 36.9% decrease from the 922 crashes reported in May 2019. While the number of fatalities remained unchanged at two for both periods, the total number of injuries fell by 36.2% from 163 to 104. This substantial year-over-year reduction in both total crashes and resulting injuries represents the most significant trend in the data.

582

▼ -36.9%was 922

Total Crash Events

2

Fatal Crashes

104

▼ -36.2%was 163

Injury Crashes

2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 178 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic safety data for May shows a significant downward trend compared to the previous year. Total collisions dropped by 36.9%, from 922 in May 2019 to 582 in May 2020. This decline was mirrored in the number of people injured, which decreased from 163 to 104, while fatalities held steady at two for both periods.

When Crashes Happen

While Friday remained the day with the most crashes in both May 2020 (99 crashes) and May 2019 (170 crashes), the timing of collisions during the day shifted. The peak hour for crashes moved two hours earlier, from the 4 p.m. hour in 2019 (89 crashes) to the 2 p.m. hour in 2020 (51 crashes). The overall hourly crash distribution in May 2020 was less concentrated during traditional commute times compared to the pronounced afternoon peak observed in the prior year.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The number of fatal crashes remained constant at two in both May 2020 and May 2019. However, due to the significant drop in overall collisions, the fatal crash rate, or the percentage of crashes that were fatal, increased from 0.22% to 0.34% year-over-year. The proportion of crashes resulting in an injury was stable, accounting for 17.9% of all crashes in May 2020, compared to 17.7% in the same month of the prior year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes0.3%
→0.0%prior 2
Injury104minor injury crashes17.9%
↓-36.2%prior 163
No Injury298no injury crashes51.2%
↓-43.6%prior 528

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Environmental conditions during crashes differed notably between the two periods. In May 2020, far fewer crashes occurred on wet roads (18) or during rain (8) compared to May 2019, which saw 118 and 80 crashes in those respective conditions. While most crashes in both years occurred in daylight, the proportion of crashes in darkness was higher in May 2020, accounting for 146 of 582 crashes (25.1%) versus 178 of 922 crashes (19.3%) in the prior year.

Weather

Clear274 (82.8%)
↓-15.2%prior 323
Cloudy45 (13.6%)
↓-65.1%prior 129
Rain8 (2.4%)
↓-90.0%prior 80
Freezing Precipitation4 (1.2%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight432 (74.7%)
↓-41.0%prior 732
Dark146 (25.3%)
↓-18.0%prior 178

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry311 (92.6%)
↓-25.1%prior 415
Wet18 (5.4%)
↓-84.7%prior 118
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel3 (0.9%)
Other - Explain in Narrative2 (0.6%)
Snow1 (0.3%)
Water (standing / moving)1 (0.3%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31 · 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: 2020-05-01 through 2020-05-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-05-01 through 2020-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 582

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: May 2020." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-05-01 to 2020-05-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/statewide/may-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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