Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

623 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
MAY 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2025

In May 2026, Vermont recorded 623 traffic crashes, an 11.3% increase from the 560 crashes reported in May 2025. While total fatalities decreased from 4 to 3, the most notable year-over-year shift was the increase in crashes involving heavy trucks, which rose from 21 in the prior year to 52 in the current period.

623

11.3%was 560

Total Crash Events

3

-25.0%was 4

Fatal Crashes

145

1.4%was 143

Injury Crashes

3

-25.0%was 4

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 32 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year, total traffic crashes in Vermont increased by 11.3%, rising from 560 in May 2025 to 623 in May 2026. This upward trend in total incidents was accompanied by a slight rise in total injuries from 143 to 145. In contrast, the number of fatalities decreased from 4 to 3 over the same period.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between May 2025 and May 2026. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (114 incidents) in the prior year to Tuesday (104 incidents) in the current period. The peak hour for crashes also shifted earlier, from 3 p.m. (48 crashes) in 2025 to 1 p.m. (66 crashes) in 2026, indicating a more concentrated midday peak in the current year.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The overall severity of crashes saw a slight decrease year-over-year. The proportion of fatal crashes declined from 0.7% of all incidents in May 2025 to 0.5% in May 2026, with the total count dropping from 4 to 3. The share of crashes resulting in an injury also decreased, from 25.5% in the prior period to 23.3% in the current period. Consequently, the proportion of no-injury crashes remained stable at approximately 71% for both months.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes0.5%
-25.0%prior 4
Injury145minor injury crashes23.3%
1.4%prior 143
No Injury443no injury crashes71.1%
10.5%prior 401

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in May 2026 occurred under more favorable environmental conditions compared to the same month in 2025. The percentage of incidents on wet road surfaces decreased significantly, from 18.6% in May 2025 to 7.9% in May 2026. This corresponds with a drop in crashes during rainy conditions, which accounted for 6.9% of incidents in the current period, down from 14.5% the previous year. The vast majority of crashes in both periods occurred in daylight, accounting for 82.3% in 2026 and 79.6% in 2025.

Weather

Clear283 (74.5%)
20.9%prior 234
Cloudy54 (14.2%)
-37.2%prior 86
Rain43 (11.3%)
-46.9%prior 81

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight513 (83.0%)
15.0%prior 446
Dark105 (17.0%)
-0.9%prior 106

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry311 (84.7%)
6.1%prior 293
Wet49 (13.4%)
-52.9%prior 104
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel4 (1.1%)
-20.0%prior 5
Other - Explain in Narrative3 (0.8%)

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2026-05-01 through 2026-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 623

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