Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

862 CRASHES IN
VERMONT, VT
OCTOBER 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2019

In October 2020, there were 862 total crashes, a decrease of 18.5% from the 1,057 crashes recorded in October 2019. This year-over-year decline was also evident in crash severity, with total fatalities falling from 9 to 5. The most notable changes included significant drops in pedestrian and bicycle-involved crashes compared to the same month in the prior year.

862

-18.4%was 1,057

Total Crash Events

5

-44.4%was 9

Fatal Crashes

122

-18.7%was 150

Injury Crashes

5

-44.4%was 9

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Fatal Crashes" and "Injury Crashes" count crash events — this source publishes crash-level counts only, not individual persons. 288 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for October 2020 shows a significant downward trend compared to the same month in 2019. Total crashes fell by 18.5%, from 1,057 to 862. This decline was also reflected in crash outcomes, with total injuries decreasing from 150 to 122 and fatalities dropping from 9 to 5.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between October 2019 and October 2020. The peak day for crashes moved from Thursday (215 crashes) in 2019 to Friday (184 crashes) in 2020. Similarly, the peak hour for collisions occurred an hour earlier, shifting from 4 p.m. in the prior year (91 crashes) to 3 p.m. in the current period (75 crashes).

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes decreased in October 2020 compared to the previous year. The number of fatal crashes fell from 9 to 5, and the fatal crash rate per 100 crashes declined from 0.85 to 0.58. The total number of people injured in collisions also saw a reduction, dropping from 150 in October 2019 to 122 in October 2020.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.6%
-44.4%prior 9
Injury122minor injury crashes14.2%
-18.7%prior 150
No Injury447no injury crashes51.9%
-26.1%prior 605

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of crashes by lighting conditions remained consistent year-over-year, with daylight crashes accounting for 68.9% of incidents in October 2020 versus 70.3% in October 2019. Crashes during rainy conditions decreased from 116 to 89. While the absolute number of crashes on wet roads fell from 145 to 114, their share of crashes with a recorded road condition increased slightly from 24.8% to 26.7%.

Weather

Clear299 (62.8%)
-14.1%prior 348
Rain89 (18.7%)
-23.3%prior 116
Cloudy84 (17.6%)
-33.3%prior 126
Freezing Precipitation4 (0.8%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight594 (69.2%)
-20.1%prior 743
Dark265 (30.8%)
-12.3%prior 302

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry346 (72.8%)
-23.8%prior 454
Wet114 (24.0%)
-21.4%prior 145
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel6 (1.3%)
Water (standing / moving)3 (0.6%)
Other - Explain in Narrative3 (0.6%)
Snow2 (0.4%)
Ice1 (0.2%)

Source: Vermont Crash Data · Arcgis Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · 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: 2020-10-01 through 2020-10-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-10-01 through 2020-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: vermont, VT
  • Total crash records analyzed: 862

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: October 2020." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31. Data source: Vermont Crash Data, Arcgis Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/vermont/statewide/october-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 — October 2020 | ThatCarHitMe.com