Which Month Has the Most Car Crashes in Massachusetts? County by County, 2022 to 2024

December has the most car crashes in Massachusetts: MassDOT’s crash records show 38,457 December crashes across 2022, 2023 and 2024, an average of about 413 a day, against a low of about 329 a day in April. That is the statewide pattern, and it holds in eleven of the fourteen counties, where the busiest month falls between October and January. The three exceptions are Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties, meaning Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, where crashes peak in July or August and a third to nearly half of each year’s crashes happen in three summer months.

The second finding is less obvious and matters more if you were hurt. The months with the most crashes are not the months with the worst crashes. Summer has fewer crashes per day than late fall, but a larger share of them injure or kill someone. The injury side of that holds in every county except Nantucket.

How These Numbers Were Counted

The source is MassDOT’s open crash data, the database built from Massachusetts police and operator crash reports, for calendar years 2022 through 2024. Every record carries a crash date, and this page counts records by the month in that date. Three years together hold 405,241 crashes, of which 92,761 involved an injury that was not fatal and 1,087 were fatal. Each crash is counted once, however many vehicles or people were involved.

Months are not the same length, so the table also gives crashes per day: the month’s three-year total divided by the number of days in that month across the three years. February is the short month (and 2024 was a leap year), which is why its raw count looks lower than its daily rate.

The injury share is the percentage of that month’s crashes that involved a non-fatal injury. The fatal rate is fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes. Computing both is the point, because a month can have more crashes and still a lower share of them that hurt anyone.

Massachusetts Crashes by Month

Month	Crashes, 2022 to 2024	Per day	Injury share	Fatal crashes	Fatal per 1,000
January	35,187	378.4	19.97%	74	2.10
February	29,462	346.6	20.47%	82	2.78
March	30,903	332.3	22.12%	69	2.23
April	29,630	329.2	22.98%	68	2.29
May	34,947	375.8	23.64%	99	2.83
June	34,268	380.8	24.19%	87	2.54
July	32,657	351.2	25.60%	100	3.06
August	32,503	349.5	24.74%	116	3.57
September	33,800	375.6	24.34%	108	3.20
October	36,870	396.5	23.23%	101	2.74
November	36,557	406.2	22.07%	88	2.41
December	38,457	413.5	21.43%	95	2.47

Read down the per-day column and the year has a clear shape: a spring trough in March and April, a rise into May and June, a small summer dip, and then a climb through October, November and December to the peak. The busiest single month was December in 2022 and 2024 and November in 2023, so the late-fall peak is not one bad year.

Now read down the injury and fatal columns. They run the other way. July has the highest injury share of any month, 25.60 percent, and August the highest fatal rate, 3.57 per 1,000 crashes. January, the fifth-busiest month by daily count, has the lowest injury share (19.97 percent) and the lowest fatal rate (2.10). Put the seasons side by side and the gap is plain: from June through August, 24.83 percent of crashes involved an injury and 3.05 per 1,000 were fatal; from December through February, 20.66 percent and 2.43.

One caution on the fatal column: those are small numbers, and August is the top month over the three years combined, not in every year. It was the top month in 2022 with 46; in 2023 May, August and October tied at 32; and in 2024 September led with 42.

Answer Capsule

December has the most car crashes in Massachusetts. MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 show 38,457 December crashes, about 413 a day, against a low of about 329 a day in April, and the busiest month in each year was December or November. Crashes are more frequent in late fall and winter but less severe: 20.66 percent of December to February crashes involved an injury and 2.43 per 1,000 were fatal, against 24.83 percent and 3.05 per 1,000 from June to August. Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties reverse the calendar. Their crashes peak in July or August, and 33.9, 36.1 and 46.6 percent of their crashes, respectively, happen in June, July and August, against 24.5 percent statewide. Nantucket’s July daily rate is 6.41 times its March rate. For a crash case, the county where the crash happened does not by itself decide where the case is filed: under M.G.L. c. 223, sec. 1, a civil action goes in a county where one of the parties lives or has a usual place of business, and if neither party lives in Massachusetts it may be brought in any county.

The County Picture

County	Crashes, 2022 to 2024	Busiest month (per day)	Busiest vs quietest month	Share in June to August
Nantucket	792	July	6.41 times	46.6%
Dukes	671	August	2.69 times	36.1%
Barnstable	15,496	July	2.13 times	33.9%
Berkshire	8,147	November	1.50 times	25.4%
Plymouth	32,091	November	1.38 times	25.3%
Franklin	3,450	December	1.47 times	24.7%
Essex	45,201	December	1.21 times	24.5%
Norfolk	41,832	December	1.36 times	24.3%
Bristol	49,512	November	1.25 times	24.3%
Suffolk	23,255	November	1.18 times	23.9%
Middlesex	83,188	October	1.25 times	23.8%
Hampden	34,616	January	1.28 times	23.7%
Worcester	59,428	December	1.34 times	23.6%
Hampshire	7,562	December	1.48 times	22.1%
Statewide	405,241	December	1.26 times	24.5%

“Busiest vs quietest” divides the busiest month’s daily rate by the quietest month’s. Statewide, the busiest month runs 1.26 times the quietest. The mainland counties sit between 1.18 (Suffolk) and 1.50 (Berkshire), so the calendar changes their crash volume by a quarter to a half.

Suffolk County, which is Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, has the flattest year in the state. Its quietest month by daily rate is June, and its busiest is November, only 1.18 times higher. A dense city generates crashes in every season.

The western hill counties swing harder. Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin are the three mainland counties with the widest gap between their busiest and quietest month, and all three peak in November or December. Hampden, the Springfield area, is the only county whose busiest month is January. Hampshire County shows the biggest summer-to-winter severity gap in the state: 23.4 percent of its June to August crashes involved an injury against 16.2 percent from December to February. Worcester County is close behind, at 23.4 against 18.1 percent. For local detail, see the Worcester and Springfield pages.

Cape Cod and the Islands Run on a Summer Calendar

Barnstable County recorded 1,920 crashes in the three Julys and 900 in the three Marches. Nantucket recorded 141 in July and 22 in March. Dukes County, which is Martha’s Vineyard, recorded 86 in August and 32 in March. No mainland county comes close to that swing, and it is the clearest evidence in the state’s own records of what a summer population does to a road network.

The pattern gets sharper the farther out on the Cape you go. Among Cape and island towns with at least 100 crashes in three years, the share falling in June, July and August is:

Town	Crashes, 2022 to 2024	Share in June to August
Wellfleet	299	50.2%
Nantucket	792	46.6%
Eastham	404	44.8%
Orleans	304	41.4%
Provincetown	325	41.2%
Dennis	1,047	40.9%
Edgartown	211	40.8%
Chatham	175	40.6%
Brewster	378	39.2%
Harwich	801	38.1%
Falmouth	2,146	36.7%
Oak Bluffs	121	36.4%
Mashpee	914	33.7%
Yarmouth	1,744	33.2%
Tisbury	197	32.0%
Bourne	2,172	31.5%
West Tisbury	102	29.4%
Sandwich	1,016	28.8%
Barnstable	3,703	28.1%

In Wellfleet, half of all crashes over three years happened in three months. The town of Barnstable, which includes Hyannis, is the least seasonal town on the list, and even it is above the statewide 24.5 percent. Bourne and Sandwich, at the canal end of the Cape, sit near the bottom too. Town-level counts, roads and severity are on the crash report pages for Barnstable, Falmouth, Bourne, Yarmouth and Dennis, and the regional picture is in the Cape Cod crash data article and the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket article.

Bicycles are the other half of the Cape’s summer. Of Barnstable County’s 261 bicycle crashes in the three years, 157 happened in June, July or August, 60 percent. Statewide, 62.1 percent of bicycle crashes fall between May and September, with August the top month (575) and January the lowest (121).

Pedestrians Have the Opposite Calendar From Cyclists

Pedestrian crashes peak in December, with 712 over three years, and bottom out in July, with 377. October through January holds 42.2 percent of the state’s 5,980 pedestrian crashes in a third of the year. That is the season when the evening commute happens in the dark, and the pattern matches the night crash data and the pedestrian crash data on this site. Two other seasonal pieces fill in the causes: deer crashes, 22 percent of which happen in November alone, and road surface conditions, which covers snow and ice.

What the Calendar Cannot Tell You

These are counts of crashes, not rates per mile driven or per driver. MassDOT’s records do not include how many cars were on the road, so a Cape town that fills with visitors in July will record more July crashes whether or not any individual driver is more likely to crash. The month data proves the summer surge exists and measures its size; it does not say a visitor is a more dangerous driver than a resident, and nothing on this page should be read that way. The data also reflects how each crash was reported, and the three-year totals smooth over year-to-year noise that is visible in small counties and small months.

When a Summer Crash Involves Someone From Out of State

Seasonal crashes bring a legal wrinkle with them, because so many of the people involved do not live where the crash happened. Four statutes settle most of the questions.

Where the case is filed. Under M.G.L. c. 223, sec. 1, a civil action of this kind, if any party lives in Massachusetts, “shall… be brought in the county where one of them lives or has his usual place of business.” The county where the crash happened does not decide it by itself. A Worcester resident hit by a Connecticut driver in Dennis would generally file in Worcester County, not Barnstable. And the statute adds: “If neither party lives in the commonwealth, the action may be brought in any county.”

Whether a Massachusetts court can hear a case against a visitor. M.G.L. c. 223A, sec. 3(c) lets a Massachusetts court exercise personal jurisdiction over a person as to a claim arising from “causing tortious injury by an act or omission in this commonwealth.” A driver who causes a crash here can be sued here.

How a visiting driver is served. Under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 3A, a resident of another state who drives on a Massachusetts way is deemed to have appointed the Registrar of Motor Vehicles “to be his true and lawful attorney upon whom may be served all lawful processes in any action or proceeding against him… growing out of any accident or collision.” A driver who has gone home can still be served.

The report, and the clock. M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 26 requires every operator in a crash involving injury, death, or more than $1,000 of damage to any one vehicle or property to file a written report with the Registrar “within five days after such accident,” with a copy to the local police. A visitor heading home the next morning is still covered by that deadline. The time to sue is generally three years under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A.

Two more rules matter in the summer months in particular. Personal injury protection under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A pays “without regard to negligence or gross negligence or fault of any kind,” at least $8,000, and its coverage reaches a person “being struck as a pedestrian by” the insured vehicle. And for cyclists, M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 14 provides that “no person shall open a door on a motor vehicle unless it is reasonably safe to do so without interfering with the movement of other traffic, including bicyclists and pedestrians,” and that “it shall not be a defense for a motorist causing an accident with a bicycle that the bicycle was to the right of vehicular traffic.” If the other driver was from out of state, the out-of-state driver article covers the insurance side in more detail.

If You Were in a Crash, Step by Step

1. Get medical care and a police report number. The report is the source record every later number comes from.
2. File the operator’s report within five days if anyone was hurt or damage to any one vehicle or property exceeded $1,000, under c. 90, sec. 26, even if you are leaving the state.
3. Collect the other driver’s home state, insurer and policy number. Where they live affects the county the case can be filed in under c. 223, sec. 1.
4. Open a PIP claim with the Massachusetts policy that applies; PIP is paid without regard to fault under c. 90, sec. 34A.
5. Photograph the scene the same day. Seasonal conditions at a crash location do not last, and photographs are the record of what the road looked like that day.
6. Keep the three-year limit in mind. Tort actions must generally be brought within three years under c. 260, sec. 2A.

Key terms

• MassDOT crash data: the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s open database of crash reports, counted here by the month of the crash date.
• Crashes per day: a month’s three-year total divided by the number of days in that month across the three years, so that short and long months compare fairly.
• Injury share: the percentage of crashes in which someone suffered a non-fatal injury.
• Fatal rate per 1,000: the number of fatal crashes for every 1,000 crashes in the group.
• Venue: the county where a civil case is filed, set by M.G.L. c. 223, sec. 1 by where the parties live or do business.
• PIP: personal injury protection, the part of a Massachusetts auto policy that pays medical bills and lost wages without regard to fault, at least $8,000, under c. 90, sec. 34A.

For every town’s full three-year figures, see the Massachusetts crash report. For a Plymouth County bicycle crash, the Plymouth bicycle accident page has local practice detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which month has the most car accidents in Massachusetts?

A: December. MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 show 38,457 December crashes, about 413 a day. The busiest month was December in 2022 and 2024 and November in 2023. April is the quietest month, at about 329 crashes a day.

Q: Are summer crashes in Massachusetts more serious than winter crashes?

A: On average, yes. From June to August, 24.83 percent of crashes involved an injury and 3.05 per 1,000 were fatal. From December to February the figures were 20.66 percent and 2.43. Winter has more crashes, and summer has a higher share of serious ones.

Q: When do the most crashes happen on Cape Cod?

A: July. Barnstable County recorded 1,920 July crashes over three years against 900 in March, and 33.9 percent of its crashes happen in June, July and August, against 24.5 percent statewide. In Wellfleet the summer share is 50.2 percent.

Q: What about Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard?

A: Nantucket peaks in July and Dukes County in August. Nantucket’s July daily crash rate is 6.41 times its March rate, the largest seasonal swing of any county, and 46.6 percent of its crashes happen in the three summer months.

Q: When are pedestrians most at risk in Massachusetts?

A: Pedestrian crashes peak in December, with 712 over the three years, and are lowest in July, with 377. October through January holds 42.2 percent of all pedestrian crashes.

Q: If a crash happens on Cape Cod, does the case have to be filed in Barnstable County?

A: Not necessarily. Under M.G.L. c. 223, sec. 1, a civil case goes in a county where one of the parties lives or has a usual place of business, and if neither party lives in Massachusetts it may be brought in any county. Where the crash happened does not decide it by itself.

Q: Can I sue an out-of-state driver who hit me in Massachusetts?

A: Generally, yes. M.G.L. c. 223A, sec. 3(c) allows a Massachusetts court to exercise jurisdiction over a person who caused tortious injury by an act in Massachusetts, and c. 90, sec. 3A treats a nonresident who drives here as having appointed the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to accept service in a case arising from a collision.

Q: Is Jimmy Knows AI giving me legal advice?

A: No. This page is general information built from public MassDOT records and Massachusetts statutes, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. A specific crash should be reviewed with a lawyer who can look at the report, the insurance and the parties involved.

Talking to a Lawyer

A seasonal crash often comes with a practical problem attached: the other driver, the witnesses, or you yourself may be gone from the area within days. The records that matter, the police report, the operator reports, the insurance details and the photographs, are easiest to secure in the first week.

Jim Glaser Law can be reached at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day. The first telephone consultation is offered without charge. Cases accepted on a contingency basis carry no attorney fee unless there is a recovery, and case costs and expenses are addressed in the written fee agreement signed at intake.