How Many Massachusetts Crashes Happen in Work Zones?

Police coded 6,146 Massachusetts crashes from 2022 through 2024 as related to a work zone, according to MassDOT’s crash records, and that number rose 9.3 percent over the three years while crashes overall rose 0.7 percent. Work zone crashes are 1.52 percent of the Commonwealth’s 405,242 reported crashes, but they are a different kind of crash: more rear-end and same-direction sideswipe collisions, more large trucks, more state police reports, and a heavy tilt toward weekday daytime hours and the April to October construction season. Twenty of them were fatal. The legal side differs too. The statutes that normally let a driver claim against the Commonwealth or a town for a defective road switch off during construction and repair, so the person or company answerable for a work zone crash is usually a driver or the contractor running the job.

To talk through a crash in a construction zone, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.

What the Records Count

Every Massachusetts crash report has a field for whether the crash was related to a work zone. A work zone is a stretch of road set up for construction, maintenance or utility work, usually marked by signs, cones, barrels, lane closures or flaggers, and a crash is coded “work zone related” when the reporting officer judges that it was connected to one. MassDOT publishes it in its open crash data, and the figures below cover the three most recent complete years, 2022 through 2024, for all 349 cities and towns.

Two limits come first. The field is the reporting officer’s judgment, not a measurement, so it records what the officer saw at the scene and nothing about how the zone was set up. And it is not always filled in: 2,866 crashes over the three years were marked not reported, unknown or invalid for this field, and that number climbed from 725 in 2022 to 1,270 in 2024. The 6,146 work zone crashes are therefore a floor. Some crashes in a work zone were never recorded as one.

The totals reconcile. The county, town, road, hour and month figures each add to exactly 6,146, the statewide count matches the 405,242 crashes on this site’s Massachusetts crash report, and every community’s crash total in the pull matches its figure there.

The Statewide Picture

Measure, 2022 to 2024	Work zone crashes	All crashes
Crashes	6,146	405,242
Change, 2022 to 2024	up 9.3% (1,946 to 2,127)	up 0.7% (134,472 to 135,444)
Fatal crashes	20	1,087
Fatal per 1,000 crashes	3.25	2.68
Share involving injury	19.8%	22.9%
Rear-end or same-direction sideswipe	48.3%	38.3%
Angle collisions	15.8%	23.9%
Large truck or bus involved (federally reportable)	4.4%	1.8%
Reported by State Police	28.5%	18.8%
Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.	46.1%	33.6%
In the dark (lit or unlit road)	21.2%	27.2%
April through October	68.1%	57.9%

Three patterns stand out.

The crash is usually a car running into the queue or the narrowed lane. Rear-end crashes were 29.4 percent of work zone crashes against 24.5 percent of all crashes, and same-direction sideswipes (two vehicles travelling the same way that scrape side to side, typically during a merge or lane change) were 18.9 percent against 13.8 percent. Those are the crashes that come from traffic stopping where a driver did not expect it, and from lanes that merge, shift or narrow. Angle crashes, the intersection crash, were far less common.

Large vehicles are over-represented. Crashes in which at least one vehicle was reportable to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which in practice means a large truck or a bus, were 272 of the 6,146, or 4.4 percent, against 1.8 percent of all crashes. Work zones put heavy equipment, dump trucks and through freight in the same narrowed space.

Severity per crash is mixed, and the fatal count is small. The fatal rate, 3.25 per 1,000 work zone crashes against 2.68 overall, is higher, but it rests on 20 deaths in three years (3 in 2022, 8 in 2023, 9 in 2024), so a single crash moves it noticeably. The injury share is lower than average, 19.8 percent against 22.9 percent, which fits a crash mix dominated by slower rear-end and sideswipe collisions.

When Work Zone Crashes Happen

Work zone crashes follow the work. October had the most of any month (677, or 11.0 percent), and May (636), June (619) and September (608) followed. December through February held 17.4 percent of them, against 25.4 percent of all crashes, because many projects pause for winter.

By hour, the six hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. held 46.1 percent of work zone crashes, against 33.6 percent of all crashes. The evening commute runs the other way: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. held 9.3 percent of work zone crashes against 16.0 percent of all crashes. Night work is real and shows in the data, with 15.1 percent of work zone crashes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., close to the 15.7 percent share for all crashes.

By County

County	Work zone crashes	All crashes	Work zone share
Middlesex	1,230	83,188	1.48%
Worcester	981	59,428	1.65%
Bristol	706	49,512	1.43%
Norfolk	627	41,833	1.50%
Hampden	576	34,616	1.66%
Essex	553	45,201	1.22%
Plymouth	410	32,091	1.28%
Suffolk	332	23,255	1.43%
Barnstable	274	15,496	1.77%
Hampshire	195	7,562	2.58%
Berkshire	171	8,147	2.10%
Franklin	76	3,450	2.20%
Dukes	8	671	1.19%
Nantucket	7	792	0.88%

Middlesex has the most work zone crashes because it has the most crashes. The higher shares are in the west: Hampshire (2.58 percent), Franklin (2.20 percent) and Berkshire (2.10 percent) all run well above the statewide 1.52 percent. Fatal work zone crashes were spread across eight counties, with Middlesex at 4 and Hampden, Norfolk and Plymouth at 3 each.

Town by Town: A Number Is Usually a Project

Boston and Worcester had the most work zone crashes, 216 each, followed by Taunton (179), New Bedford (124), Springfield (115), Fall River (108), Holyoke (106) and Quincy (106). Those are mostly large places with large crash totals. The more revealing list is the share of a community’s crashes that were work zone crashes, among the 116 communities with at least 1,000 crashes:

Community	Work zone crashes	All crashes	Share
Oxford	85	1,063	8.00%
Hopkinton	90	1,552	5.80%
Palmer	53	1,090	4.86%
Northampton	74	1,602	4.62%
Charlton	70	1,751	4.00%
Norwood	35	1,150	3.04%
Somerville	55	1,999	2.75%
Westborough	59	2,182	2.70%
Taunton	179	6,644	2.69%
Holyoke	106	4,245	2.50%

Reading the years separately shows why a town’s work zone count is not a fixed trait. Oxford went from 4 work zone crashes in 2022 to 10 in 2023 and 71 in 2024, and 35 of its three-year total were on Southbridge Road, with 7 more at Southbridge Road and Leicester Street. Charlton went from 5 to 13 to 52, concentrated on Worcester Road, which carries Route 20. Holyoke ran the other way, 60 to 36 to 10, with Interstate 391 northbound and Interstate 91 northbound its most frequent roads. Northampton’s came mostly on Interstate 91 (18 northbound and 8 southbound). Taunton’s leading entries were Route 24 northbound and Dean Street.

That is what a work zone count measures: where the construction was in a given year. A high share is not a finding that a town is dangerous, and a low one is not a finding that it is safe. It is a record of where drivers met cones, lane shifts and flaggers, and how often that went wrong. At the other end of the list, Swansea (0.52 percent), Milford (0.54 percent) and Shrewsbury (0.63 percent) had the lowest shares among communities with at least 1,000 crashes. In all, 295 of the 349 communities recorded at least one.

Fatal work zone crashes happened in 18 communities. Pittsfield and Norwood had 2 each; Barnstable, Chicopee, Gardner, Taunton, Waltham, Auburn, Berkley, Holyoke, Dracut, Duxbury, Groton, Pembroke, Springfield, West Bridgewater, Weston and Wrentham had 1 each.

Answer Capsule

From 2022 through 2024, Massachusetts police coded 6,146 crashes as work zone related, 1.52 percent of 405,242, and the count rose 9.3 percent while all crashes rose 0.7 percent. Twenty were fatal. Work zone crashes are more often rear-end or same-direction sideswipe collisions (48.3 percent against 38.3 percent), more often involve a large truck or bus (4.4 against 1.8 percent), and cluster between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and from April to October. By share of a community’s crashes, Oxford (8.0 percent), Hopkinton (5.8) and Palmer (4.9) led towns with 1,000 or more crashes, but those numbers track active projects: Oxford went from 4 work zone crashes in 2022 to 71 in 2024. Speeding in a marked construction zone doubles the fine under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 17, and the state and town road defect statutes do not apply during construction or repair, which usually leaves a driver or the contractor as the party answerable for a work zone crash.

The Rules of the Road in a Work Zone

Two statutes speak directly to driving through construction.

Speed. M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 17 requires every driver to keep to a speed that is “reasonable and proper” for traffic, the use of the road and public safety, and to slow down further for special hazards, including highway conditions. Its final sentences add that anyone who violates the section “while operating a motor vehicle through the parameters of a marked construction zone or construction area”, at a speed over the posted limit or greater than reasonable and proper, faces “a fine of 2 times the amount currently in effect.” A driver can therefore be in violation in a work zone while under the posted number, if the posted number was too fast for a narrowed lane. More on how a speeding ticket is treated is in whether speeding is a crime in Massachusetts.

Slow down and move over. M.G.L. c. 89, sec. 7C applies when a driver approaches a stationary emergency vehicle, recovery vehicle or “highway maintenance vehicle” with flashing lights. The driver must slow to a reasonable and safe speed and, where practicable on a highway with at least four lanes and at least two going the driver’s way, move into a lane that is not next to the stopped vehicle. The statute’s definition of a highway maintenance vehicle includes one operated by a private company under contract with the state, a county or a city or town, so a contractor’s truck with its lights on is covered, not only a state truck.

Both rules matter after a crash, because a broken traffic rule is evidence of how carefully someone was driving. That cuts both ways. Massachusetts uses comparative negligence, the rule that an injured person’s damages are reduced by that person’s own share of the fault and barred only if that share is greater than the combined fault of those being sued, and under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85, a statute violation by the injured person counts as evidence of that person’s negligence, but it does not bar recovery on its own, and damages are reduced only in proportion to that person’s share of the fault.

Who Answers for a Work Zone Crash

This is where a work zone crash differs most from an ordinary one. Massachusetts has two road defect statutes, laws that let a person hurt by a defect or want of repair in a public road claim against whoever must keep it in repair: M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 15 for city and town roads, and M.G.L. c. 81, sec. 18 for state highways. Both have small caps and both switch off for construction.

Possible party	What the claim is	Limits that apply
Another driver	Ordinary negligence: speed, following too closely, ignoring a flagger or a lane closure	Three years to sue under c. 260, sec. 2A; comparative negligence under c. 231, sec. 85
The contractor running the job	Negligence in how the zone was set up or kept: missing signs, a lane shift with no warning, equipment or a drop-off left in the travel lane	No statutory cap like the road defect statutes; three years under c. 260, sec. 2A
The Commonwealth, as owner of a state highway	Road defect under c. 81, sec. 18	No liability “during the construction, reconstruction or repair” of the highway; otherwise capped at $4,000
A city or town, as owner of a local road	Road defect under c. 84, sec. 15	No liability during construction and repair if the way was closed or “other sufficient means” were taken to caution the public; otherwise capped at $5,000, with written notice within 30 days under c. 84, sec. 18
A public employer whose employee was negligent	Negligent act of a public employee, such as driving a public vehicle, under c. 258, sec. 2	$100,000 cap; written presentment within two years under c. 258, sec. 4

The practical effect is that the road defect route, already narrow, is closed for most work zone crashes. The c. 81, sec. 18 exclusion for the state is written without a condition. The c. 84, sec. 15 exclusion for towns applies only if the road was closed or the public was sufficiently warned, so whether the warning was sufficient can itself become the question. Neither statute protects a private contractor. A contractor is answerable under ordinary negligence law for how it set up and maintained its zone, and claims involving public bodies follow the separate rules in whether you can sue the government in Massachusetts.

Workers in the zone are in a different position again. A flagger, laborer or equipment operator hurt by a passing car is generally covered by workers compensation through the employer, and under M.G.L. c. 152, sec. 15 can also bring a third party claim, meaning a claim against someone other than the employer, against the driver, with the comp insurer repaid from that recovery and any excess going to the worker.

What to Do After a Crash in a Work Zone

Work zones are temporary. The cones, signs and lane shifts that explain a crash may be gone within days, so the record has to be made at once.

1. Get medical care and call the police. A police report is how the crash enters the record, including the work zone field counted above.
2. Photograph the zone, not only the cars. Signs approaching the work area, the speed limit shown, cones and barrels, the lane shift, any flagger, and any drop-off, steel plate or equipment in the road.
3. Write down the names on the trucks and signs. Contractors usually mark their vehicles and project signs. That name is often the only way to identify who was running the job that day.
4. Note the time and whether work was active. A closed lane at 11 a.m. with crews present is a different scene from a coned-off lane at midnight with no one there.
5. Ask witnesses, including workers, for contact details. A flagger or foreman saw what traffic was doing before the crash.
6. Watch the short deadlines. A claim that touches a town’s road needs written notice within 30 days under c. 84, sec. 18. A claim against a public employer needs presentment, a written claim delivered to the public employer’s executive officer, within two years under c. 258, sec. 4. Most other claims must be filed within three years under c. 260, sec. 2A.

Insurance for the injured driver’s own medical bills and lost wages starts with personal injury protection, explained in how PIP works in Massachusetts. For the roads named above, see the Route 20 crash data and Interstate 90 crash data, and for crashes where the first thing struck was a guardrail or barrier, see utility pole, tree and guardrail crashes.

Key terms

• Work zone related: the crash report field in which the reporting officer records that a crash was connected to road construction, maintenance or utility work.
• Marked construction zone: the phrase in M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 17 for a signed construction area in which a speeding fine is doubled.
• Highway maintenance vehicle: under M.G.L. c. 89, sec. 7C, a road maintenance vehicle owned or operated by a public body or by a company under contract with one.
• Road defect statute: M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 15 for local ways and c. 81, sec. 18 for state highways, which allow small capped claims for road defects and do not apply during construction or repair.
• Presentment: the written claim to a public employer’s executive officer that M.G.L. c. 258, sec. 4 requires within two years before a lawsuit.
• Federally reportable vehicle: a vehicle, in practice a large truck or bus, that makes a crash reportable to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many work zone crashes happen in Massachusetts?

A: MassDOT’s crash records show 6,146 crashes coded as work zone related from 2022 through 2024: 1,946 in 2022, 2,073 in 2023 and 2,127 in 2024. That is 1.52 percent of the 405,242 crashes reported in those years. Another 2,866 crashes had the work zone field marked not reported, unknown or invalid, so the true number is somewhat higher.

Q: Are work zone crashes more deadly than other crashes?

A: The fatal rate is higher, 3.25 per 1,000 work zone crashes against 2.68 for all crashes, but it rests on 20 deaths in three years, so it moves a lot with a single crash. The share involving injury is lower, 19.8 percent against 22.9 percent, which fits the slower rear-end and sideswipe crashes that dominate work zones.

Q: Which Massachusetts towns have the most work zone crashes?

A: Boston and Worcester had the most, 216 each, followed by Taunton with 179. As a share of a community’s crashes, among places with at least 1,000 crashes, Oxford (8.0 percent), Hopkinton (5.8 percent) and Palmer (4.9 percent) led. Those shares follow active projects: Oxford had 4 work zone crashes in 2022 and 71 in 2024.

Q: Is the speeding fine doubled in a Massachusetts construction zone?

A: Yes. M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 17 provides that a speeding violation in a marked construction zone or construction area, at a speed over the posted limit or greater than reasonable and proper, carries a fine of two times the amount otherwise in effect.

Q: Can I sue the state or the town for a crash in a construction zone?

A: Usually not under the road defect statutes. M.G.L. c. 81, sec. 18 says the Commonwealth is not liable for highway defects during construction, reconstruction or repair, and M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 15 says a town is not liable during construction and repair if the road was closed or the public was sufficiently warned. A claim based on a public employee’s own negligence, such as driving a public truck, falls under c. 258, which has a $100,000 cap and a two year presentment rule.

Q: Can I sue the construction company after a work zone crash?

A: A private contractor is not covered by the road defect statutes’ construction exclusions, so a claim that it set up or maintained the zone negligently is an ordinary negligence claim, generally subject to the three year deadline in c. 260, sec. 2A. Whether a particular zone was negligently set up depends on what was there, which is why photographs taken at the scene matter.

Q: What does the move over law require near road crews?

A: M.G.L. c. 89, sec. 7C requires a driver approaching a stopped emergency, recovery or highway maintenance vehicle with flashing lights to slow to a reasonable and safe speed and, where practicable on a highway with at least four lanes and two going the driver’s way, to move into a lane not adjacent to it. A contractor’s maintenance vehicle working under a public contract is included.

Q: Is Jimmy Knows AI giving me legal advice?

A: No. This is general information about Massachusetts law and public crash data, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Whether any of it applies to your situation depends on facts a lawyer would need to review. For advice about your own matter, speak with a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

Talk to a Lawyer About a Work Zone Crash

For a crash in a construction zone, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free. Personal injury matters are handled on a contingency fee, meaning no attorney fee unless there is a recovery; costs and expenses are handled separately and are explained in the fee agreement before anything is signed. For the practice-area pages covering the cities with the most work zone crashes, see auto accidents in Worcester, auto accidents in Taunton, construction accidents in Boston and truck accidents in Worcester.