Fatal car crashes in Springfield, MA: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 91 fatal crashes inside Springfield, in which 93 people died. The roads with the most were State St with 7 fatal crashes, Parker St (State Route 21) with 6 and I-291 with 5.

Filing deadline, fault rule, insurance and the court for a crash in Springfield: Springfield, MA injury guide.

Springfield's worst year in the five-year federal record was 2021, with 25 fatal crashes and 25 deaths. The city recorded 19 fatal crashes in 2020, 15 in 2022, 18 in 2023 and 14 in 2024, with 20, 15, 19 and 14 deaths in those years, so 2024 was the lowest year on both measures. From one year to the next the count moved by as many as 10 crashes, which makes the five-year totals, 91 fatal crashes and 93 deaths, the steadier measure.

A note on the source. All of these figures are NHTSA's: its Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) holds every crash on a public road that killed someone within 30 days, and Springfield's records are the ones the reporting agencies coded to the city. Four of the years, 2020 to 2023, are settled Final Files; the fifth, 2024, is NHTSA's first release for that year, the Annual Report File, and may still move. A single crash can kill more than one person, so deaths can outnumber crashes.

In the statewide ranking of 243 Massachusetts places with fatal crashes in FARS, Springfield's 93 deaths come second, between Boston's 116 and Worcester's 46. Hampden County recorded 221 fatal crashes and 235 deaths over the same years; 91 of those crashes, 41 percent, and 93 of the deaths, 40 percent, were in Springfield. Statewide, the totals were 1,806 fatal crashes and 1,896 deaths.

Motorcycle and moped riders stand out in Springfield's record. Twenty-three of the 93 people killed, 25 percent, were on a motorcycle or moped. Riders are counted as drivers or passengers, so they are part of the 58 drivers and 7 passengers who died rather than an extra group, and drivers alone were 62 percent of all deaths. Of the 65 vehicle occupants killed, 23, or 35 percent, were on a motorcycle or moped.

Twenty-eight of the dead were outside any vehicle: 25 pedestrians, 2 bicyclists and 1 person on a personal conveyance, together 30 percent of the deaths. Measured by crash, 29 of the 91 involved a person on foot, on a bicycle or otherwise outside a vehicle, and 24 began with a pedestrian being struck. Four more began with a person falling or jumping from a vehicle, which FARS records as a first harmful event of its own.

For a rider, a claim often turns on lane position, speed and whether another driver turned or pulled out across the motorcycle's path. The rider's own conduct is weighed under the same 51 percent rule as anyone else's, so speed estimates, the motorcycle's damage, the helmet and gear, and witness accounts matter from the first day. Pedestrian claims rest on different proof: the crossing point, the lighting and the driver's line of sight.

The end of the week stands out: Saturday had 19 fatal crashes and Friday 18, together 41 percent of the total, while Sunday had only 6, fewer than any other day. Thursday had 15, Wednesday 12, Monday 11 and Tuesday 10. Most crashes came in the evening or overnight, 35 between 6 p.m. and midnight and 25 between midnight and 6 a.m., 66 percent in all. The six morning hours from 6 a.m. to noon had just 7, against 24 in the afternoon.

A little over half, 51 crashes or 56 percent, happened after dark, nearly all of them, 49, where the road was lit; 34 occurred in daylight, 3 at dusk and 2 at dawn, with 1 unrecorded. The weather was clear for 74 crashes and cloudy for 11, and 4 happened in rain. One vehicle was involved in 51 crashes, two in 35 and three or more in 5.

Another vehicle in transport, meaning one moving or stopped in the roadway, was the first thing struck in 30 crashes, a pedestrian in 24 and a curb in 13, more than any other object. Most of the 30 vehicle-to-vehicle collisions were angle crashes, in which one vehicle runs into the side of another: 16, against 8 head-on, 4 sideswipes and 2 rear-end. Only 28 crashes were at or related to an intersection; FARS's non-junction count, crashes at no intersection, driveway, ramp or other junction, was 53.

State St leads the roads table above, but narrowly and with a small share: 7 fatal crashes and 7 deaths, the latest in 2023, which is 8 percent of the city's 91. Parker St (State Route 21) follows with 6, most recently in 2024, and four roads had 5 each: I-291, Page Blvd (US-20) and Wilbraham Rd, all with a fatal crash in 2024, and Boston Rd, last in 2023.

Berkshire Ave and I-91 had 4 fatal crashes apiece, both most recently in 2024; Westfield St (State Route 187) had 3, the latest in 2022; and Tapley St had 2 crashes in which 3 people died. Add up all ten rows and they cover 46 crashes, 51 percent of the total, and 47 deaths, leaving 45 fatal crashes spread over roads that are not in the table. Knowing a road's record helps frame the questions, but the evidence from the crash itself decides fault.

This example is invented. On a Friday night you turn left at a Springfield intersection, and an oncoming car hits your passenger side at an angle. Your medical bills reach $50,000 and you miss two months of work. Your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage is the first stop: in Massachusetts's no-fault system it generally pays the early medical bills and part of the lost wages, whoever was at fault. A claim against the other driver generally covers what PIP leaves unpaid, and pain and suffering only if the injury meets the threshold set by Massachusetts law.

Assume the injury meets that threshold and fault is disputed: the other insurer says you turned without enough room, and you say the other driver was speeding. If a jury valued your damages at $120,000 and split the fault 50-50, Massachusetts's modified comparative negligence rule (51% bar) would still allow recovery, because you were not more than 50 percent at fault, and the award would be halved to $60,000. Shift one more point onto you, to 51 percent, and you would recover nothing from that driver.

That one-point line is why turning crashes are fought over details: the vehicles' stored speed data, the signal timing, camera footage and independent witnesses can each move the split. Gathering them takes time, and the three-year deadline to sue (M.G.L. c. 260, § 2A) runs while it happens. Only an attorney can evaluate a real case, and the evidence, not an insurer's first estimate, decides where fault lands.

In Massachusetts, the first week carries a paperwork deadline. Five days is the limit for each driver's written report to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, made on the Registrar's form, with a copy to the police department for the place of the crash; the duty applies when anyone is killed or injured or when any one vehicle or other property has more than $1,000 of damage (M.G.L. c. 90, § 26). If the driver cannot report and is not the owner, the owner must.

Beyond that report, the first days decide much of what can be proven later. Injuries do not always show at the scene, and an insurer will compare the crash date with the date of your first treatment. After a motorcycle crash, the bike and the rider's gear are evidence in their own right, so they are worth preserving before any repair:

• Call 911 for any injury, and save the report number and the officer's name.
• File the written report with the Registrar within five days, and keep proof that the copy went to the police.
• Photograph the lane markings, the signal and the lighting, and the vehicles before they are moved.
• Keep the helmet, the gear and the motorcycle as they are until they have been photographed.
• Have any injury checked that day; a gap before treatment is one of the first things an insurer questions.
• Tell your own insurer promptly and ask whether PIP applies to you.

If a Springfield claim does not settle, it is typically filed in the Hampden County Superior Court, though the facts can point to another court and an attorney makes that call. The timing rule is M.G.L. c. 260, § 2A, which generally allows three years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Most claims settle, but only a claim that can still be filed carries weight in negotiation.

A lawsuit is sometimes filed simply to protect the deadline while talks continue, because once the three years pass without a filing, the claim can be dismissed regardless of the evidence. Treatment after a serious crash can take longer than expected, and the clock runs during it. Some circumstances change the time allowed, and a wrongful death claim can carry a separate deadline, so confirm the exact date with an attorney early.

The example above turns on the most consequential Massachusetts rule, modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar: you can recover as long as you were not more than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by your share, so 50 percent keeps half of your damages and 51 percent loses the claim against that driver. Two other rules set the frame around it: PIP pays first under the no-fault system, and M.G.L. c. 260, § 2A generally allows three years to sue.

Under other states' rules, the 50-50 split in the example looks very different. Where contributory negligence applies, as in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, a driver who shares any fault can generally recover nothing, so the even split would end the claim. Deadlines vary as well: Tennessee gives one year for most injury claims, a third of the Massachusetts period. And no-fault insurance is not unique to Massachusetts: Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey use it too, each with different rules on coverage and on when a lawsuit is allowed.

Ask Legal Matters is a personal injury lead-generation service that collects free case review requests from injured people in the United States and shares them with independent attorneys and law firms. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Massachusetts. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, and an attorney who reviews the facts is the one who can say how fault might be divided and whether a claim exists. If you were hurt in a Springfield crash, as a driver, rider, passenger or pedestrian, you can request a free case review.

• What do federal records show about fatal car crashes in Boston?
• Which U.S. cities had the most fatal car accidents in 2023?
• What should you do after a car accident?
• How do you file a car accident insurance claim?

More on this type of claim: Car accidents: evidence, deadlines and when to ask an attorney.

• Springfield, Massachusetts: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Motorcycle Accident Claims: Overcoming Rider Bias and Recovering Fully

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