June 25, 2025 – Springfield, Massachusetts – Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni is sounding the alarm after a disturbing mid-year update: the number of serious motor vehicle incidents has reached 42 as of June 24, 2025, a staggering figure that puts this year on track to exceed previous annual totals.

The Hampden District Attorney’s Motor Vehicle Homicide Unit responds to fatal, and potentially fatal, motor vehicle crashes to assist in investigations with police that could lead to criminal charges, including motor vehicle homicide. A motor vehicle homicide is defined as operating a motor vehicle in a negligent or reckless manner that causes injury resulting in death. As of this week, the office has responded to 42 major crash incidents, averaging 1.6 per week. So far this year, 28 of the 42 incidents to which the Hampden District Attorney’s Motor Vehicle Homicide Unit has responded resulted in death.

With summer and fair weather underway, an increase in road activity is typical. Projections suggest that this year’s fatal motor vehicles incidents in Hampden County could surpass totals in recent years.

The total annual crash callouts in past years are:

• 2024: 68
  • This lower trending number was potentially impacted to unusual weather patterns – a rainy, cold spring followed by extreme heat.
• 2023: 82
• 2022: 83
• 2021: 79
• 2020: 58
  • This lower trending number was due to pandemic-related lockdowns and reduced travel.

“These numbers are not just statistics, they represent people and families whose lives have been forever changed,” said District Attorney Gulluni. “What’s most heartbreaking is that almost every one of these crashes could have been prevented.”

While operating under the influence remains a consistent issue, the office has identified other increasing problems: distracted and inattentive drivers and plain disregard for traffic laws.

Contributing behaviors include:

• Texting and cellphone use while driving. Drivers fail to recognize how far their vehicle can travel in just a few seconds of distraction.
• Speeding and failure to obey traffic signals, including red lights, stop signs, and proper lane changes.
• Bicyclists, motorcyclists, and scooter riders unpredictably weaving between sidewalks and streets, ignoring traffic laws.
• Pedestrian behaviors, such as crossing against signals or outside crosswalks, assuming drivers will see them and stop – a dangerous gamble that too often ends in tragedy.

“We all share responsibility for road safety,” Gulluni said. “It only takes one moment of negligence, one distraction, one bad decision to cause a crash. Whether you’re behind the wheel, on a bike, or on foot, we urge everyone to stay alert, follow the rules of the road, and take responsibility for your safety and the safety of others. One person’s moment of inattention can become another person’s tragedy.”