Frontal collisions were the most frequent type of impact in both jurisdictions. In Chicago, 'FRONT' was listed as the point of impact 3,740 times, while in New York, 'Center Front End' was recorded 2,887 times. Rear impacts were the second most common in both cities. Chicago reported 2,557 'REAR' impacts, and New York recorded 1,620 impacts to the 'Center Back End'. This indicates a similar pattern of collision dynamics, dominated by frontal and rear-end crashes.

For both jurisdictions, 'Going Straight Ahead' was the dominant pre-crash action, accounting for 9,251 actions in Chicago and 6,455 in New York. The involvement of a 'Parked' vehicle was the second-most-common circumstance in both cities, noted 3,155 times in New York and 2,659 times in Chicago. Chicago reported more crashes involving a vehicle 'Turning Left' (1,188) than New York did (797), highlighting a potential difference in intersection-related risks.

Pedestrian behavior at the time of a crash differed notably between the cities. In New York, the most common action was 'Crossing With Signal', which was reported 255 times, far more than the 80 instances recorded in Chicago for the same action. In Chicago, the leading action was pedestrians moving 'With Traffic' (101 instances). Both cities reported a similar number of pedestrians crossing against a signal, with 44 in New York and 42 in Chicago.

Drivers were the largest group of individuals involved in crashes in both cities, with 16,740 in Chicago and 8,921 in New York. However, New York reported a significantly higher number of vulnerable road users involved in crashes, counting 763 pedestrians and 682 bicyclists. This is substantially more than the 284 pedestrians and 285 bicyclists recorded in Chicago's crashes. Passengers represented the second-largest group in both jurisdictions, with 4,607 in Chicago and 4,013 in New York.

A person involved in a New York crash had a higher likelihood of being injured or killed than one in Chicago. New York's combined injury and fatality rate per person was 18.6% (4,675 of 25,149 persons), which is considerably higher than Chicago's rate of 11.5% (2,512 of 21,955 persons). The fatality risk was starkly different, with New York's rate of 0.087% (22 fatalities) being more than three times higher than Chicago's rate of 0.027% (6 fatalities).

A significant disparity existed in reported safety equipment usage. New York recorded 1,478 occupants with 'None' for safety equipment, while Chicago reported 105 occupants with 'Safety Belt Not Used'. When comparing known usage, the non-use rate in New York was approximately 16.1% (1,478 of 9,185 applicable persons), a figure dramatically higher than Chicago's non-use rate of approximately 1.3% (105 of 7,989 applicable persons). This suggests a major difference in either restraint use or reporting practices.

Single-vehicle crashes were vastly more prevalent in New York than in Chicago. In New York, 31.3% of all incidents (2,264 crashes) involved just one vehicle, compared to a rate of only 4.7% (463 crashes) in Chicago. Two-vehicle collisions were the most common scenario in both cities, but they constituted a much larger majority of Chicago's crashes (88.5%, or 8,698 incidents) compared to New York's (59.4%, or 4,302 incidents). Crashes involving three or more vehicles made up a similar minority share in both locations, at 7.7% in New York and 6.8% in Chicago.

The geographic concentration of crashes varied significantly between the two cities. In New York, crashes were more concentrated, with the borough of Brooklyn alone accounting for 26.0% of the city's total (1,882 of 7,240 crashes). In contrast, Chicago's incidents were more spread out across its police districts. The district with the most crashes, District 08, was the site of only 8.8% of the city's total (866 of 9,831 crashes), a much smaller share than New York's top borough.