ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · 2022
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/illinois/chicago/2022-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
108,412 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
2022
In 2022, Chicago recorded 108,412 total traffic crashes, a marginal 0.3% decrease from the 108,767 crashes reported in 2021. While the overall crash volume remained stable, the most notable year-over-year shift was a 9.0% decrease in total fatalities, which fell from 166 to 151.
108,412
▼ -0.3%was 108,767
Total Crash Events
151
▼ -9.0%was 166
Persons Killed
21,961
▼ -1.2%was 22,224
Persons Injured
35,561
▼ -4.6%was 37,263
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (151) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (135) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 294 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
The overall trend in Chicago traffic incidents from 2021 to 2022 was one of slight improvement. Total crashes decreased by 0.3% from 108,767 to 108,412. This downward trend was also reflected in total injuries, which fell by 1.2% from 22,224 to 21,961, and a more pronounced 9.0% reduction in fatalities from 166 to 151.
35,561
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022
▼ -4.6% vs prior (37,263)
Hit-and-run incidents decreased between 2021 and 2022. The total count of hit-and-run crashes fell by 4.6%, from 37,263 in 2021 to 35,561 in 2022. This resulted in a lower hit-and-run rate, which declined from 34.3% of all crashes in the prior year to 32.8% in the current year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
43
Pedestrians Killed
5
Cyclists Killed
103
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
2,338
Pedestrians Injured
1,252
Cyclists Injured
18,327
Motorists Injured
44
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal distribution of crashes remained highly consistent between the two periods, showing no significant shifts in driver behavior patterns by time. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both 2022 (17,803 crashes) and 2021 (17,956 crashes). The 3 PM hour also held as the peak time for collisions in both years, accounting for 8,479 crashes in 2022 and 8,473 in 2021.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity metrics improved from 2021 to 2022. The number of fatal crashes declined from 156 to 135, and the corresponding fatal crash rate dropped from 0.14% to 0.12%. The proportion of crashes resulting in serious injuries also decreased slightly from 1.9% (2,031 crashes) in 2021 to 1.8% (1,958 crashes) in 2022, while the share of no-injury crashes remained stable at roughly 84.8%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 135 fatal crash events resulted in 151 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factors for crashes were consistent across both years, though their counts shifted. 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way' remained the number one factor, with its incident count increasing by 5.7% from 11,183 to 11,815. In contrast, crashes attributed to 'Failing to Reduce Speed to Avoid Crash' saw a count decrease of 11.8% from 4,883 to 4,307, and incidents involving an 'Erratic, Reckless, Careless, Negligent or Aggressive' manner of operation fell by 16.3% from 1,595 to 1,335.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The majority of crashes in both periods occurred in clear weather and daylight, with proportions remaining stable. However, there was a shift in crashes occurring during adverse conditions. Incidents on 'Wet' road surfaces increased by 10.3% from 12,487 in 2021 to 13,774 in 2022. Similarly, crashes during 'Rain' rose from 7,825 to 8,629 in the same period.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The leading vehicle makes involved in crashes, including Chevrolet, Toyota, and Ford, showed no change in their top rankings year-over-year. However, the number of Tesla vehicles involved in collisions increased by 145.6%, from 377 incidents in 2021 to 926 in 2022. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes remained consistent, with the 26-34 age group being the largest cohort in both periods.
Top Vehicle Makes (220,600 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
72,345 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart. Age=0 in Chicago records is a sentinel for unknown/unrecorded age (not infants) and is grouped with nulls.
Sex Distribution (229,641 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The 30 MPH speed zone continued to be where the most crashes occurred, with a nearly identical count in both 2022 (79,434) and 2021 (79,593). However, fatalities within this zone decreased from 128 to 103. In 25 MPH zones, total crashes increased from 7,196 to 7,394, and fatalities rose from 8 to 12. Conversely, crashes in 45 MPH zones increased from 766 to 821, while fatalities in that zone remained constant at 4.
Fatal crashes by zone: 5 mph: 1 of 345 (0.29%) · 15 mph: 3 of 3,846 (0.078%) · 20 mph: 1 of 5,093 (0.02%) · 25 mph: 12 of 7,394 (0.162%) · 30 mph: 103 of 79,434 (0.13%) · 35 mph: 8 of 6,868 (0.116%) · 40 mph: 3 of 1,244 (0.241%) · 45 mph: 4 of 821 (0.487%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location
Data Sources & Methodology
Primary Data Source
All crash data in this report is sourced from Chicago Traffic Crashes, accessed programmatically via the Socrata Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.
Data Retrieval
- Access method: Socrata Open Data API (SoQL queries)
- Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
- Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
- Date filter applied: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 108,412
- Total persons involved: 233,843
- Total vehicles involved: 220,600
Analytical Methodology
- Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
- Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
- Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
- Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
- Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
- Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
- AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.
Limitations & Disclaimers
- Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
- Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
- Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
- AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
- Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.
Non-Affiliation Disclosure
This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.
Data License
The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.
Corrections & Feedback
If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.
Suggested Citation
ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "Chicago, IL Crash Intelligence Report." Published June 1, 2026. Data source: Chicago Traffic Crashes, Socrata Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/2022-annual-report
About the Publisher
ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.
Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata
Period: 2022-01-01 – 2022-12-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved