ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · 2023
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/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
110,755 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
2023
In 2023, Chicago recorded 110,755 total traffic crashes, a 2.2% increase from the 108,412 crashes in 2022. While the number of fatalities remained nearly unchanged at 152 in 2023 compared to 151 in the prior year, the most notable year-over-year shift was a 7.8% increase in total injuries, which rose from 21,961 to 23,668.
110,755
▲ 2.2%was 108,412
Total Crash Events
152
▲ 0.7%was 151
Persons Killed
23,668
▲ 7.8%was 21,961
Persons Injured
34,908
▼ -1.8%was 35,561
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (152) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (143) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 261 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crash trends in Chicago are rising. The total number of crashes increased by 2,343 incidents from 2022 to 2023, representing a 2.2% year-over-year increase. This was accompanied by a 7.8% rise in persons injured, while fatalities remained stable.
34,908
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▼ -1.8% vs prior (35,561)
The volume and rate of hit-and-run crashes trended downward between the two periods. The total count of hit-and-run incidents decreased from 35,561 in 2022 to 34,908 in 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate as a proportion of all crashes fell from 32.8% to 31.5%.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
45
Pedestrians Killed
2
Cyclists Killed
103
Motorists Killed
2
Other Killed
2,640
Pedestrians Injured
1,465
Cyclists Injured
19,503
Motorists Injured
60
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes remained highly consistent between the two periods. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both 2023 (17,776 crashes) and 2022 (17,803 crashes). Similarly, the 3 PM hour was the peak time in both years, with crash counts increasing from 8,479 to 8,830 during that hour.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The distribution of crash severity saw minimal changes year-over-year. The proportion of fatal crashes was stable at 0.1% in both periods. The share of serious injury crashes declined slightly from 1.8% in 2022 to 1.7% in 2023, while crashes resulting in possible injuries increased from a 4.3% share to a 4.7% share.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 143 fatal crash events resulted in 152 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors remained consistent, with 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way' being the primary cause in both years, its count increasing by 5.7% from 11,815 to 12,493. The count for crashes attributed to 'Improper Overtaking/Passing' grew by 9.6%, from 5,529 to 6,059. In contrast, crashes where 'Weather' was cited as a factor saw a 36% decrease in count, falling from 1,707 incidents to 1,092.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The majority of crashes in both periods occurred in clear weather on dry roads. Year-over-year, crashes on roads with 'Snow or Slush' decreased from 4,692 to 1,373, while crashes on 'Wet' roads increased from 13,774 to 15,162. The distribution of crashes by lighting condition remained proportionally stable, with most occurring in 'Daylight'.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The ranking of top vehicle makes involved in crashes saw a minor shift, with Toyota (26,165 vehicles) surpassing Chevrolet (24,290 vehicles) for the top spot in 2023. The age distribution of individuals involved in crashes was consistent across both years, with the 26-34 age group being the largest cohort in both 2022 (37,734 persons) and 2023 (40,064 persons).
Top Vehicle Makes (227,438 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
75,004 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 (239,925 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes remained concentrated in 30 mph zones, which accounted for 82,085 incidents in 2023, up from 79,434 in 2022. This zone also recorded the highest number of fatal crashes in both years (100 in 2023, 103 in 2022). While total crashes in 40 mph zones decreased, the number of fatalities in that zone doubled from 3 to 6. Fatalities in 35 mph zones also increased from 8 to 15.
Fatal crashes by zone: 10 mph: 2 of 2,891 (0.069%) · 15 mph: 3 of 4,009 (0.075%) · 20 mph: 6 of 4,793 (0.125%) · 25 mph: 8 of 7,329 (0.109%) · 30 mph: 100 of 82,085 (0.122%) · 35 mph: 15 of 7,032 (0.213%) · 40 mph: 6 of 1,011 (0.593%) · 45 mph: 3 of 901 (0.333%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 110,755
- Total persons involved: 245,192
- Total vehicles involved: 227,438
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/2023-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: 2023-01-01 – 2023-12-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved