ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · AUGUST 2019
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/august-2019-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,941 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
AUGUST 2019
Total crashes decreased from 10,212 in August 2018 to 9,941 in August 2019, a 2.65% reduction. Despite fewer overall crashes, total fatalities increased by 23.08%, rising from 13 to 16. This indicates a concerning increase in crash severity year-over-year.
9,941
▼ -2.7%was 10,212
Total Crash Events
16
▲ 23.1%was 13
Persons Killed
2,186
▲ 7.3%was 2,037
Persons Injured
2,719
▼ -2.2%was 2,781
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (16) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (13) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 20 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, the total number of crashes in August 2019 decreased by 2.65% compared to August 2018, falling from 10,212 to 9,941. However, this period saw an increase in both total fatalities and total injuries. Fatalities rose by 23.08% from 13 to 16, and injuries increased by 7.31% from 2,037 to 2,186.
2,719
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2019
▼ -2.2% vs prior (2,781)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 2,781 in August 2018 to 2,719 in August 2019, a reduction of 62 crashes. Despite this decrease in count, the hit-and-run crash rate slightly increased from 27.2% to 27.4%. This indicates that hit-and-run incidents constituted a marginally larger proportion of total crashes in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
5
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
11
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
224
Pedestrians Injured
210
Cyclists Injured
1,751
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes remained Friday in both periods, with 1,777 crashes in August 2019 compared to 1,821 in August 2018. The peak hour shifted from 5 p.m. in August 2018 (763 crashes) to 4 p.m. in August 2019 (785 crashes). Overall, daily crash counts generally decreased or remained stable across most days of the week, with Friday seeing a slight decrease of 44 crashes.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate slightly increased from 0.12% in August 2018 to 0.13% in August 2019. While serious injury crashes (Severity A) decreased by 8.54% from 199 to 182, minor injury crashes (Severity B) also saw a slight decrease from 902 to 874. Conversely, possible injury crashes (Severity C) increased by 10.34%, from 406 to 448.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 13 fatal crash events resulted in 16 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
"FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY" decreased by 179 crashes (from 1,216 to 1,037), while "FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY" decreased by 65 crashes (from 1,153 to 1,088). "FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH" saw a count increase of 138 crashes, rising from 416 to 554, marking a 33.17% increase. "IMPROPER OVERTAKING/PASSING" also increased by 28 crashes, from 456 to 484.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in "CLEAR" weather conditions decreased by 104, from 8,801 to 8,697, while "RAIN" condition crashes decreased by 30, from 697 to 667. For lighting conditions, "DAYLIGHT" crashes decreased by 173, from 7,389 to 7,216. Crashes on "DRY" road surfaces decreased by 166, from 8,632 to 8,466, and "WET" road surface crashes decreased by 93, from 918 to 825.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 2.29%, from 20,907 to 20,429. Crashes involving "DRIVER" type vehicles decreased by 340, from 17,337 to 16,997, while "BICYCLE" type vehicles decreased by 16, from 316 to 300. The number of "PEDESTRIAN" type vehicles involved increased slightly from 272 to 278.
Top Vehicle Makes (20,429 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,316 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 (22,146 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph speed zones decreased from 7,539 to 7,233, but fatal crashes in this zone increased from 9 to 11, raising the fatal crash rate from 0.119% to 0.152%. Crashes in 45 mph zones increased from 51 to 78, with fatal crashes increasing from 0 to 1, resulting in a fatal crash rate of 1.282% in August 2019. Similarly, 15 mph zones saw an increase in fatal crashes from 0 to 1, with the crash count rising from 363 to 425.
Fatal crashes by zone: 15 mph: 1 of 425 (0.235%) · 30 mph: 11 of 7,233 (0.152%) · 45 mph: 1 of 78 (1.282%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-08-01 to 2019-08-31 · 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: 2019-08-01 through 2019-08-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2019-08-01 through 2019-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,941
- Total persons involved: 22,556
- Total vehicles involved: 20,429
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/august-2019-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: 2019-08-01 – 2019-08-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved