ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · AUGUST 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/august-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,777 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
AUGUST 2023
In August 2023, Chicago experienced 9777 total crashes, an increase of 5.89% compared to the 9233 crashes reported in August 2022. While total crashes and injuries rose, total fatalities decreased by 16.67%, from 12 to 10. A notable shift was the significant increase in cyclist injuries, rising from 166 to 214, a 28.92% increase.
9,777
▲ 5.9%was 9,233
Total Crash Events
10
▼ -16.7%was 12
Persons Killed
2,192
▲ 14.3%was 1,918
Persons Injured
3,083
▲ 1.9%was 3,027
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (10) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (10) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 19 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash incidents in Chicago showed an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 5.89% from 9233 to 9777. Total injuries also saw a substantial rise of 14.29%, from 1918 to 2192. Conversely, total fatalities decreased by 16.67%, from 12 in August 2022 to 10 in August 2023.
3,083
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2023
▲ 1.9% vs prior (3,027)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased by 56 incidents, from 3027 to 3083, representing a 1.85% rise. Despite this increase in count, the overall hit-and-run rate decreased by 1.3 percentage points, from 32.8% to 31.5% of total crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
7
Motorists Killed
1
Other Killed
197
Pedestrians Injured
214
Cyclists Injured
1,771
Motorists Injured
10
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes shifted from Tuesday (1543 crashes) in August 2022 to Thursday (1578 crashes) in August 2023. The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 5 PM with 690 crashes in the prior period to 3 PM with 840 crashes in the current period. Crashes occurring between 3 PM and 5 PM showed a notable increase, with 3 PM rising by 28.44% and 4 PM by 13.24% year-over-year.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate remained stable at 0.1% for both periods, with 10 fatal crashes reported in each August. However, the proportion of serious injury crashes (Severity A) slightly decreased from 2.1% to 1.9% of total crashes. Minor injury crashes (Severity B) increased from 9.0% to 9.3%, and possible injury crashes (Severity C) increased from 4.0% to 4.7% of total crashes.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, 'FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY,' increased by 39 crashes (3.86%), from 1011 to 1050. 'FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY' decreased by 23 crashes (2.85%), from 806 to 783. 'IMPROPER OVERTAKING/PASSING' saw a significant increase of 57 crashes (11.75%), rising from 485 to 542 year-over-year.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'CLEAR' weather conditions increased by 384 incidents, from 7848 to 8232. Similarly, crashes during 'RAIN' increased by 89 incidents, from 492 to 581. There was a decrease in crashes occurring in 'DARKNESS, LIGHTED ROAD' conditions, falling from 1704 to 1574, a reduction of 130 incidents.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The age group 26-34 experienced the largest increase in persons involved in crashes, rising by 390 individuals (12.2%) from 3198 to 3588. Toyota surpassed Chevrolet as the most frequently involved vehicle make, with Toyota incidents increasing by 336 (16.88%) to 2326, while Chevrolet incidents increased by 71 (3.57%) to 2062. The number of drivers involved in crashes increased by 1631 (10.58%) from 15411 to 17042.
Top Vehicle Makes (20,374 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,779 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 (21,454 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone increased by 479 incidents, from 6797 to 7276, and the fatal rate in this zone slightly increased from 0.118% to 0.137%. The 15 mph speed zone saw a decrease of 22 crashes, from 367 to 345, and its fatal rate dropped from 0.272% to 0%. Crashes in the 35 mph speed zone increased by 100 incidents, from 499 to 599, with its fatal rate decreasing from 0.2% to 0%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 10 of 7,276 (0.137%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · 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: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,777
- Total persons involved: 21,955
- Total vehicles involved: 20,374
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-2023-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: 2023-08-01 – 2023-08-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved