ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · DECEMBER 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/december-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
8,939 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
DECEMBER 2022
Total crashes in December 2022 were 8,939, a 5.0% increase from the 8,512 crashes recorded in December 2021. Total fatalities also increased from 17 to 18, a 5.9% rise. The most notable shift was a dramatic increase in crashes occurring during snowy weather and on snow/slush road surfaces.
8,939
▲ 5.0%was 8,512
Total Crash Events
18
▲ 5.9%was 17
Persons Killed
1,706
▲ 1.6%was 1,679
Persons Injured
2,995
▲ 2.7%was 2,916
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (18) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (17) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 24 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crashes showed an upward trend year-over-year. Total crashes increased by 5.0%, from 8,512 in December 2021 to 8,939 in December 2022. Total fatalities also increased by 5.9%, from 17 to 18, and total injuries rose by 1.6%, from 1,679 to 1,706.
2,995
Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2022
▲ 2.7% vs prior (2,916)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 2,916 to 2,995, an increase of 79 incidents. Despite this rise in raw count, the overall hit-and-run rate slightly decreased from 34.3% in December 2021 to 33.5% in December 2022.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
6
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
11
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
234
Pedestrians Injured
38
Cyclists Injured
1,432
Motorists Injured
2
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes remained Friday in both periods, although the count slightly decreased from 1,653 to 1,627. The peak hour for crashes also remained 5 PM, with an increase from 637 to 700 crashes during that hour. Notably, Saturday crashes increased by 35.3%, from 1,122 to 1,518, while Wednesday crashes decreased by 12.5%, from 1,334 to 1,167.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatal crashes increased from 15 to 17, while the fatal crash rate remained stable at 0.2% of total crashes. Total injuries increased by 1.6%, from 1,679 to 1,706. Serious injuries (Severity A) decreased by 25, from 166 to 141, whereas possible injuries (Severity C) increased by 44, from 348 to 392.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 17 fatal crash events resulted in 18 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top three contributing factors, 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way,' 'Following Too Closely,' and 'Improper Overtaking/Passing,' maintained their rankings and saw slight increases in crash counts. 'Driving Skills/Knowledge/Experience' saw a notable increase of 82 crashes, rising from 241 to 323, and moved into the top five factors. Conversely, 'Failing to Reduce Speed to Avoid Crash' decreased by 80 crashes, from 429 to 349.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a significant shift in weather and road surface conditions. Crashes in 'CLEAR' weather decreased by 748, while crashes during 'SNOW' conditions dramatically increased by 738, from 154 to 892. Correspondingly, crashes on 'DRY' road surfaces decreased by 1,359, whereas crashes on 'SNOW OR SLUSH' surfaces surged by 843, from 122 to 965.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
Toyota surpassed Chevrolet as the most frequently involved vehicle make, with its count increasing from 1,832 to 2,083. There was a notable decrease in persons aged 16-20 involved in crashes, dropping by 157 from 988 to 831. Conversely, persons aged 35-44 saw the largest increase, rising by 209 from 2,352 to 2,561.
Top Vehicle Makes (18,170 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,039 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 (18,825 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone increased from 6,277 to 6,497, though the fatal crash rate in this zone slightly decreased from 0.207% to 0.185%. Notably, the 25 mph zone saw an increase of 109 crashes, from 553 to 662, and recorded 2 fatal crashes in the current period compared to none in the prior period. Similarly, the 15 mph and 20 mph zones also recorded their first fatal crashes in the current period, with 1 fatality each.
Fatal crashes by zone: 15 mph: 1 of 313 (0.319%) · 20 mph: 1 of 415 (0.241%) · 25 mph: 2 of 662 (0.302%) · 30 mph: 12 of 6,497 (0.185%) · 35 mph: 1 of 600 (0.167%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-12-01 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: 2022-12-01 through 2022-12-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-12-01 through 2022-12-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 8,939
- Total persons involved: 19,192
- Total vehicles involved: 18,170
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/december-2022-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: 2022-12-01 – 2022-12-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved