ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · FEBRUARY 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/february-2019-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
8,625 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
FEBRUARY 2019
In February 2019, Chicago experienced 8,625 total crashes, a decrease of 105 crashes or 1.2% compared to the 8,730 crashes reported in February 2018. The most notable shift was a 33.3% decrease in total fatalities, from 6 in the prior year to 4 in the current period. Despite the overall reduction in crashes, total injuries increased by 9.5% year-over-year, rising from 1,291 to 1,414.
8,625
▼ -1.2%was 8,730
Total Crash Events
4
▼ -33.3%was 6
Persons Killed
1,414
▲ 9.5%was 1,291
Persons Injured
2,312
▲ 2.3%was 2,260
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (4) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (4) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 30 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, total crashes in Chicago showed a slight downward trend, decreasing by 1.2% from February 2018 to February 2019. Fatalities saw a significant reduction of 33.3%, while total injuries increased by 9.5% during the same period. This indicates a shift towards fewer fatal but more injury-causing incidents.
2,312
Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2019
▲ 2.3% vs prior (2,260)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased by 52 incidents, from 2,260 in February 2018 to 2,312 in February 2019. This represents a 2.30% increase in hit-and-run crash counts. The hit-and-run rate also trended upwards, rising from 25.9% to 26.8% of all crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
2
Motorists Killed
232
Pedestrians Injured
30
Cyclists Injured
1,152
Motorists Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · 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 Monday in February 2018, with 1,406 incidents, to Friday in February 2019, which recorded 1,458 crashes. The peak hour for crashes remained consistent at 3 PM for both periods, though the count slightly decreased from 660 to 653. There was a notable increase in crashes on Thursdays and Fridays, while crashes on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays decreased.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.07% in February 2018 to 0.05% in February 2019, reflecting a reduction from 6 fatal crashes to 4. Serious injury crashes increased from 134 to 138, and minor injury crashes rose from 531 to 560. The proportion of all injury crashes (serious, minor, and possible) slightly increased from 11.48% to 11.88% of total crashes.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Failing to Yield Right-of-Way remained the top contributing factor, decreasing from 995 crashes in February 2018 to 885 crashes in February 2019, a 11.05% reduction in count. Crashes attributed to Weather decreased by 124 incidents, from 448 to 324, representing a 27.68% decrease in count. Conversely, Failing to Reduce Speed to Avoid Crash increased by 89 incidents, from 246 to 335, marking a 36.18% increase in count, and its ranking rose from eighth to fifth.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in snowy weather conditions significantly decreased from 1,614 in February 2018 to 972 in February 2019, a reduction of 642 incidents. Correspondingly, crashes on snow or slush road surfaces decreased by 892 incidents, from 1,989 to 1,097. Crashes during sleet/hail conditions saw a substantial increase, rising from 12 to 104 incidents year-over-year.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The age distribution of persons involved in crashes saw increases in most age groups, with the 26-34 age group showing the largest increase of 87 persons, from 3,013 to 3,100. However, the 45-54 age group experienced a decrease of 120 persons involved, from 2,160 to 2,040. In vehicle makes, Toyota Motor Company, Ltd. surpassed Chevrolet to become the most frequently involved make, with 1,913 incidents compared to Chevrolet's 1,907, while Ford remained the third most involved make.
Top Vehicle Makes (17,251 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Vehicle unit records
5,285 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 (18,624 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph speed zones increased by 80 incidents, from 6,282 in February 2018 to 6,362 in February 2019, representing a 1.27% rise. Fatalities in 30 mph zones decreased from 5 to 3, causing the fatal rate in this zone to drop from 0.08% to 0.047%. In 35 mph zones, crashes decreased by 12 incidents, from 656 to 644, but fatalities increased from 0 to 1, raising the fatal rate in this zone from 0% to 0.155%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 3 of 6,362 (0.047%) · 35 mph: 1 of 644 (0.155%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-02-01 to 2019-02-28 · 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: 2019-02-01 through 2019-02-28
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2019-02-01 through 2019-02-28 (28 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 8,625
- Total persons involved: 18,836
- Total vehicles involved: 17,251
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/february-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: 2019-02-01 – 2019-02-28
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved