ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · FEBRUARY 2020
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-2020-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,019 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
FEBRUARY 2020
In February 2020, Chicago experienced 9019 crashes, an increase of 4.57% compared to 8625 crashes in February 2019. The most significant year-over-year shift was in total fatalities, which rose by 150% from 4 in the prior year to 10 in the current period.
9,019
▲ 4.6%was 8,625
Total Crash Events
10
▲ 150.0%was 4
Persons Killed
1,672
▲ 18.2%was 1,414
Persons Injured
2,473
▲ 7.0%was 2,312
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (10) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (9) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 23 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash data indicates an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 4.57% from 8625 to 9019. Fatalities saw a substantial 150% increase, rising from 4 to 10, while total injuries increased by 18.25%, from 1414 to 1672.
2,473
Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2020
▲ 7.0% vs prior (2,312)
Hit-and-run crashes increased by 6.96% year-over-year, rising from 2312 to 2473 incidents. The hit-and-run rate also saw a slight increase, moving from 26.8% of total crashes in February 2019 to 27.4% in February 2020.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
8
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
265
Pedestrians Injured
36
Cyclists Injured
1,369
Motorists Injured
2
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · 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 1596 crashes in the current period compared to 1458 in the prior period. The peak crash hour shifted from 3 p.m. in February 2019 (653 crashes) to 4 p.m. in February 2020 (668 crashes). Crashes increased on most days of the week, with notable increases on Wednesday (from 1189 to 1390) and Saturday (from 1204 to 1530), while decreasing on Monday and Tuesday.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate doubled from 0.05% in February 2019 to 0.1% in February 2020, with fatal crashes increasing from 4 to 9. The proportion of crashes resulting in any injury (total injuries / total crashes) also rose from 16.37% in the prior period to 18.54% in the current period. Total injuries increased by 258, marking an 18.25% rise year-over-year.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 9 fatal crash events resulted in 10 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY remained the leading contributing factor, increasing from 885 crashes to 1106 crashes, a 24.97% increase in count. FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH saw a 40% increase in count, rising from 335 crashes to 469 crashes. Contributing factors related to exceeding speed limits, such as 'EXCEEDING SAFE SPEED FOR CONDITIONS' (72 crashes) and 'EXCEEDING AUTHORIZED SPEED LIMIT' (60 crashes), were present in the prior period but not explicitly listed in the current period's top factors, indicating a change in categorization or reporting.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 5829 to 6652, while crashes in snowy conditions also rose from 972 to 1398. Conversely, crashes in rainy conditions significantly decreased from 812 to 204. Correspondingly, crashes on dry road surfaces increased from 4672 to 5935, and on snow or slush from 1097 to 1213, while crashes on wet surfaces decreased from 2008 to 1062.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 7.37%, from 17251 to 18523. All reported age groups for persons involved in crashes showed an increase year-over-year, with the 26-34 age group seeing the largest increase from 3100 to 3314. The top vehicle makes involved, Toyota, Chevrolet, and Ford, all saw increases in their counts of involvement.
Top Vehicle Makes (18,523 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Vehicle unit records
5,657 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 (19,899 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone increased by 261, from 6362 to 6623, and fatalities in this zone rose from 3 to 7. Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone also increased by 131, from 447 to 578, with one fatality recorded in the current period compared to none in the prior period. The 40 mph speed zone saw no change in crash count (79 crashes) but recorded one fatality in the current period compared to zero in the prior period.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 578 (0.173%) · 30 mph: 7 of 6,623 (0.106%) · 40 mph: 1 of 79 (1.266%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · 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: 2020-02-01 through 2020-02-29
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2020-02-01 through 2020-02-29 (29 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,019
- Total persons involved: 20,239
- Total vehicles involved: 18,523
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-2020-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: 2020-02-01 – 2020-02-29
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved