ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · FEBRUARY 2021
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-2021-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
8,399 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
FEBRUARY 2021
Total crashes in February 2021 decreased to 8399 from 9019 in February 2020, a reduction of 6.87%. The most significant year-over-year shift was in total fatalities, which dropped by 70%, from 10 in February 2020 to 3 in February 2021.
8,399
▼ -6.9%was 9,019
Total Crash Events
3
▼ -70.0%was 10
Persons Killed
1,123
▼ -32.8%was 1,672
Persons Injured
2,926
▲ 18.3%was 2,473
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 9 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, traffic safety metrics showed a positive trend year-over-year. Total crashes decreased from 9019 in February 2020 to 8399 in February 2021, representing a 6.87% reduction. Fatalities also saw a substantial decline, dropping by 70% from 10 to 3 over the same period.
2,926
Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2021
▲ 18.3% vs prior (2,473)
Hit-and-run crashes increased from 2473 in February 2020 to 2926 in February 2021, representing an 18.32% increase in count. The hit-and-run rate also rose from 27.4% of total crashes in the prior period to 34.8% in the current period. This indicates an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents year-over-year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
113
Pedestrians Injured
10
Cyclists Injured
1,000
Motorists Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
In February 2021, the peak day for crashes shifted to Saturday with 1398 incidents, compared to Friday with 1596 crashes in February 2020. The peak hour for crashes also changed from 4 PM with 668 incidents in the prior period to 3 PM with 681 incidents in the current period, indicating a slight shift in crash timing patterns.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Total fatalities decreased by 70%, from 10 in February 2020 to 3 in February 2021. The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.11% in the prior period to 0.04% in the current period. Injury crashes (serious, minor, and possible injuries) also decreased from 1164 incidents (12.91% of total crashes) in February 2020 to 864 incidents (10.29% of total crashes) in February 2021.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The contributing factor of "WEATHER" saw a significant increase in count, rising from 274 incidents in February 2020 to 762 incidents in February 2021, a 178.1% change. Conversely, "FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY" decreased by 459 incidents, from 1106 to 647, and "FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY" decreased by 258 incidents, from 917 to 659. These shifts indicate a change in the primary contributing factors to crashes between the two periods.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Adverse weather conditions, particularly "SNOW," were a more prominent factor in the current period, with snow-related crashes increasing from 1398 to 2694. Correspondingly, crashes on "SNOW OR SLUSH" road surfaces rose from 1213 to 3578 incidents. In contrast, crashes during "CLEAR" weather and on "DRY" road surfaces decreased significantly, suggesting a shift towards more adverse conditions contributing to crashes in February 2021.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 18523 in February 2020 to 16978 in February 2021. All recorded age groups for persons involved in crashes showed a decrease in count year-over-year, with the 26-34 age group seeing a reduction from 3314 to 2655 persons. While Toyota was the top vehicle make involved in crashes in the prior period, Chevrolet became the top make in the current period, though both saw a decrease in their total counts.
Top Vehicle Makes (16,978 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Vehicle unit records
5,527 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 (16,445 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph speed zones decreased from 6623 to 5975, with associated fatalities dropping from 7 to 3. Crashes in 25 mph zones saw a slight increase from 578 to 591, but fatalities in this zone decreased from 1 to 0. Similarly, crashes in 40 mph zones decreased from 79 to 63, with fatalities in this zone also dropping from 1 to 0.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 3 of 5,975 (0.05%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2021-02-01 to 2021-02-28 · 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: 2021-02-01 through 2021-02-28
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2021-02-01 through 2021-02-28 (28 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 8,399
- Total persons involved: 16,684
- Total vehicles involved: 16,978
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-2021-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: 2021-02-01 – 2021-02-28
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved