Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

7,800 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
FEBRUARY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2023

Total crashes in Chicago decreased by 3.7% year-over-year, from 8099 in February 2023 to 7800 in February 2024. This period saw a significant 46.7% reduction in total fatalities, dropping from 15 to 8. Conversely, total injuries increased by 15.3%, from 1455 to 1677.

7,800

▼ -3.7%was 8,099

Total Crash Events

▼ -46.7%was 15

Persons Killed

1,677

▲ 15.3%was 1,455

Persons Injured

2,468

▼ -2.4%was 2,528

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (8) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (7) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 13 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a decrease in total crashes, with 7800 crashes in February 2024 compared to 8099 in February 2023. This represents a reduction of 299 crashes, or approximately a 3.7% decrease year-over-year.

2,468

Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2024

▼ -2.4% vs prior (2,528)

The absolute number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 2528 in February 2023 to 2468 in February 2024. However, the hit-and-run rate slightly increased from 31.2% to 31.6% of all crashes. This indicates that hit-and-run incidents constituted a marginally larger proportion of the overall reduced crash total.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 5↓-20.0%

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

Motorists Killed

Prior: 10↓-60.0%

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

238

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 201↑18.4%

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 37↑48.6%

1,382

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,216↑13.7%

Other Injured

Prior: 1↑100.0%

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Friday in February 2023 (1433 crashes) to Thursday in February 2024 (1392 crashes). The peak hour for crashes remained 3 PM in both periods, with 619 crashes in February 2023 and 641 crashes in February 2024. Notably, crashes on Fridays decreased by 293, while crashes on Thursdays increased by 190.

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes decreased from 13 in February 2023 to 7 in February 2024, resulting in a reduction of the fatal crash rate from 0.2% to 0.1% of all crashes. While serious injury crashes decreased in count from 129 to 110, minor injury crashes increased from 593 to 690, and possible injury crashes increased from 326 to 425. Overall, total injuries rose by 222, from 1455 to 1677.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 7 fatal crash events resulted in 8 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal7fatal crashes0.1%

↓-46.2%prior 13

Serious Injury110serious injury crashes1.4%

↓-14.7%prior 129

Minor Injury690minor injury crashes8.8%

↑16.4%prior 593

Possible Injury425possible injury crashes5.4%

↑30.4%prior 326

No Injury6,555no injury crashes84%

↓-6.6%prior 7,017

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor, "FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY," increased from 840 crashes in February 2023 to 909 crashes in February 2024, an 8.2% increase in count. "FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY" decreased by 116 crashes (16.2%), moving from 714 to 598. Crashes attributed to "WEATHER" saw a substantial decrease of 180, from 231 to 51, representing a 77.9% reduction in count.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY909 (11.7%)↑8.2%prior 840

FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY598 (7.7%)↓-16.2%prior 714

IMPROPER OVERTAKING/PASSING441 (5.7%)↑7.8%prior 409

FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH313 (4%)↑4.7%prior 299

DRIVING SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE292 (3.7%)↓-9.3%prior 322

IMPROPER TURNING/NO SIGNAL280 (3.6%)↑5.3%prior 266

IMPROPER BACKING272 (3.5%)↑21.4%prior 224

IMPROPER LANE USAGE264 (3.4%)↑14.3%prior 231

DISREGARDING TRAFFIC SIGNALS153 (2%)↓-8.4%prior 167

OPERATING VEHICLE IN ERRATIC, RECKLESS, CARELESS, NEGLIGENT OR AGGRESSIVE MANNER83 (1.1%)↓-22.4%prior 107

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a notable shift towards crashes occurring in clear weather and dry road conditions, with clear weather crashes increasing from 5897 to 6756. Crashes in snowy conditions decreased from 392 to 140, and crashes on wet roads decreased significantly from 1172 to 276. This suggests a milder February in 2024 compared to 2023, leading to fewer crashes under adverse weather and road surface conditions.

Weather

CLEAR6,756 (93.7%)

↑14.6%prior 5,897

SNOW140 (1.9%)

↓-64.3%prior 392

CLOUDY/OVERCAST138 (1.9%)

↓-14.3%prior 161

RAIN118 (1.6%)

↓-84.7%prior 773

OTHER26 (0.4%)

↓-13.3%prior 30

FOG/SMOKE/HAZE10 (0.1%)

↑11.1%prior 9

FREEZING RAIN/DRIZZLE8 (0.1%)

↓-77.1%prior 35

BLOWING SNOW5 (0.1%)

↓-58.3%prior 12

SLEET/HAIL4 (0.1%)

↓-87.1%prior 31

SEVERE CROSS WIND GATE3 (0.0%)

↑200.0%prior 1

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

DAYLIGHT4,616 (63.1%)

↑3.2%prior 4,474

DARKNESS, LIGHTED ROAD1,995 (27.3%)

↓-9.7%prior 2,210

DARKNESS357 (4.9%)

↓-19.2%prior 442

DUSK199 (2.7%)

↓-2.5%prior 204

DAWN144 (2.0%)

↑34.6%prior 107

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

DRY6,203 (93.5%)

↑18.2%prior 5,250

WET276 (4.2%)

↓-76.5%prior 1,172

SNOW OR SLUSH76 (1.1%)

↓-80.1%prior 381

ICE56 (0.8%)

↓-67.6%prior 173

OTHER23 (0.3%)

↑9.5%prior 21

SAND, MUD, DIRT2 (0.0%)

↓-60.0%prior 5

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 16367 to 15906 year-over-year. Toyota became the most frequently involved make, with its count increasing from 1772 to 1886, while Chevrolet and Ford saw decreases in their crash involvement. Pedestrian involvement in crashes increased from 235 to 271, and bicycle involvement increased from 50 to 87.

Top Vehicle Makes (15,906 vehicles)

TOYOTA1,886 (11.9%)

↑6.4%prior 1,772

CHEVROLET1,650 (10.4%)

↓-5.4%prior 1,745

FORD1,529 (9.6%)

↓-8.1%prior 1,664

HONDA1,280 (8%)

↑1.9%prior 1,256

NISSAN1,167 (7.3%)

↓-4.8%prior 1,226

JEEP721 (4.5%)

↓-2.7%prior 741

HYUNDAI630 (4%)

↓-10.3%prior 702

DODGE609 (3.8%)

↓-4.2%prior 636

KIA468 (2.9%)

↓-11.2%prior 527

VOLKSWAGEN322 (2%)

↓-1.8%prior 328

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Vehicle unit records

5,074 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 (16,648 persons with recorded sex)

Male8,799 (52.9%)

↓-1.1%prior 8,899

Female6,191 (37.2%)

↓-5.7%prior 6,565

Non-Binary1,658 (10.0%)

↓-6.3%prior 1,769

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The total number of fatal crashes within reported speed zones decreased from 13 in February 2023 to 7 in February 2024. Fatal crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 9 to 6, and in 25 mph zones from 2 to 1. The fatal crash rate in 25 mph zones decreased from 0.363% to 0.19%, and in 30 mph zones from 0.151% to 0.104%.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 527 (0.19%) · 30 mph: 6 of 5,775 (0.104%)

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · 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: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29
Report generated: June 1, 2026

Data Coverage

Reporting period: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29 (29 days)
Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
Total crash records analyzed: 7,800
Total persons involved: 16,980
Total vehicles involved: 15,906

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-2024-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

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7,800 CRASHES INCHICAGO, ILFEBRUARY 2024