ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · JANUARY 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/january-2020-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
8,684 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
JANUARY 2020
In January 2020, there were 8,684 crashes, marking a 4.7% decrease compared to the 9,116 crashes reported in January 2019. Despite the overall reduction in crashes, the number of injured persons saw an 11.1% increase, rising from 1,499 to 1,665 year-over-year.
8,684
▼ -4.7%was 9,116
Total Crash Events
10
▼ -16.7%was 12
Persons Killed
1,665
▲ 11.1%was 1,499
Persons Injured
2,332
▼ -4.5%was 2,441
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (10) 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. 18 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, the number of crashes in January 2020 showed a downward trend, decreasing by 4.7% from 9,116 crashes in the prior year to 8,684 crashes. However, this period also saw an 11.1% increase in total injuries, rising from 1,499 to 1,665.
2,332
Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2020
▼ -4.5% vs prior (2,441)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased by 4.5%, from 2,441 in January 2019 to 2,332 in January 2020. Despite this reduction in absolute numbers, the hit-and-run rate as a percentage of total crashes slightly increased from 26.8% to 26.9% year-over-year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
8
Motorists Killed
250
Pedestrians Injured
37
Cyclists Injured
1,378
Motorists Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes shifted from Thursday in January 2019 (1,580 crashes) to Friday in January 2020 (1,796 crashes), indicating a change in the busiest day for incidents. The peak hour remained 5 PM in both periods, though the number of crashes at this hour decreased from 722 in the prior year to 675 in the current year.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatalities decreased by 16.7%, from 12 in January 2019 to 10 in January 2020, and fatal crashes dropped by 30% from 10 to 7. Conversely, serious injuries (Severity A) increased significantly by 44.5%, rising from 119 to 172. Minor injuries (Severity B) also increased by 12.8%, from 592 to 668, while possible injuries (Severity C) saw a slight decrease of 2.4%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 7 fatal crash events resulted in 10 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factors showed shifts in both ranking and count. 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way' increased by 40 crashes (4.2%) to become the leading factor with 982 incidents, while 'Following Too Closely' decreased by 78 crashes (8.2%) to 878. Notably, 'Weather' related incidents saw a substantial decrease of 425 crashes (62.4%), dropping from 681 to 256, indicating improved conditions as a factor in crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There were notable shifts in crash conditions, with 'Snow' related crashes decreasing significantly by 59.9%, from 2,332 to 936 incidents. Correspondingly, 'Snow or Slush' road surface conditions decreased by 67.9%, from 2,615 to 840 crashes. Conversely, 'Rain' related crashes increased by 91.4%, from 396 to 758, and crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces increased by 30.4%, from 3,988 to 5,201.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 3.2% from 18,404 to 17,808. However, the number of pedestrians involved as a vehicle type increased by 25.3%, from 257 to 322. In terms of person demographics, the 65+ age group saw a 4.6% increase in representation, rising from 1,045 to 1,093 persons, while the 26-34 age group experienced a 4.8% decrease, from 3,392 to 3,229 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (17,808 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Vehicle unit records
5,238 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 (19,045 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes occurring in 30 MPH zones decreased by 4.0% from 6,756 to 6,484, and fatalities in these zones saw a significant 66.7% reduction, from 9 to 3. Conversely, crashes in 10 MPH zones increased by 54.6%, from 152 to 235 incidents, with fatalities remaining at 1 in both periods. Additionally, 35 MPH zones, which had no fatalities in the prior year, recorded 2 fatalities in the current period.
Fatal crashes by zone: 10 mph: 1 of 235 (0.426%) · 20 mph: 1 of 356 (0.281%) · 30 mph: 3 of 6,484 (0.046%) · 35 mph: 2 of 598 (0.334%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-01-31 · 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: 2020-01-01 through 2020-01-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2020-01-01 through 2020-01-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 8,684
- Total persons involved: 19,385
- Total vehicles involved: 17,808
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/january-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: 2020-01-01 – 2020-01-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved