ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · JULY 2018
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/july-2018-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
10,367 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
JULY 2018
Total crashes in Chicago increased significantly from 6758 in July 2017 to 10367 in July 2018, marking a 53.4% rise year-over-year. The most notable shift was a 200% increase in total fatalities, which rose from 7 to 21 persons killed. Overall injuries also saw a substantial increase of 107.9%, from 1028 to 2137 persons.
10,367
▲ 53.4%was 6,758
Total Crash Events
21
▲ 200.0%was 7
Persons Killed
2,137
▲ 107.9%was 1,028
Persons Injured
2,837
▲ 47.2%was 1,927
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (21) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (18) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 19 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
The overall trend indicates a substantial increase in traffic incidents, with total crashes rising by 53.4% from 6758 to 10367 year-over-year. This upward trend is also reflected in fatalities, which surged by 200% from 7 to 21, and injuries, which more than doubled from 1028 to 2137. The data points to a worsening safety landscape in July 2018 compared to the previous year.
2,837
Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2018
▲ 47.2% vs prior (1,927)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased by 47.2%, from 1927 in July 2017 to 2837 in July 2018. Despite this increase in raw numbers, the hit-and-run crash rate decreased slightly from 28.5% of all crashes to 27.4% year-over-year. This indicates that while hit-and-run incidents rose, total crashes grew at a faster pace.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
4
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
16
Motorists Killed
234
Pedestrians Injured
205
Cyclists Injured
1,698
Motorists Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak crash day shifted from Saturday in July 2017, which recorded 1142 crashes, to Tuesday in July 2018, with 1723 crashes. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 4 PM, recording 539 crashes in the prior period, to 3 PM, which saw 800 crashes in the current period. Crash counts generally increased across all days and hours, with Tuesday seeing the largest increase.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate increased from 0.1% in July 2017 to 0.17% in July 2018. The proportion of serious injury crashes (Severity A) rose from 1.4% to 2.1%, while minor injury crashes (Severity B) increased from 6.3% to 8.5%. Overall, the share of injury-involved crashes (Severity A, B, and C) increased from 11.2% to 14.8% of total crashes.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 18 fatal crash events resulted in 21 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, "FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY," increased by 60.6% from 733 crashes to 1177 crashes, rising from second to first rank. "FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY" also saw a 41.4% increase in count, from 806 to 1140 crashes, though its rank dropped from first to second. "FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH" experienced an 82.4% increase in count, from 256 to 467 crashes, moving into the top five contributing factors.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The number of crashes in clear weather conditions increased from 6046 to 9159, while crashes in rainy conditions rose from 365 to 619. The proportion of crashes on wet road surfaces slightly increased from 6.76% to 7.66% year-over-year. Crashes occurring during daylight hours increased from 4863 to 7680, but their proportion relative to total crashes remained largely consistent.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top five vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent year-over-year, with Chevrolet, Toyota, and Ford retaining the top three positions. All top makes showed increased counts, mirroring the overall rise in crashes. The age group 26-34 continued to represent the largest share of persons involved in crashes, with its count increasing from 2322 to 3668.
Top Vehicle Makes (21,069 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,556 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 (22,706 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph speed zones significantly increased from 5008 to 7668, with the fatal crash rate in these zones rising from 0.1% to 0.183%. Crashes in 35 mph zones also rose from 442 to 697, though the fatal crash rate in this category slightly decreased from 0.452% to 0.43%. The 25 mph speed zone saw an increase in crashes from 406 to 630, and its fatal crash rate rose from 0% to 0.159%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 630 (0.159%) · 30 mph: 14 of 7,668 (0.183%) · 35 mph: 3 of 697 (0.43%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2018-07-01 to 2018-07-31 · 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: 2018-07-01 through 2018-07-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2018-07-01 through 2018-07-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 10,367
- Total persons involved: 23,047
- Total vehicles involved: 21,069
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/july-2018-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: 2018-07-01 – 2018-07-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved