ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · JULY 2022
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-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,263 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
JULY 2022
In July 2022, Chicago experienced 9263 total crashes, a decrease of 7.51% from the 10015 crashes recorded in July 2021. Despite this overall reduction, total fatalities increased by 35.71%, rising from 14 in the prior period to 19 in the current period. Total injuries also decreased by 6.66%, from 2342 to 2186.
9,263
▼ -7.5%was 10,015
Total Crash Events
19
▲ 35.7%was 14
Persons Killed
2,186
▼ -6.7%was 2,342
Persons Injured
3,070
▼ -10.7%was 3,439
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (19) 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. 27 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, total crashes in Chicago decreased by 7.51% year-over-year, from 10015 in July 2021 to 9263 in July 2022. However, this period saw a notable increase in fatalities, with 19 deaths in July 2022 compared to 14 in July 2021, representing a 35.71% rise. Total injuries also declined, decreasing by 6.66% from 2342 to 2186.
3,070
Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2022
▼ -10.7% vs prior (3,439)
Hit-and-run crashes decreased by 369 incidents, from 3439 in July 2021 to 3070 in July 2022. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate also saw a decrease, moving from 34.3% of all crashes in the prior period to 33.1% in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
3
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
16
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
186
Pedestrians Injured
175
Cyclists Injured
1,820
Motorists Injured
5
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes remained Friday in both periods, though the count decreased from 1761 in July 2021 to 1658 in July 2022. The peak crash hour shifted from 3 p.m. (759 crashes) in July 2021 to 4 p.m. (674 crashes) in July 2022. Sunday crashes increased from 1287 to 1435, while Thursday crashes saw a significant reduction from 1569 to 1179.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes increased from 14 in July 2021 to 18 in July 2022, resulting in an increase in the fatal crash rate from 0.14% to 0.19%. Serious injury crashes decreased from 249 to 207, with their proportion declining from 2.5% to 2.2%. Minor injury crashes also saw a reduction from 985 to 893, while their proportion slightly decreased from 9.8% to 9.6%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 18 fatal crash events resulted in 19 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor, 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way,' decreased by 71 crashes, from 1021 to 950, though its share slightly increased from 10.2% to 10.3%. 'Following Too Closely' also saw a reduction of 103 crashes, from 901 to 798, and its share decreased from 9% to 8.6%. Notably, 'Operating Vehicle in Erratic, Reckless, Careless, Negligent or Aggressive Manner' decreased by 59 crashes, from 157 to 98.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'CLEAR' weather conditions decreased from 8763 in July 2021 to 7883 in July 2022, mirroring the overall reduction in total crashes. Similarly, crashes on 'DRY' road surfaces decreased from 8601 to 7585. Crashes occurring in 'DARKNESS' conditions increased slightly from 288 to 298, despite the overall decline in crash counts.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 20545 in July 2021 to 18895 in July 2022. Chevrolet remained the most common vehicle make involved, though its count decreased from 2333 to 2068. Toyota increased its count from 1935 to 2003, while Ford decreased from 1868 to 1739.
Top Vehicle Makes (18,895 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,152 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 (19,685 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 7262 to 6818, but fatalities in these zones increased from 12 to 15, causing the fatal crash rate to rise from 0.165% to 0.22%. Crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 677 to 552, with fatalities increasing from 0 to 1. The 45 mph zone experienced a decrease in crashes from 91 to 68, but its fatal crash rate increased from 1.099% to 1.471%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 15 of 6,818 (0.22%) · 35 mph: 1 of 552 (0.181%) · 40 mph: 1 of 117 (0.855%) · 45 mph: 1 of 68 (1.471%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-07-01 to 2022-07-31 · 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: 2022-07-01 through 2022-07-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-07-01 through 2022-07-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,263
- Total persons involved: 20,064
- Total vehicles involved: 18,895
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-2022-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: 2022-07-01 – 2022-07-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved