ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · MARCH 2019
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/march-2019-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,748 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
MARCH 2019
In March 2019, Chicago experienced 9748 total crashes, a 4.60% increase compared to 9319 crashes in March 2018. Despite this increase in total crashes, the number of fatalities decreased by 16.67%, from 12 in March 2018 to 10 in March 2019. This suggests a notable shift in crash outcomes, with fewer fatal incidents occurring year-over-year.
9,748
▲ 4.6%was 9,319
Total Crash Events
10
▼ -16.7%was 12
Persons Killed
1,712
▲ 4.4%was 1,640
Persons Injured
2,725
▲ 8.9%was 2,502
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (10) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (8) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 25 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash incidents in Chicago saw an increase of 4.60% year-over-year, rising from 9319 crashes in March 2018 to 9748 crashes in March 2019. Concurrently, total injuries increased by 4.39% from 1640 to 1712. However, total fatalities decreased by 16.67%, moving from 12 to 10.
2,725
Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2019
▲ 8.9% vs prior (2,502)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased by 8.91%, from 2502 in March 2018 to 2725 in March 2019. The hit-and-run rate also trended upwards, increasing by 1.2 percentage points from 26.8% to 28% of all crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
3
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
6
Motorists Killed
231
Pedestrians Injured
48
Cyclists Injured
1,433
Motorists Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · 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, with 1796 crashes in March 2019 and 1720 in March 2018. The peak hour for crashes shifted from 4 PM (793 crashes) in March 2018 to 3 PM (795 crashes) in March 2019. Notably, crashes on Thursday decreased by 16.55% from 1474 to 1230, while Sunday crashes increased by 25.24% from 1054 to 1320.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The total number of fatalities decreased by 16.67%, from 12 in March 2018 to 10 in March 2019, with fatal crashes decreasing by 20% from 10 to 8. The fatal crash rate also decreased from 0.11% to 0.08%. Total injuries increased by 4.39%, from 1640 to 1712, with serious injuries increasing by 3.95% (from 152 to 158) and minor injuries by 4.01% (from 649 to 675).
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 8 fatal crash events resulted in 10 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Several contributing factors saw notable changes in crash counts year-over-year. Crashes attributed to 'EXCEEDING AUTHORIZED SPEED LIMIT' increased significantly by 56.60%, from 53 to 83 incidents. 'FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH' also rose by 16.41%, from 384 to 447 incidents. Conversely, 'OPERATING VEHICLE IN ERRATIC, RECKLESS, CARELESS, NEGLIGENT OR AGGRESSIVE MANNER' decreased by 7.69%, from 130 to 120 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in rainy weather conditions saw a substantial increase of 100.71%, rising from 422 in March 2018 to 847 in March 2019. Correspondingly, crashes on wet road surfaces increased by 72.00%, from 714 to 1228. Conversely, crashes in snowy conditions decreased by 44.19%, from 138 to 77.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 4.50%, from 18908 to 19758. The number of persons involved in crashes increased by 4.05%, from 20953 to 21802. Among age groups, persons aged 55-64 saw an 11.32% increase in involvement, from 1634 to 1819, while persons aged 0-15 increased by 9.80%, from 745 to 818. The top vehicle makes remained consistent in their rankings, with Chevrolet, Toyota, and Ford being the most common in both periods.
Top Vehicle Makes (19,758 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,053 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 (21,544 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph speed zones increased by 4.23% from 6829 to 7118, although the fatal rate in these zones decreased from 0.117% to 0.098%. Crashes in 35 mph zones increased by 19.53% from 640 to 765, with no fatalities reported in this zone in March 2019 compared to 2 in March 2018. A fatal crash occurred in a 15 mph zone in March 2019, where none were reported in the prior period.
Fatal crashes by zone: 15 mph: 1 of 335 (0.299%) · 30 mph: 7 of 7,118 (0.098%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2019-03-01 to 2019-03-31 · 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: 2019-03-01 through 2019-03-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2019-03-01 through 2019-03-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,748
- Total persons involved: 21,802
- Total vehicles involved: 19,758
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/march-2019-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: 2019-03-01 – 2019-03-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved