ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · MARCH 2024
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-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
8,927 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
MARCH 2024
Total crashes in March 2024 were 8,927, a marginal increase of 0.35% compared to 8,896 crashes in March 2023. The most significant year-over-year change was a 13.58% rise in total injuries, increasing from 1,709 to 1,941.
8,927
▲ 0.3%was 8,896
Total Crash Events
14
▼ -6.7%was 15
Persons Killed
1,941
▲ 13.6%was 1,709
Persons Injured
2,842
▼ -1.3%was 2,880
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (14) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (13) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 17 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash totals remained relatively stable year-over-year, with a minor increase of 31 crashes, or 0.35%, from 8,896 in March 2023 to 8,927 in March 2024. Despite this stability in total crashes, there was a notable upward trend in total injuries, which increased by 13.58%.
2,842
Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2024
▼ -1.3% vs prior (2,880)
Hit-and-run crashes decreased by 38 (1.32%) from 2,880 in March 2023 to 2,842 in March 2024. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also saw a slight decline, moving from 32.4% to 31.8% of all crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
5
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
9
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
195
Pedestrians Injured
75
Cyclists Injured
1,662
Motorists Injured
9
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · 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 1,632 crashes in March 2024 and 1,609 in March 2023. The peak hour also remained consistent at 3 PM, though the count decreased from 718 to 696 crashes. A notable shift was observed on Saturdays, which saw a 33.07% increase in crashes from 1,158 to 1,541.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While total crashes saw a slight increase, the number of fatal crashes decreased from 14 in March 2023 to 13 in March 2024, resulting in a fatal crash rate decrease from 0.16% to 0.15%. Conversely, total injuries rose by 13.58%, from 1,709 to 1,941, primarily driven by a 45.97% increase in possible injuries (from 372 to 543) and a 2.6% increase in minor injuries (from 692 to 710).
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 13 fatal crash events resulted in 14 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor in both periods was 'FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY', increasing by 55 crashes (5.69%) from 967 to 1,022. 'DISREGARDING TRAFFIC SIGNALS' saw the largest percentage increase among top factors, rising by 41 crashes (23.7%) from 173 to 214. Notably, crashes attributed to 'UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL/DRUGS' increased by 12 (44.44%), from 27 to 39.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased by 766 (12.22%) from 6,267 to 7,033, while those in rainy conditions decreased by 234 (23.33%) from 1,003 to 769. Similarly, crashes on dry road surfaces increased by 752 (12.71%) from 5,917 to 6,669, and crashes on wet surfaces decreased by 539 (33.71%) from 1,599 to 1,060. These shifts indicate a reduction in crashes during adverse weather and road conditions year-over-year.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 203 (1.12%) from 18,079 to 18,282. There was a significant 62.32% increase in bicycle-involved crashes, rising from 69 to 112. The top vehicle makes remained largely consistent, though Ford moved up to second place, surpassing Chevrolet, and Honda surpassed Nissan in rankings.
Top Vehicle Makes (18,282 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Vehicle unit records
5,894 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 (19,148 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The majority of crashes in both periods occurred in 30 mph zones, with a slight increase of 65 crashes (0.98%) from 6,608 to 6,673. Fatalities in 30 mph zones decreased from 9 to 7, leading to a lower fatal rate of 0.105% compared to 0.136%. Conversely, 40 mph zones saw a decrease of 2 crashes but an increase of 1 fatality, resulting in a higher fatal rate of 2.273% in March 2024 compared to 1.111% in March 2023.
Fatal crashes by zone: 10 mph: 1 of 251 (0.398%) · 25 mph: 1 of 587 (0.17%) · 30 mph: 7 of 6,673 (0.105%) · 35 mph: 2 of 504 (0.397%) · 40 mph: 2 of 88 (2.273%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · 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: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 8,927
- Total persons involved: 19,583
- Total vehicles involved: 18,282
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-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
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata
Period: 2024-03-01 – 2024-03-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved