ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · MAY 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/may-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,825 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
MAY 2022
In May 2022, Chicago experienced 9825 total crashes, a 1.80% increase from the 9651 crashes reported in May 2021. Despite this rise in total crashes, overall fatalities saw a substantial decrease, falling by 50% from 18 fatalities in May 2021 to 9 fatalities in May 2022. Conversely, bicycle crashes increased by 26.39%, rising from 144 to 182 crashes year-over-year.
9,825
▲ 1.8%was 9,651
Total Crash Events
9
▼ -50.0%was 18
Persons Killed
2,016
▼ -3.3%was 2,084
Persons Injured
3,253
▼ -3.2%was 3,359
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (9) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (9) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 22 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, total crashes in Chicago saw a slight increase of 1.80%, rising from 9651 in May 2021 to 9825 in May 2022. However, total fatalities decreased significantly by 50%, from 18 to 9. Total injuries also saw a decrease, falling by 3.26% from 2084 to 2016.
3,253
Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2022
▼ -3.2% vs prior (3,359)
Hit-and-run crashes decreased by 106, from 3359 in May 2021 to 3253 in May 2022. The hit-and-run rate also saw a decrease of 1.7 percentage points, falling from 34.8% to 33.1% year-over-year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
5
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
3
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
164
Pedestrians Injured
145
Cyclists Injured
1,703
Motorists Injured
4
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · 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 Saturday in May 2021, with 1650 crashes, to Tuesday in May 2022, with 1557 crashes. The peak hour for crashes also shifted, from 4 p.m. with 768 crashes in May 2021 to 3 p.m. with 846 crashes in May 2022. Notably, crashes on Tuesdays increased by 420, while crashes on Saturdays decreased by 354.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.19% in May 2021 to 0.09% in May 2022, reflecting a 50% reduction in fatal crashes from 18 to 9. Crashes resulting in serious injuries (severity A) decreased by 28, from 207 to 179, and minor injury crashes (severity B) decreased by 20, from 891 to 871. However, crashes with possible injuries (severity C) increased by 54, from 375 to 429.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Among contributing factors, 'DRIVING SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE' saw a notable increase of 77 crashes, rising from 318 to 395, representing a 24.2% increase in count. Conversely, 'OPERATING VEHICLE IN ERRATIC, RECKLESS, CARELESS, NEGLIGENT OR AGGRESSIVE MANNER' decreased by 72 crashes, from 202 to 130, a 35.6% reduction in count. 'UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL/DRUGS' also decreased by 19 crashes, from 52 to 33, a 36.5% decrease in count.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'RAIN' conditions increased by 340, rising from 820 in May 2021 to 1160 in May 2022. Correspondingly, crashes on 'WET' road surfaces increased by 350, from 1035 to 1385. Crashes in 'DAYLIGHT' increased by 295, from 6696 to 6991, while those in 'DARKNESS, LIGHTED ROAD' decreased by 137, from 1910 to 1773.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 222, from 19848 in May 2021 to 20070 in May 2022. While Chevrolet remained the top make, its involvement decreased by 123 vehicles, from 2435 to 2312. Toyota saw an increase of 200 vehicles, rising from 1914 to 2114, and Ford increased by 103 vehicles, from 1863 to 1966, narrowing the gap with Chevrolet.
Top Vehicle Makes (20,070 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,573 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 (20,970 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph speed zones increased by 244, from 6984 to 7228, but fatalities in these zones decreased by 9, resulting in a fatal rate reduction from 0.215% to 0.083%. In 25 mph zones, crashes increased by 32, from 654 to 686, with fatalities decreasing by 1 and the fatal rate dropping from 0.306% to 0.146%. However, 15 mph zones saw a decrease of 44 crashes, from 420 to 376, but experienced an increase of 1 fatality, raising the fatal rate from 0% to 0.266%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 15 mph: 1 of 376 (0.266%) · 25 mph: 1 of 686 (0.146%) · 30 mph: 6 of 7,228 (0.083%) · 35 mph: 1 of 576 (0.174%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · 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: 2022-05-01 through 2022-05-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-05-01 through 2022-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,825
- Total persons involved: 21,376
- Total vehicles involved: 20,070
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/may-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: 2022-05-01 – 2022-05-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved