ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · MAY 2023
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-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
10,142 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
MAY 2023
In May 2023, Chicago experienced 10,142 total crashes, an increase of 3.22% from 9,825 crashes in May 2022. Total fatalities rose by 44.44%, from 9 in the prior period to 13 in the current period. This significant increase in fatalities represents the most notable year-over-year shift.
10,142
▲ 3.2%was 9,825
Total Crash Events
13
▲ 44.4%was 9
Persons Killed
2,132
▲ 5.8%was 2,016
Persons Injured
3,196
▼ -1.8%was 3,253
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (13) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (11) 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 · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
The overall trend indicates an increase in traffic incidents, with total crashes rising by 3.22% year-over-year. Fatalities saw a substantial increase of 44.44%, from 9 to 13, while total injuries also increased by 5.75%, from 2,016 to 2,132.
3,196
Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2023
▼ -1.8% vs prior (3,253)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased by 57 incidents (-1.75%), from 3,253 in May 2022 to 3,196 in May 2023. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate declined from 33.1% to 31.5%. This indicates a downward trend in hit-and-run incidents year-over-year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
4
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
9
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
223
Pedestrians Injured
137
Cyclists Injured
1,770
Motorists Injured
2
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · 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 Tuesday in May 2022 (1,557 crashes) to Wednesday in May 2023 (1,654 crashes). The peak hour remained consistently at 3 PM for both periods, with 846 crashes in May 2022 and 897 crashes in May 2023. Notably, crashes on Wednesday increased by 33.39% (from 1,240 to 1,654), while crashes on Sunday decreased by 15.00% (from 1,384 to 1,176).
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate increased from 0.09% in May 2022 to 0.11% in May 2023. The proportion of serious injury crashes decreased slightly from 1.8% to 1.7%, and minor injury crashes decreased from 8.9% to 8.5%. Conversely, the proportion of crashes resulting in no injury increased from 84.6% to 85.1%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 11 fatal crash events resulted in 13 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, 'FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY,' increased by 61 crashes (5.64%) from 1,082 to 1,143. 'FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY' increased by 94 crashes (11.05%), moving from 851 to 945. 'FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH' saw a decrease of 50 crashes (-12.41%), shifting from 403 to 353, and its ranking fell from 4th to 5th.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in rainy conditions decreased significantly by 537 crashes (-46.3%), from 1,160 in May 2022 to 623 in May 2023. Similarly, crashes on wet road surfaces decreased by 618 crashes (-44.62%), from 1,385 to 767. Crashes in daylight conditions increased by 230 (3.29%) from 6,991 to 7,221.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 907 (4.52%) from 20,070 to 20,977. Toyota became the top vehicle make involved, with its count increasing by 345 (16.32%) from 2,114 to 2,459, surpassing Chevrolet which saw a decrease of 36 crashes (-1.56%). Significant increases in persons involved were seen in the 0-15 age group (23.04% increase) and the 65+ age group (24.95% increase).
Top Vehicle Makes (20,977 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
7,002 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 (22,300 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph zones increased by 319 (4.41%), from 7,228 to 7,547, while the fatal rate in these zones remained stable at approximately 0.08%. Crashes in 35 mph zones increased by 46 (7.98%), from 576 to 622, with the fatal rate in these zones rising from 0.174% to 0.643%. Additionally, 10 mph zones saw a fatal crash in May 2023, where there were none in May 2022.
Fatal crashes by zone: 10 mph: 1 of 252 (0.397%) · 30 mph: 6 of 7,547 (0.08%) · 35 mph: 4 of 622 (0.643%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · 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: 2023-05-01 through 2023-05-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-05-01 through 2023-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 10,142
- Total persons involved: 22,796
- Total vehicles involved: 20,977
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-2023-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: 2023-05-01 – 2023-05-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved