ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · MAY 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/may-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
10,742 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
MAY 2024
In May 2024, Chicago experienced 10,742 traffic crashes, a 5.91% increase from 10,142 crashes in May 2023. Total fatalities also rose by 23.08%, from 13 to 16, marking a notable increase in severe outcomes year-over-year.
10,742
▲ 5.9%was 10,142
Total Crash Events
16
▲ 23.1%was 13
Persons Killed
2,519
▲ 18.2%was 2,132
Persons Injured
3,225
▲ 0.9%was 3,196
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (16) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (14) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 23 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash incidents in Chicago increased by 5.91% year-over-year, rising from 10,142 crashes in May 2023 to 10,742 crashes in May 2024. Concurrently, total fatalities saw a 23.08% increase, from 13 to 16, and total injuries increased by 18.15%, from 2,132 to 2,519, indicating a general upward trend in crash frequency and severity.
3,225
Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2024
▲ 0.9% vs prior (3,196)
The total number of hit-and-run crashes increased slightly from 3,196 in May 2023 to 3,225 in May 2024. However, the hit-and-run rate decreased from 31.5% of all crashes in May 2023 to 30% in May 2024. This indicates that while the absolute count of hit-and-run incidents rose, their proportion relative to total crashes slightly declined.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
3
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
13
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
281
Pedestrians Injured
185
Cyclists Injured
2,044
Motorists Injured
9
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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 Wednesday in May 2023 (1,654 crashes) to Friday in May 2024 (1,916 crashes), representing a 35.89% increase in Friday crashes. While the peak hour remained 3 PM for both periods, crashes on Monday and Tuesday decreased by 21.45% and 16.7% respectively, contrasting with significant increases on Thursday (25.95%) and Saturday (13.23%).
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes increased from 11 in May 2023 to 14 in May 2024, maintaining a consistent fatal crash rate of 0.1%. Crashes resulting in minor injuries rose by 116, from 865 to 981, and possible injury crashes increased by 219, from 444 to 663. Despite an increase in total crashes, the proportion of serious injury crashes remained stable at 175 for both periods, while the share of 'No Injury' crashes decreased from 85.1% to 82.7%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 14 fatal crash events resulted in 16 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factors remained consistent year-over-year, with 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way' increasing by 85 crashes (7.44% increase in count) to 1,228 incidents. 'Following Too Closely' also rose slightly by 15 crashes (1.59% increase in count) to 960. Notably, 'Disregarding Stop Sign' incidents saw a significant increase of 30 crashes (34.88% increase in count), rising from 86 to 116, while 'Under the Influence of Alcohol/Drugs' crashes decreased by 10 (28.57% decrease in count).
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'RAIN' conditions increased by 35.31%, from 623 to 843 incidents year-over-year. Similarly, crashes on 'WET' road surfaces rose by 55.28%, from 767 to 1,191. Despite these increases in adverse conditions, the majority of crashes in both periods occurred during 'DAYLIGHT' (7,821 in May 2024 vs. 7,221 in May 2023) and on 'DRY' road surfaces (8,138 in May 2024 vs. 8,033 in May 2023).
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 4.24%, from 20,977 to 21,866. Pedestrian involvement in crashes rose by 25.1% (from 255 to 319), and bicycle involvement increased by 34.78% (from 184 to 248). Toyota remained the most frequently involved vehicle make, with its count increasing by 3.54% from 2,459 to 2,546, while Honda surpassed Nissan to become the fourth most involved make.
Top Vehicle Makes (21,866 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,972 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 (23,525 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Fatal crashes at 30 mph speed limits increased from 6 in May 2023 to 10 in May 2024, with its fatal crash percentage rising from 0.08% to 0.126%. Crashes in the 35 mph zone saw a decrease in fatalities, from 4 to 0. Notably, May 2024 recorded 2 fatal crashes at 40 mph, 1 at 45 mph, and 1 at 55 mph, while May 2023 had a fatal crash at 10 mph and none at 40, 45, or 55 mph.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 10 of 7,954 (0.126%) · 40 mph: 2 of 101 (1.98%) · 45 mph: 1 of 61 (1.639%) · 55 mph: 1 of 10 (10%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 10,742
- Total persons involved: 24,077
- Total vehicles involved: 21,866
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-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: 2024-05-01 – 2024-05-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved