ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · MAY 2026
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-2026-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,955 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
MAY 2026
In May 2026, Chicago recorded 9,955 traffic crashes, a 1.5% decrease from the 10,104 crashes in May 2025. Despite the overall decline in collisions, the total number of injuries rose by 13.7%, from 2,237 to 2,544. The most notable shift was a 26.7% increase in bicycle-related crashes and a corresponding 29.6% rise in cyclist injuries year-over-year.
9,955
▼ -1.5%was 10,104
Total Crash Events
6
Persons Killed
2,544
▲ 13.7%was 2,237
Persons Injured
3,112
▲ 3.7%was 3,000
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (6) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (5) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 18 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash totals in Chicago saw a slight year-over-year decline, falling by 149 incidents from May 2025 to May 2026. However, this decrease in crash frequency was accompanied by a notable increase in crash severity, as total injuries grew by 13.7% during the same period. The number of fatalities remained unchanged at 6 for both months.
3,112
Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2026
▲ 3.7% vs prior (3,000)
Hit-and-run incidents showed an upward trend year-over-year. The total count of hit-and-run crashes increased by 3.7%, rising from 3,000 in May 2025 to 3,112 in May 2026. This pushed the hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of all crashes, from 29.7% in the prior year to 31.3% in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
4
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
241
Pedestrians Injured
206
Cyclists Injured
2,079
Motorists Injured
18
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both May 2026 (1,805 crashes) and May 2025 (1,918 crashes). The daily peak hour for collisions shifted slightly earlier, from the 4 p.m. hour in the prior year (893 crashes) to the 3 p.m. hour in the current period (838 crashes).
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While total crashes decreased, the proportion of crashes involving an injury increased from 15.7% in May 2025 to 17.8% in May 2026. The count of serious injury crashes rose from 113 to 136, and minor injury crashes increased from 858 to 928. Conversely, the number of fatal crashes decreased slightly from 6 to 5, with the fatal crash rate dipping from 0.06% to 0.05%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 5 fatal crash events resulted in 6 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top three contributing factors were identical in both periods: 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way,' 'Following Too Closely,' and 'Improper Overtaking/Passing.' The count for the top factor, 'Failing to Yield,' decreased from 1,277 incidents to 1,185. Notably, crashes attributed to 'Operating Vehicle in Erratic, Reckless, Careless, Negligent or Aggressive Manner' increased in count by 43.4%, from 83 to 119 incidents year-over-year.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes in May 2026 occurred under generally clearer conditions compared to the previous year. The number of crashes during rain fell from 774 to 281, and collisions on wet road surfaces decreased from 977 to 378. Consequently, the share of crashes on dry roads increased from 77.3% in May 2025 to 82.0% in May 2026. Lighting conditions remained broadly similar, with daylight crashes accounting for the majority in both periods (70.7% in 2026 vs. 73.9% in 2025).
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Toyota, Chevrolet, and Ford leading in both May 2025 and May 2026, though each saw a slight decrease in total counts. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes was also stable, with the 26-34 age group being the most represented in both periods. There was a slight increase in the number of individuals from the 45-54 age group involved in crashes, rising from 2,147 to 2,224.
Top Vehicle Makes (20,400 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
6,674 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 (21,794 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The 30 mph speed zone continued to be where the majority of crashes occurred, accounting for 7,399 crashes in May 2026 compared to 7,544 in May 2025. A notable change was observed in fatal crash locations; all 5 fatal crashes in the current period happened in 30 mph zones. In the prior year, the 6 fatal crashes were distributed among 25 mph, 30 mph, and 35 mph zones.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 5 of 7,399 (0.068%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31 · 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: 2026-05-01 through 2026-05-31
- Report generated: July 5, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2026-05-01 through 2026-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,955
- Total persons involved: 22,238
- Total vehicles involved: 20,400
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: May 2026." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31. Data source: Chicago Traffic Crashes, Socrata Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/may-2026-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: 2026-05-01 – 2026-05-31
Generated: July 5, 2026 · All rights reserved