Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

8,937 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
NOVEMBER 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2023

Total crashes in November 2024 were 8,937, a slight increase from 8,779 crashes reported in November 2023. This represents a 1.8% rise year-over-year. A notable shift was the 13.9% increase in pedestrian crashes, rising from 237 to 270.

8,937

1.8%was 8,779

Total Crash Events

10

Persons Killed

1,915

-1.2%was 1,938

Persons Injured

2,706

-2.5%was 2,776

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (10) 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. 13 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash data indicates a slight upward trend in total crashes, with an increase of 158 incidents (1.8%) from 8,779 in November 2023 to 8,937 in November 2024. Despite this, the total number of fatalities remained stable at 10, and total injuries decreased by 23, from 1,938 to 1,915, marking a 1.2% reduction.

2,706

Hit-and-Run Crashes — November 2024

-2.5% vs prior (2,776)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 2,776 in November 2023 to 2,706 in November 2024, a reduction of 70 incidents or 2.5%. Concurrently, the hit-and-run rate decreased by 1.3 percentage points, from 31.6% to 30.3% of all crashes. This indicates a slight downward trend in both the count and proportion of hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 20.0%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0%

7

Motorists Killed

Prior: 8-12.5%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

258

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 22017.3%

90

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 100-10.0%

1,558

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,612-3.3%

9

Other Injured

Prior: 650.0%

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

In November 2024, Friday saw the most crashes with 1,545, while in November 2023, Wednesday was the peak day with 1,585 crashes. The peak crash hour remained 5 PM in both periods, although the count at this hour slightly decreased from 729 in November 2023 to 715 in November 2024. Overall, the distribution of crashes across weekdays shows a shift, with Friday becoming the busiest day in the current period.

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes decreased from 10 to 9, maintaining a fatal crash rate of 0.1% of total crashes in both periods. The proportion of crashes resulting in serious injuries slightly increased from 1.4% to 1.5%, while minor injuries decreased from 8.6% to 7.9%. Conversely, crashes with possible injuries saw an increase from 5.6% to 6.1% year-over-year.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 9 fatal crash events resulted in 10 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal9fatal crashes0.1%
-10.0%prior 10
Serious Injury133serious injury crashes1.5%
7.3%prior 124
Minor Injury707minor injury crashes7.9%
-6.7%prior 758
Possible Injury546possible injury crashes6.1%
10.8%prior 493
No Injury7,529no injury crashes84.2%
2.2%prior 7,370

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top five contributing factors remained consistent in their ranking year-over-year. "FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY" decreased by 50 crashes, from 1,056 to 1,006, a 4.7% reduction. Conversely, "FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY" saw a substantial increase of 143 crashes, rising from 723 to 866, a 19.8% increase. Notably, crashes attributed to "WEATHER" increased significantly by 124 incidents, from 58 in November 2023 to 182 in November 2024, representing a 213.8% rise.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY1,006 (11.3%)-4.7%prior 1,056
FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY866 (9.7%)19.8%prior 723
IMPROPER OVERTAKING/PASSING474 (5.3%)1.7%prior 466
FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH363 (4.1%)4.0%prior 349
DRIVING SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE349 (3.9%)2.0%prior 342
IMPROPER TURNING/NO SIGNAL322 (3.6%)15.0%prior 280
IMPROPER LANE USAGE311 (3.5%)13.9%prior 273
IMPROPER BACKING248 (2.8%)0.0%prior 248
WEATHER182 (2%)213.8%prior 58
DISREGARDING TRAFFIC SIGNALS162 (1.8%)1.9%prior 159

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a significant shift towards adverse weather and road conditions in November 2024 compared to the prior year. Crashes in clear weather decreased by 1,350 incidents, while crashes during rain increased by 865 (270.3%) and during snow increased by 285 (199.3%). Correspondingly, wet road crashes rose by 992 (165.1%) and snow/slush crashes by 316 (486.2%), indicating a greater prevalence of challenging conditions during the current period.

Weather

CLEAR5,900 (72.7%)
-18.6%prior 7,250
RAIN1,185 (14.6%)
270.3%prior 320
CLOUDY/OVERCAST517 (6.4%)
122.8%prior 232
SNOW428 (5.3%)
199.3%prior 143
FREEZING RAIN/DRIZZLE38 (0.5%)
90.0%prior 20
OTHER30 (0.4%)
-3.2%prior 31
SLEET/HAIL10 (0.1%)
66.7%prior 6
BLOWING SNOW7 (0.1%)
40.0%prior 5
FOG/SMOKE/HAZE3 (0.0%)
-25.0%prior 4

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

DAYLIGHT4,519 (54.6%)
-4.2%prior 4,715
DARKNESS, LIGHTED ROAD2,591 (31.3%)
6.6%prior 2,431
DARKNESS626 (7.6%)
4.7%prior 598
DUSK345 (4.2%)
21.1%prior 285
DAWN203 (2.5%)
34.4%prior 151

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

DRY5,635 (73.7%)
-17.4%prior 6,818
WET1,593 (20.8%)
165.1%prior 601
SNOW OR SLUSH381 (5.0%)
486.2%prior 65
OTHER28 (0.4%)
-3.4%prior 29
ICE3 (0.0%)
-94.4%prior 54
SAND, MUD, DIRT1 (0.0%)
-50.0%prior 2

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Total vehicles involved in crashes increased by 224, from 17,961 to 18,185, a 1.25% rise. Among vehicle types, pedestrian involvement increased by 42 (16.6%), while parked vehicles decreased by 169 (6.9%). All recorded age groups showed an increase in persons involved in crashes, with the 0-15 age group seeing a 14.8% rise, from 553 to 635.

Top Vehicle Makes (18,185 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA2,372 (13%)
13.1%prior 2,098
2
CHEVROLET1,935 (10.6%)
-2.7%prior 1,989
3
FORD1,823 (10%)
5.3%prior 1,732
4
HONDA1,451 (8%)
5.1%prior 1,381
5
NISSAN1,272 (7%)
-4.6%prior 1,334
6
JEEP880 (4.8%)
11.4%prior 790
7
HYUNDAI700 (3.8%)
-9.1%prior 770
8
DODGE591 (3.2%)
-8.4%prior 645
9
KIA488 (2.7%)
-5.4%prior 516
10
VOLKSWAGEN351 (1.9%)
5.4%prior 333

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

5,678 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 (19,298 persons with recorded sex)

Male10,360 (53.7%)
4.5%prior 9,918
Female7,148 (37.0%)
2.2%prior 6,996
Non-Binary1,790 (9.3%)
-1.0%prior 1,808

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones saw some shifts. Crashes in 30 mph zones increased by 208 (3.2%), while the fatal crash rate in these zones decreased from 0.139% to 0.105%. Notably, 40 mph zones, which had no fatal crashes in the prior period, reported 1 fatal crash in 2024 with a fatal rate of 0.893%, and 45 mph zones also reported 1 fatal crash with a fatal rate of 2.326% compared to none in the prior period.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 7 of 6,692 (0.105%) · 40 mph: 1 of 112 (0.893%) · 45 mph: 1 of 43 (2.326%)

Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · 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: 2024-11-01 through 2024-11-30
  • Report generated: June 1, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-11-01 through 2024-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
  • Total crash records analyzed: 8,937
  • Total persons involved: 19,691
  • Total vehicles involved: 18,185

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/november-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

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Chicago, IL Year-over-Year Crash Report — November 2024 vs November 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com