ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · OCTOBER 2020
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/october-2020-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
8,354 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
OCTOBER 2020
In October 2020, total crashes decreased to 8,354, a 15.94% reduction from 9,938 crashes in October 2019. Despite the overall decrease in crashes, total fatalities significantly increased by 88.89%, from 9 in October 2019 to 17 in October 2020. Total injuries also decreased by 13.30%, from 2,113 to 1,832.
8,354
▼ -15.9%was 9,938
Total Crash Events
17
▲ 88.9%was 9
Persons Killed
1,832
▼ -13.3%was 2,113
Persons Injured
2,867
▲ 10.4%was 2,597
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (17) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (15) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 14 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, the number of crashes in October 2020 decreased by 15.94% compared to October 2019, falling from 9,938 to 8,354. This decline in total crashes was accompanied by a 13.30% decrease in total injuries, from 2,113 to 1,832. However, total fatalities increased by 88.89% year-over-year, rising from 9 to 17.
2,867
Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2020
▲ 10.4% vs prior (2,597)
Hit-and-run crashes increased by 10.40%, from 2,597 in October 2019 to 2,867 in October 2020. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate rose from 26.1% of all crashes in October 2019 to 34.3% in October 2020. This indicates an upward trend in the proportion of crashes involving a hit-and-run.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
3
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
13
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
177
Pedestrians Injured
97
Cyclists Injured
1,557
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · 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 Thursday in October 2019 (1,709 crashes) to Friday in October 2020 (1,506 crashes). While the peak hour remained 4 PM for both periods, the number of crashes at that hour decreased from 755 in October 2019 to 680 in October 2020. Notably, crashes on Thursday decreased by 19.95% year-over-year, while crashes on Friday increased by 8.66%.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate increased from 0.08% in October 2019 to 0.18% in October 2020. The number of fatal crashes increased from 8 to 15 year-over-year. Serious injury crashes decreased from 198 to 180, while minor injury crashes decreased from 854 to 768. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injury remained relatively stable, at 84.3% in October 2019 and 83.9% in October 2020.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 15 fatal crash events resulted in 17 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top five contributing factors remained consistent in ranking year-over-year. 'Failing to Yield Right-of-Way' decreased from 1,158 crashes in October 2019 to 894 crashes in October 2020, a 22.80% decrease in count. 'Following Too Closely' saw a 28.83% decrease in count, from 1,051 to 748 crashes. 'Improper Backing' experienced the largest percentage decrease among the top factors, falling by 31.96% from 413 to 281 crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 6,989 in October 2019 to 6,499 in October 2020. Crashes during 'Rain' decreased by 660, from 1,760 to 1,100, and crashes during 'Snow' conditions decreased significantly from 308 to 47. Correspondingly, crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces decreased from 6,888 to 6,298, and on 'Wet' surfaces from 2,231 to 1,457.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 16.07%, from 20,459 in October 2019 to 17,171 in October 2020. The number of driver-involved vehicles decreased from 17,189 to 14,125, and pedestrian-involved vehicles decreased from 378 to 205. Among top vehicle makes, Chevrolet remained the most involved, though its count decreased from 2,274 to 2,143, while Toyota-involved vehicles saw a 30.28% decrease, from 2,236 to 1,559.
Top Vehicle Makes (17,171 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Vehicle unit records
5,455 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 (17,759 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone decreased by 19.01%, from 7,459 in October 2019 to 6,041 in October 2020. However, the number of fatal crashes in this zone increased from 5 to 15, resulting in a fatal crash rate increase from 0.067% to 0.248%. Conversely, crashes in the 35 mph speed zone decreased from 701 to 656, and fatal crashes in this zone dropped from 3 to 0.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 15 of 6,041 (0.248%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · 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: 2020-10-01 through 2020-10-31
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2020-10-01 through 2020-10-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 8,354
- Total persons involved: 18,023
- Total vehicles involved: 17,171
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/october-2020-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: 2020-10-01 – 2020-10-31
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved