ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
CRASH INTELLIGENCE REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · SEPTEMBER 2016
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/september-2016-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
4,709 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
SEPTEMBER 2016
In September 2016, Chicago recorded 4,709 traffic crashes, resulting in 0 fatalities and 438 injuries. A notable finding is that 1,153 crashes, or 24.5% of the total, were classified as hit-and-run incidents.
4,709
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
438
Persons Injured
24.5%
Hit-and-Run Rate
Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 6 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
1,153
Hit-and-Run Crashes — September 2016
During September 2016, 1,153 crashes were identified as hit-and-run incidents, accounting for 24.5% of all crashes. This classification is based on the responding officer's initial determination at the scene.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
During September 2016, 370 motorists were injured in crashes, making them the most impacted group. Additionally, 37 pedestrians and 31 cyclists sustained injuries. There were no reported fatalities for pedestrians, cyclists, or motorists.
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
37
Pedestrians Injured
31
Cyclists Injured
370
Motorists Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
Crashes in September 2016 peaked on Fridays with 896 incidents, and the peak hour for crashes was 3 PM with 426 incidents. The majority of crashes, 3,525 or 74.8%, occurred during daylight hours, while 788 crashes occurred in darkness.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Of the 4,709 crashes, 4,393 (93.3%) resulted in no reported injuries, indicating property-damage-only incidents. Crashes involving injuries totaled 310, comprising 26 serious injuries (0.6%), 140 minor injuries (3%), and 144 possible injuries (3.1%). There were no fatal crashes reported in this period, and fatalities (persons killed) may differ from fatal crashes as a single crash can involve multiple fatalities.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor in crashes was 'FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY,' accounting for 660 incidents, or 14% of the total. 'FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY' was the second most frequent factor with 447 incidents (9.5%), followed by 'IMPROPER BACKING' with 274 incidents (5.8%).
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The majority of crashes occurred under clear weather conditions (3,988 crashes, 84.7%) and on dry road surfaces (3,876 crashes, 82.3%). Adverse conditions included 382 crashes in rain and 489 crashes on wet roads. Most crashes (3,525, or 74.8%) occurred during daylight hours.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The age group 26-34 was most represented among persons involved in crashes, with 1,569 individuals. This was followed by the 35-44 age group with 1,222 individuals and the 45-54 age group with 1,187 individuals. Chevrolet vehicles were most frequently involved, with 1,199 incidents, followed by Toyota Motor Company, Ltd. with 1,079 incidents and Ford with 907 incidents.
Top Vehicle Makes (9,488 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Vehicle unit records
3,231 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 (9,991 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The 30 mph speed limit zone accounted for the highest number of crashes, with 3,534 incidents, representing 75.0% of all crashes. No crashes in any speed limit zone were reported as fatal during this period, with a fatal percentage of 0% across all listed speed limits.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Posted speed limit at crash location
Crashes by District
Police District 08 recorded the highest number of crashes, with 426 incidents, representing 9.0% of all crashes. District 01 followed with 396 crashes, and District 18 had 336 crashes, indicating concentrations of incidents in these areas.
Crashes by District
"Other" combines 15 smaller categories (2,483 records): District 19 (216), District 10 (212), District 16 (210), District 06 (205), District 09 (192), District 24 (191), District 17 (189), District 14 (174), District 22 (161), District 15 (146), District 11 (143), District 02 (124), District 20 (124), District 04 (114), District 05 (82).
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Person-level records
First Crash Type
The most common first crash type was 'REAR END,' accounting for 1,401 incidents, or 29.7% of all crashes. 'PARKED MOTOR VEHICLE' was the second most frequent type with 1,065 incidents, followed by 'SIDESWIPE SAME DIRECTION' with 819 incidents.
First Crash Type
Showing top 9 of 14 reported. 5 additional (69 total) not shown: HEAD ON, OTHER OBJECT, OTHER NONCOLLISION, OVERTURNED, ANIMAL.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Person-level records
Point of Impact
The 'FRONT' of a vehicle was the most common point of impact, recorded in 1,940 incidents. The 'REAR' was the second most frequent impact area with 1,650 incidents, followed by the 'FRONT-LEFT' with 1,089 incidents.
Point of Impact
"Other" combines 5 smaller categories (563 records): REAR-RIGHT (486), TOTAL (ALL AREAS) (31), OTHER (22), ROOF (12), UNDER CARRIAGE (12).
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Person-level records
Pre-Crash Driver Action
The most common pre-crash action was 'STRAIGHT AHEAD,' accounting for 4,231 incidents, or 49.9% of known actions. 'PARKED' was the second most frequent action with 1,116 incidents (13.2%), followed by 'SLOW/STOP IN TRAFFIC' with 834 incidents (9.8%).
Pre-Crash Driver Action
Showing top 9 of 27 reported. 18 additional (713 total) not shown: OTHER, ENTERING TRAFFIC LANE FROM PARKING, MERGING, LEAVING TRAFFIC LANE TO PARK, STARTING IN TRAFFIC, U-TURN, ENTER FROM DRIVE/ALLEY, SLOW/STOP - RIGHT TURN, SLOW/STOP - LEFT TURN, AVOIDING VEHICLES/OBJECTS, SLOW/STOP - LOAD/UNLOAD, SKIDDING/CONTROL LOSS, PARKED IN TRAFFIC LANE, NEGOTIATING A CURVE, DRIVING WRONG WAY, TURNING ON RED, DRIVERLESS, DIVERGING.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Person-level records
Pedestrian/Cyclist Action
Among known pedestrian actions, 'WITH TRAFFIC' was the most frequent, recorded in 27 incidents, or 29.3% of known actions. 'OTHER ACTION' accounted for 14 incidents (15.2%), and 'NOT AT INTERSECTION' was observed in 12 incidents (13.0%).
Pedestrian/Cyclist Action
Showing top 9 of 14 reported. 5 additional (9 total) not shown: TURNING LEFT, STANDING IN ROADWAY, TURNING RIGHT, PARKED VEHICLE, INTOXICATED PED/PEDAL.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Person-level records
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: 2016-09-01 through 2016-09-30
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2016-09-01 through 2016-09-30 (30 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 4,709
- Total persons involved: 10,086
- Total vehicles involved: 9,488
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/september-2016-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: 2016-09-01 – 2016-09-30
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved