ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHICAGO, IL · SEPTEMBER 2022
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-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
9,602 CRASHES IN
CHICAGO, IL
SEPTEMBER 2022
In September 2022, the city recorded 9,602 total crashes, a decrease of 295 crashes or approximately 3.0% compared to 9,897 crashes in September 2021. Total fatalities saw a notable decrease, falling from 19 in the prior year to 15 in the current period, representing a 21.1% reduction. Total injuries also decreased by 4.2%, from 2,108 to 2,019.
9,602
▼ -3.0%was 9,897
Total Crash Events
15
▼ -21.1%was 19
Persons Killed
2,019
▼ -4.2%was 2,108
Persons Injured
3,132
▼ -4.2%was 3,271
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (15) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (13) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 27 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash data for September 2022 indicates a slight downward trend in total crashes, decreasing by 295 incidents compared to September 2021. This represents a 3.0% reduction in total crashes year-over-year. Fatalities and injuries also decreased, suggesting an overall improvement in safety metrics for the month.
3,132
Hit-and-Run Crashes — September 2022
▼ -4.2% vs prior (3,271)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 3,271 in September 2021 to 3,132 in September 2022, a reduction of 139 incidents. The hit-and-run crash rate also decreased slightly from 33.1% to 32.6% of all crashes. This indicates a minor downward trend in both the count and proportion of hit-and-run incidents.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
3
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
12
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
216
Pedestrians Injured
168
Cyclists Injured
1,629
Motorists Injured
6
Other Injured
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · 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 September 2021 to Friday in September 2022. Crashes on Wednesday decreased significantly by 408 incidents, while Friday saw an increase of 237 incidents. The peak crash hour remained consistent at 3 PM for both periods, though the count decreased slightly from 848 to 817.
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatal crashes decreased from 18 in September 2021 to 13 in September 2022, resulting in a fatal crash rate reduction from 0.2% to 0.1% of all crashes. Serious injury crashes saw a slight increase of 4 incidents, from 179 to 183, while minor injury crashes decreased by 75 incidents. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injury remained largely stable, increasing slightly from 83.9% to 84.0%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 13 fatal crash events resulted in 15 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top two contributing factors, 'FAILING TO YIELD RIGHT-OF-WAY' and 'FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY', maintained their ranks, with counts of 1,047 and 837 respectively in September 2022. 'FAILING TO REDUCE SPEED TO AVOID CRASH' saw a notable decrease of 79 incidents, falling from 444 to 365, a 17.8% reduction in count. 'IMPROPER LANE USAGE' increased by 15 incidents, moving into the top five factors with 351 crashes, while 'IMPROPER BACKING' dropped out of the top five.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'RAIN' weather conditions increased by 79 incidents, representing a 20.4% rise from the prior year. Similarly, crashes on 'WET' road surfaces increased by 67 incidents, a 12.8% increase. Crashes in 'DARKNESS' conditions also saw an increase of 49 incidents, rising by 16.4% year-over-year, while crashes during 'DAYLIGHT' decreased by 303 incidents.
Weather
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 714, from 20,291 in September 2021 to 19,577 in September 2022. The top five vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent in their rankings year-over-year. Nissan vehicles saw the largest decrease among the top five, with 154 fewer incidents, representing a 9.5% reduction in count.
Top Vehicle Makes (19,577 vehicles)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Vehicle unit records
6,577 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 (20,574 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The majority of crashes continued to occur in the 30 mph speed zone, which saw a decrease of 267 incidents, from 7,318 to 7,051, and a reduction in fatal crashes from 12 to 10. Crashes in the 35 mph zone decreased by 51 incidents, and fatalities in this zone dropped from 2 to 0. Conversely, crashes in the 40 mph zone increased by 15 incidents, and this zone recorded 1 fatal crash in September 2022 compared to none in the prior year.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 645 (0.155%) · 30 mph: 10 of 7,051 (0.142%) · 40 mph: 1 of 104 (0.962%) · 45 mph: 1 of 72 (1.389%)
Source: Chicago Traffic Crashes · Socrata Open Data · 2022-09-01 to 2022-09-30 · 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: 2022-09-01 through 2022-09-30
- Report generated: June 1, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-09-01 through 2022-09-30 (30 days)
- Geographic scope: Chicago, IL
- Total crash records analyzed: 9,602
- Total persons involved: 20,993
- Total vehicles involved: 19,577
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-2022-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: 2022-09-01 – 2022-09-30
Generated: June 1, 2026 · All rights reserved