Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

629 CRASHES IN
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

In Cleveland Heights, total crashes decreased by 18.0%, from 767 in the prior period to 629 in the current period. Despite this overall reduction in crashes, total fatalities increased by 66.7%, rising from 3 to 5 year-over-year, marking the most significant shift.

629

▼ -18.0%was 767

Total Crash Events

5

▲ 66.7%was 3

Persons Killed

167

▼ -29.2%was 236

Persons Injured

103

▼ -32.7%was 153

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (5) 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.

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends show a decrease in total crashes and injuries year-over-year. Total crashes decreased by 138, from 767 to 629, representing an 18.0% reduction. Similarly, total injuries declined by 29.2%, from 236 to 167.

103

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023

▼ -32.7% vs prior (153)

Hit-and-run incidents decreased in both count and rate year-over-year. The number of hit-and-run crashes fell by 50, from 153 in the prior period to 103 in the current period. Consequently, the hit-and-run crash rate decreased from 19.9% to 16.4% of all crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3↓-33.3%

10

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 11↓-9.1%

157

Motorists Injured

Prior: 225↓-30.2%

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday, with 127 crashes in the prior period, to Monday, with 95 crashes in the current period. The peak crash hour also shifted from 5 p.m. (67 crashes) in the prior period to 3 p.m. (63 crashes) in the current period.

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes decreased, the fatal crash rate increased from 0.39% in the prior period to 0.79% in the current period. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injury increased from 77.7% to 79.5%, while minor injury crashes decreased from 8.2% to 6.4% of all crashes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.8%
↑66.7%prior 3
Serious Injury8serious injury crashes1.3%
↓-11.1%prior 9
Minor Injury40minor injury crashes6.4%
↓-36.5%prior 63
Possible Injury76possible injury crashes12.1%
↓-20.8%prior 96
No Injury500no injury crashes79.5%
↓-16.1%prior 596

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Road & Environmental Conditions

Analysis of conditions reveals shifts in crash circumstances. The proportion of crashes occurring on dry road surfaces increased from 73.1% to 76.3%, while crashes on snowy roads decreased from 5.5% to 3.3%. Concurrently, the proportion of crashes during cloudy conditions increased from 13.6% to 15.9%, and during rain from 9.5% to 11.1%.

Weather

Clear426 (67.7%)
↓-20.2%prior 534
Cloudy100 (15.9%)
↓-3.8%prior 104
Rain70 (11.1%)
↓-4.1%prior 73
Snow29 (4.6%)
↓-35.6%prior 45
Other/Unknown3 (0.5%)
↓-57.1%prior 7
Blowing Sand; Soil; Dirt; Snow1 (0.2%)

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight431 (68.5%)
↓-18.2%prior 527
Dark - Lighted Roadway153 (24.3%)
↓-16.8%prior 184
Dawn/Dusk28 (4.5%)
↓-24.3%prior 37
Dark - Unknown Roadway Lighting8 (1.3%)
↑60.0%prior 5
Dark - Roadway Not Lighted5 (0.8%)
↓-50.0%prior 10
Other/Unknown4 (0.6%)

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry480 (76.3%)
↓-14.4%prior 561
Wet104 (16.5%)
↓-8.8%prior 114
Snow21 (3.3%)
↓-50.0%prior 42
Water (Standing; Moving)16 (2.5%)
↓-27.3%prior 22
Ice4 (0.6%)
↓-69.2%prior 13
Other/Unknown3 (0.5%)
↓-70.0%prior 10
Slush1 (0.2%)
↓-80.0%prior 5

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 1501 to 1228 year-over-year. All age groups for persons involved in crashes, except 35-44, saw decreases, with the 16-20 age group experiencing a significant reduction from 229 to 108 persons. Among specific vehicle makes, Ford, Toyota, and Honda saw increased involvement, while Chevrolet and Nissan saw decreased involvement.

Top Vehicle Makes (1,228 vehicles)

1
OTHER/UNKNOWN175 (14.3%)
↓-73.6%prior 664
2
FORD142 (11.6%)
↑25.7%prior 113
3
CHEVROLET129 (10.5%)
↓-14.0%prior 150
4
TOYOTA114 (9.3%)
↑18.8%prior 96
5
HONDA113 (9.2%)
↑59.2%prior 71
6
NISSAN69 (5.6%)
↓-22.5%prior 89
7
HYUNDAI65 (5.3%)
↑14.0%prior 57
8
JEEP60 (4.9%)
↑11.1%prior 54
9
DODGE42 (3.4%)
↑10.5%prior 38
10
SUBARU35 (2.9%)
↑40.0%prior 25

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

97 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (1,438 persons with recorded sex)

Male727 (50.6%)
↓-20.7%prior 917
Female711 (49.4%)
↓-21.0%prior 900

Source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS) · Csv Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS), accessed programmatically via the Csv 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: Csv 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: Cleveland Heights, OH
  • Total crash records analyzed: 629
  • Total persons involved: 1,506
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,228

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). "Cleveland Heights, OH Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Ohio Crash Data (ODOT TIMS), Csv Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/ohio/cleveland-heights/2023-annual-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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Cleveland Heights, OH Crash Report — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com