Chicago crash statistics and trends

Chicago logged 9,461 traffic crashes in January 2026 alone, according to city crash data compiled by thatcarhitme.com¹. That followed 109,112 crashes across all of 2025, down modestly from 112,055 in 2024²³. Statewide, Illinois recorded 303,913 crashes in 2024, with 1,178 deaths, 89,023 injuries, and an estimated $8.3 billion in economic cost, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation's most recent Crash Facts and Statistics report⁴. Pedestrian deaths rose 11.3% statewide from 2023 to 2024 and now make up 18.4% of all Illinois traffic fatalities⁴, a pattern that shows up sharply in a city as dense with foot traffic as Chicago.

The numbers only mean something once you connect them to an actual stretch of road: Pulaski Road at rush hour, the Oak Street curve on Lake Shore Drive, an expressway shoulder where an IDOT truck is parked with its lights flashing. Here's what the city, state, and county's own data say about where and how Chicago-area crashes are actually happening.

Fatalities are down, the pattern is more complicated

CDOT's most recent Chicago Traffic Crashes Annual Report, covering 2024 data, counted 130 traffic fatalities and 1,896 serious injuries citywide, the lowest serious-injury total since 2012⁵. Fatalities are down 30% since 2021, and deaths of people riding a bike or scooter fell from 10 in 2023 to 4 in 2024⁵.

May was the deadliest month in the report period: 16 deaths, 12% of the year's total, including 5 pedestrians⁵. Right-angle crashes accounted for 24% of severe collisions and turning crashes another 21%⁵. Hit-and-runs disproportionately hit pedestrians: 42% of hit-and-run crashes involved someone on foot, typically struck by a driver between 20 and 30 years old, and 64% of pedestrian deaths involved a larger vehicle like an SUV, pickup, or van⁵.

Four West Side community areas, Austin, West Garfield Park, East Garfield Park, and North Lawndale, saw injuries fall 39% and pedestrian and cyclist deaths fall 69% from 2021 to 2024⁵. CDOT also flags that 44% of the city's highest-injury corridors sit on streets under state, not city, jurisdiction⁵, which matters for who actually controls the redesign budget.

When Chicago adopted its Vision Zero Action Plan in 2017, the city was recording more than 2,000 people killed or seriously injured every year, roughly 5 serious injuries a day and a death every 3 days⁶. Add 2024's 130 deaths to its 1,896 serious injuries and the total comes to 2,026, almost identical to that 2017 baseline. Fatalities specifically have fallen; the overall toll of severe crashes has barely moved.

The corridors that keep showing up

That 2017 plan identified 43 High Crash Corridors covering about 70 miles of city streets, plus 8 High Crash Areas, 7 of which sit on the West and South sides⁶. The plan's own framing was direct: residents of high-economic-hardship areas are three times as likely to die in a traffic crash, and the High Crash Areas identified in 2017 remain largely in the city's lower-income communities of color⁶.

Pulaski Road was one of those original corridors, and it still shows up in the city's crash data nearly a decade later.

Pulaski Road up close

Pulaski's southwest stretch shows what a documented crash corridor looks like at street level. Between January 2020 and September 2024, the four miles of Pulaski Road between 71st Street and 40th Street logged 4,231 crashes, 902 injuries, and 80 incapacitating injuries⁷. Two pedestrians were killed there in 2024 alone: Jiekun Xu, 68, struck at 44th and Pulaski in Archer Heights in February, and Charlie Mills, 56, killed near 64th and Pulaski in West Lawn on Easter night⁷. A neighborhood survey of 472 residents flagged 63rd Street, Archer Avenue, and 47th Street as the intersections people worry about most⁷. CDOT has since added bollards and flexible delineators at several crossings along the corridor, with concrete pedestrian islands planned⁷.

Lake Shore Drive's two trouble spots

DuSable Lake Shore Drive carries two separate, well-documented danger zones. The older one is the Oak Street curve, where the road bends sharply near the Near North Side. In 2020, the last year with a detailed public crash tally, the curve saw 199 crashes between January and November, with 1 death and 32 injuries, up from 30 injuries in 2019 and 24 in 2018⁸. IDOT and CDOT are now running a joint Phase I study to redesign the Drive between Grand Avenue and Hollywood Avenue, including straightening the curve itself⁹.

The newer trouble spot is the intersection of Inner Lake Shore Drive and Addison Street in Lakeview. Three pedestrians were struck there within six months of 2025: Brendan Siddall, 26, died in a June 21 hit-and-run; Cindy Castellanos, 23, suffered critical injuries on November 6 when an SUV driver ran a red light; and a 50-year-old man was hospitalized on December 7¹⁰. The wider corridor logged 171 crashes and 41 injuries over the prior year, an estimated $4.2 million in direct medical, legal, and property costs, plus another $16 million in estimated quality-of-life damages¹⁰. Early in 2026, CDOT's initial response to the 46th Ward reportedly leaned toward more signage and striping rather than a redesign¹⁰.

The expressways carry their own risk

Off the surface streets, the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) averages roughly 2,000 crashes a year, a figure IDOT itself cites as justification for rebuilding the corridor between Mannheim Road and Racine Avenue¹¹. Much of the pavement and the bridge structures still date to the highway's original 1950s construction¹¹. It's one of several Chicago-area expressways, alongside the Dan Ryan (I-90/94) and the Stevenson (I-55), where lane closures put IDOT crews and state troopers on the shoulder, and that's exactly where Illinois' move-over statute applies.

Scott's Law, codified at 625 ILCS 5/11-907(c), requires drivers to slow down and change lanes for any vehicle stopped with emergency lights flashing¹². It's named for Chicago Fire Lieutenant Scott Gillen, killed on the Dan Ryan Expressway in 2000 by an intoxicated driver¹². Illinois State Police logged 27 Move Over crashes involving troopers in 2024, the most in five years, including the death of Trooper Clay Carns on December 23¹³. Since 2019, violations have caused 140 documented crashes involving troopers alone¹³. Fines now run $250 to $10,000 for a first offense, and as of January 1, 2026, the law was expanded to also cover moving emergency vehicles and roadside workers standing outside their vehicles¹².

Cook County's numbers, zoomed out

Cook County recorded 1,753 traffic deaths between 2018 and 2022, according to the region's newly adopted Safety Action Plan¹⁴. Speeding was a factor in 43% of those deaths, cell phone use in 36%, an unrestrained occupant in 34%, and 31% happened at an intersection¹⁴. Nearly 30% involved a pedestrian¹⁴. The racial gap is stark: Black Cook County residents died in crashes at a rate of 53 per 100,000, compared with 25 per 100,000 for Latino residents, 23 per 100,000 for non-Hispanic white residents, and a countywide average of 32 per 100,000¹⁴.

What this means if you were just in one

None of this changes what happens right after your own crash: the police report, the insurance call, the medical bills stacking up. But knowing that a stretch of road already has a documented crash history, whether that's Pulaski Road, the Oak Street curve, or an expressway shoulder, can matter later, when a claim gets evaluated. If you're trying to figure out next steps after a Chicago-area crash, the legal directory is a place to start looking for someone who handles cases in Cook County.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. thatcarhitme.com, "Chicago Crash Report - January 2026," https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/january-2026-report

2. thatcarhitme.com, "Chicago Year-over-Year Crash Report - 2025 vs 2024," https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/2025-annual-report

3. thatcarhitme.com, "Chicago Crash Report - 2024," https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/2024-annual-report

4. Illinois Department of Transportation, "2024 Illinois Crash Facts & Statistics," https://idot.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idot/documents/transportation-system/resources/safety/crash-reports/crash-facts/2024-crash-facts.pdf

5. Streetsblog Chicago, "Key findings from CDOT's annual Chicago Traffic Crashes report," https://chi.streetsblog.org/2025/11/25/key-findings-from-cdots-annual-chicago-traffic-crashes-report

6. City of Chicago, "Mayor Emanuel Unveils Vision Zero Action Plan Designed to Eliminate Traffic Fatalities and Serious Injuries Across Chicago," https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2017/june/VisionZero.html

7. Streetsblog Chicago, "After drivers killed 2 people crossing Pulaski on the Southwest Side this year, residents demand action, CDOT promises improvements," https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/09/20/after-drivers-killed-2-people-crossing-pulaski-on-the-southwest-side-this-year-residents-demand-action-cdot-promises-improvements

8. CBS News Chicago, "Despite Fewer Crashes Citywide, Oak Street S-Curve On Lake Shore Drive Remains Dangerous As Ever," https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/lake-shore-drive-oak-street-s-curve-dangers/

9. Illinois Department of Transportation, "North Lake Shore Drive Project Study," https://idot.illinois.gov/transportation-system/transportation-management/featured-projects/north-lake-shore-drive-project-study.html

10. Streetsblog Chicago, "After 3 recent pedestrian crashes, one fatal, CDOT must act now to save lives on Inner Lake Shore Drive," https://chi.streetsblog.org/2026/02/20/after-3-recent-pedestrian-crashes-one-fatal-cdot-must-act-now-to-save-lives-on-inner-lake-shore-drive

11. Illinois Department of Transportation, "Cook County I-290 Eisenhower Expressway," https://idot.illinois.gov/programs-and-projects/featured-projects/cook-county-i-290-eisenhower-expressway/overview.html

12. Illinois State Police, "Move Over Law / Scott's Law," https://isp.illinois.gov/Patrol/PatrolMoveOverLaw

13. Capitol News Illinois, "Despite two decades of education and enforcement, drivers still failing Scott's Law," https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/despite-two-decades-of-education-and-enforcement-drivers-still-failing-scotts-law/

14. Streetsblog Chicago, "Cook County, CMAP, and CDOT have teamed up on a Safety Action Plan to prevent traffic injuries and deaths," https://chi.streetsblog.org/2025/02/17/cook-county-cmap-and-cdot-have-teamed-up-on-a-safety-action-plan-to-prevent-traffic-injuries-and-deaths