Car Accidents in Chicago: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System records every fatal crash on public roads. For 2023, crashes coded to Chicago account for 167 deaths in 159 fatal crashes. For a city of 2.7 million, that is a far lower rate per resident than Memphis, Phoenix, Houston or Jacksonville, consistent with lower speeds, a dense grid and heavy transit use. It is still 167 deaths, concentrated in particular neighborhoods and on particular roads.

Chicago's pattern is an intersection pattern. Seventy-five of 159 fatal crashes, 47 percent, were intersection-related, a share matched only by Milwaukee, Tucson and Philadelphia among the top 25 cities. Angle collisions accounted for 30 fatal crashes, and 63 crashes involved a pedestrian or cyclist, a 40 percent share. Darkness was a factor in 106 crashes, two thirds.

The geography is uneven. The surface streets on the list, Pulaski Road and Western Avenue, are the long north-south arterials of the South and West Sides, where wide roads, long signal spacing and high speeds coexist with heavy foot traffic. FARS counts fatal crashes only; injury crashes in Chicago, reported through the Illinois Department of Transportation and the city's own crash data portal, number in the tens of thousands per year.

FARS roadway coding identifies where fatal crashes concentrated in 2023. The expressways and two South Side arterials lead.

• I-94 (Dan Ryan and Kennedy Expressways): 8 fatal crashes.
• South Pulaski Road: 6 fatal crashes along the arterial through the Southwest Side.
• I-57: 4 fatal crashes on the far South Side.
• I-90 (Kennedy Expressway): 4 fatal crashes.
• South Western Avenue: 4 fatal crashes.
• I-290 (Eisenhower Expressway): 3 fatal crashes.

An angle collision at a signalized Chicago intersection is a dispute about who had the green. Chicago has an extensive network of city-owned traffic and red-light cameras, and footage from them, from CTA buses and from businesses is the evidence that resolves it. The city retains camera footage for limited periods and requires a formal request, and an attorney's preservation letter in the first days is the difference between having it and not.

Illinois's 51 percent bar means the fault percentage decides whether there is a claim at all. A driver found 50 percent at fault recovers half; one found 51 percent at fault recovers nothing. In a two-car intersection crash with no independent evidence, insurers routinely assign each driver 50 percent, which halves both claims, and the camera footage is what breaks the tie.

Pedestrian crashes at Chicago intersections turn on the walk signal and the crosswalk. Illinois requires drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, and a pedestrian crossing with the signal who is struck by a turning vehicle is rarely assigned meaningful fault. Chicago's dooring crashes, where a parked driver opens a door into a cyclist, are also governed by a specific city ordinance that puts the duty on the person opening the door.

Suppose you were driving north on Pulaski Road at night and entered an intersection on a green light when a driver heading west ran the red and struck your car on the driver's side. You suffered a fractured hip requiring surgery and a lacerated spleen, with $118,000 in medical bills and five months off work. The other driver's insurer said its driver had the green and assigned you 50 percent of the fault.

A red-light camera at the intersection, obtained by a records request within the first week, showed the westbound vehicle entering 1.4 seconds after the signal turned red. The fault assignment was withdrawn. The other driver carried Illinois's $25,000 per person minimum liability limit, which was paid, and your own underinsured motorist coverage of $250,000 covered the remainder of the claim, with your health insurer's lien reduced by its share of attorney fees under Illinois's common fund rule.

Had the signal itself been malfunctioning, a claim against the City of Chicago would have had a one-year deadline under the Tort Immunity Act, half the general deadline, and would have required the signal maintenance records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. All figures are hypothetical.

Chicago intersection crashes depend on camera evidence that the city holds briefly and on a government deadline that is half the usual one.

• Get the Chicago Police Department report number; Illinois crash reports are available from the department and through the state's portal.
• Identify the nearest red-light camera, traffic camera and any CTA bus route, and have preservation and records requests sent within days.
• Photograph the signal heads, the crosswalk, the lighting and the final positions of the vehicles.
• Get witness names; Chicago intersection crashes without footage come down to witness accounts.
• Report to your own insurer the same day and confirm your uninsured and underinsured motorist limits in writing.
• Get medical care within a day; Cook County emergency rooms and clinics create the first record the insurer will read.
• If a city street, signal, CTA vehicle or other public entity is involved, treat the one-year Tort Immunity Act deadline as the controlling date.

Illinois is a fault state, not no-fault. The at-fault driver's liability insurer is the primary source of recovery, and medical payments coverage on your own policy, if purchased, pays early bills. Illinois's minimum liability coverage is $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident and $20,000 for property damage, and uninsured motorist coverage at the same minimum is mandatory, with underinsured coverage required whenever uninsured limits exceed the minimum.

Fault follows modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar: you recover if you were 50 percent or less at fault, reduced by your share. The injury deadline is two years from the crash under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. Claims against the City of Chicago, Cook County, the CTA, the Park District or any other local public entity must be filed within one year under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, and claims against the State of Illinois go to the Court of Claims under its own rules.

Crashes in the suburbs, from Evanston to Cicero and Oak Lawn, follow the same Illinois rules. Crashes across the state line in Indiana, including Gary, which recorded 22 deaths in 2023, are governed by Indiana's rules instead. Workers' compensation for a crash on the job runs through the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission with a three-year claim deadline and a 45-day notice requirement.

A Chicago claim is often an intersection claim where the fault percentage is the whole case and the city holds the evidence. The questions to answer early are what the cameras show, what coverage exists on both sides, and whether a public entity is involved and the one-year clock is running. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Illinois, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt in a crash in Chicago or Cook County, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit

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