Update 12/13/22, 1:25 PM: According to the police report for a bike crash on December 1 at 750 S. Racine Avenue, that case involved apparently non-life-changing injuries, rather than a fatality, as was indicated in the city's crash data portal and previously reported in this article. The error seems to be due to a responding police officer mistakenly coding the bicyclist's injury as "K" (fatality) on the report. This article has been edited according, and Steven Vance is also updating his crash browser. We may run a separate post about this incident in the near future. Thanks to Streetsblog sponsor FK Law for input on this matter.
Several years ago Chicago made improvements to its crash reporting, and nowadays crash reports are added to the city's data portal within a day or two of the crash. In response, in May Streetsblog Chicago cofounder Steven Vance launched a new Chicago Crash Browser, which pulls data from the city's data portal, checking for newly uploaded reports every hour*. Visit his personal website for info on how to access the browser.
Tragically, Steven found that last week was one of the deadliest in months for crashes on Chicago surface streets. Between Sunday, November 27, and Saturday, December 3, there were 1,842 reported traffic crashes in Chicago. These included:
- Six fatalities
- 41 people with incapacitating injuries
- 208 people with non-incapacitating injuries
Here are the six fatal crash cases with seven fatalities.
- November 28: One person was injured and another killed in a crash at 2297 S. Archer Ave. involving a driver hitting a fixed object.
- December 2: One person was injured and another person was killed in a crash at 4804 W. Gladys Ave. involving a driver hitting a parked car.
- December 2: Two people were killed in a fatal crash at 18 N. Cicero Ave. involving a driver striking a pedestrian. This was a five-vehicle crash; one driver and the pedestrian died.
- December 3: One person was killed in a crash at 7001 S. Stony Island Ave. involving a driver hitting a pedestrian.
- December 3: One person was killed in a crash at 2322 W. 112th St. involving a driver hitting a pedestrian.
The pedestrian fatalities do not appear to have been reported by other news outlets. Streetsblog is researching the details of these cases, and we'll do further reporting if we're able to get more info.
Steven found that during the previous week, between Sunday, November 20, and Saturday, November 26, there were 1,826 reported on-street traffic crashes in Chicago. These included:
- Five fatalities
- 59 people with incapacitating injuries
- 241 people with non-incapacitating injuries
Steven says, "My recommendation to [Chicagoans] is that you email this to your alderperson and ask how they’re spending their $1.5 million in annual discretionary menu funds to help fix this."
* Some numbers were revised since the original publication as new reports for that time period were uploaded late to the database.
