Chicago Traffic Crash Vehicle and Unit Records

Traffic crash data from the Chicago Police Department, compiled from IL Traffic Crash Reporting form SR1050. The dataset details vehicles and other units involved in crashes, with fields for damage type and location. It is designed to be linked to companion Crash and People datasets using the CRASH_RECORD_ID field.

Use Cases

• Analyze crash severity patterns by linking vehicle damage codes to the primary Crash dataset via CRASH_RECORD_ID.
• Study the involvement of non-motorized units like bicycles and pedestrians by filtering on the Unit Type field.
• Model factors contributing to multi-unit collisions by examining the trajectory and damage data for each independent unit.

Strengths

• Data follows the standardized IL Traffic Crash Reporting form SR1050, ensuring consistent reporting.
• Includes a variety of transportation units such as motor vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, captured as independent entries.
• Maintained by the City of Chicago and updated as recently as March 2026.

Limitations

• Specific data volume (rows, columns, file size) is unknown, making it difficult to assess scale and computational requirements.
• Not all columns are applicable to every record, requiring careful filtering by Unit Type for specific analyses.
• The RD_NO (police report number) field was removed for privacy, which may limit linking to certain external police records.

Provenance

Source

Chicago Police Department via the City of Chicago data portal.

Collection Method

Reports filed on IL Traffic Crash Reporting form SR1050.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Chicago, Illinois, USA.