Briskman Briskman & Greenberg Study Finds Chicago Car Accidents Fell in July, While Injuries and Fatalities Increased from the Previous Year
Chicago, Illinois – Chicago personal injury law firm, Briskman Briskman & Greenberg has published an independent report of 37,412 City of Chicago crash records covering the month of July across four consecutive years, 2023 through 2026.
July occupies a distinct position in the traffic safety calendar. It contains the Independence Day holiday and the festivals, parades, and gatherings that surround it. It is also the one month of the year when every K-12 school district in the country is out of session, putting families on the road at the same time and adding unfamiliar drivers, loaded vehicles, and off-peak trips to roads built around commuter patterns.
Against that backdrop, the study found that total reported car accidents in Chicago fell 1.2 percent in July 2026, from 9,507 to 9,390. The human cost moved in the opposite direction. A total of 1,705 people were injured, an increase of 6.4 percent and the highest figure in the four-year study period. The share of crashes producing an injury climbed from 16.9 percent to 18.2 percent.
The severe end of the scale rose fastest. Incapacitating injuries increased 18.5 percent, from 130 to 154, ending two consecutive years of double-digit improvement. Ten people were killed in July 2026 crashes, up from eight the previous July, a 25 percent increase. Combining deaths and incapacitating injuries produces 164 catastrophic outcomes, an increase of 18.8 percent.
“Fewer crashes and more injured people is not a mixed result, it is a warning,” said Paul Greenberg, Managing Member and car accident attorney at Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. “July puts more people on the road who are not on their usual route at their usual hour. Families are traveling, schools are closed everywhere at once, and holiday events pull traffic into neighborhoods at times when those roads are normally quiet. The data suggests that when collisions did happen last July, they happened harder.”
Weather offers no explanation for the increase. July 2026 was the driest July in the study period. Crashes occurring in rain fell 36.2 percent, from 614 to 392, and crashes on wet roads fell 32.3 percent, from 811 to 549. Clear conditions accounted for 8,000 crashes, the highest count of the four years examined.
Among identified causes, failing to yield the right of way remained the leading factor at 1,088 crashes. Improper overtaking or passing rose 3.1 percent to 593, its highest level in the study period, and failing to reduce speed to avoid a crash rose 2.5 percent to 412. Both behaviors add energy to a collision. Following too closely, by contrast, fell 16.2 percent.
The report also documents a shift in timing. The 4 p.m. hour remained the busiest with 731 crashes, but late evening grew fastest. Crashes during the 10 p.m. hour rose 11.3 percent to 373, and crashes on unlit roads in full darkness rose 11.3 percent while daylight crashes declined.
“We publish these studies because awareness changes behavior in a way that enforcement alone does not,” Greenberg said. “A driver who knows that late evening is getting more dangerous, or that passing errors are climbing, makes different decisions on a holiday weekend. Independent research belongs in the hands of the public, not just in agency filings.”
The analysis notes that injuries reported but not evident at the scene rose 7.1 percent to 622 records, a category that frequently becomes contested in insurance claims when symptoms appear hours or days after a collision.
The attorneys at Briskman Briskman & Greenberg Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers have successfully represented individuals and families who have been injured or lost loved ones as a result of someone’s carelessness or a workplace accident. We have achieved success in thousands of cases, recovering millions of dollars in damages for our clients in a wide variety of cases, including personal injury, car accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, pharmacy errors, dog bite injuries, and work injuries. Get Briskman. Get Justice. Get Paid.
Briskman Briskman & Greenberg Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers
205 W Randolph St Suite 925
Chicago, IL 60606
1 (312) 313-2414
https://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/
Press Contact : Paul Greenberg
Distributed by Law Firm Newswire
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