Chicago Car Accidents Climb Nearly 5% in First Quarter of 2026 According to Report Published by Briskman Briskman & Greenberg

Chicago, Illinois – Chicago’s roads were measurably more dangerous in the first three months of 2026 than they were a year earlier, according to a new analysis released today by the Chicago car accident lawyers of Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. The firm reviewed more than 50,000 crash records from the City of Chicago covering the first quarters of 2025 and 2026 and found that traffic collisions rose 4.9%, fatalities increased 16.7%, and winter weather drove nearly every major shift in the data.

The full report titled Chicago Car Accidents, Injuries, and Fatalities Higher in First Quarter of 2026, is available on the Briskman Law website.

“The first quarter of 2026 was a winter-weather story, and the numbers are clear about it,” said Paul Greenberg, managing member and senior personal injury attorney at Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. “When snow and slush take over the roads, stopping distances double, reaction times shrink, and the margin for error disappears. What we saw in Q1 is what happens when drivers don’t adjust to those conditions.”

Key Findings from the Car Accident Report

Chicago recorded 25,929 traffic crashes in Q1 2026, up from 24,724 in Q1 2025. The increase amounts to roughly 1,205 additional collisions in 90 days. Fatal crashes climbed from 18 to 21, while incapacitating injuries fell from 281 to 250, a divergence that suggests the crashes producing the worst outcomes may operate under different conditions than those producing serious but survivable ones.

Winter weather accounted for the overwhelming majority of the year-over-year increase. Snow-condition crashes rose 49.1%. Collisions on snow or slush covered roads jumped 63.6%, adding 975 crashes on compromised surfaces. Blowing snow conditions and fog both more than tripled compared to the prior year. By contrast, dry-road crashes rose just 1.0%, confirming that the underlying baseline of driving risk remained essentially flat.

Driver behavior shifted in ways that compounded the weather hazard. Failing to reduce speed to avoid a crash rose 14.7%. Following too closely increased 7.0%. Failing to yield right-of-way climbed 9.2% and remained the most common identifiable cause of crashes in the city. At the same time, crashes caused by running red lights fell 10.2%, a bright spot that suggests enforcement and infrastructure at signalized intersections are producing results.

Morning Commuters Most Likely to Be Involved in a Car Accident in Chicago

The morning commute absorbed the largest absolute increase. Crashes at 8:00 a.m. rose by 200 collisions year over year. The 10:00 p.m. hour experienced the sharpest percentage spike at 18.3%. Mid-week driving also shifted dramatically: Wednesday crashes surged 24.5%, making it the single busiest day of the week in Q1 2026.

Crashes at signalized intersections climbed 10.2% even as red-light running declined, pointing to turning conflicts, lane-change errors, and weather-impaired braking as growing sources of risk at the city’s busiest junctions.

A Safety-First Message for Chicago Drivers

Briskman Briskman & Greenberg urges Chicago drivers to maintain at least six seconds of following distance on compromised road surfaces, reduce speed during the peak crash windows identified in the report, and yield deliberately rather than reactively at intersections and merge points.