Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

169 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

In 2024, Adair County recorded 169 crashes, an 8.15% decrease from the 184 crashes reported in 2023. This period also saw a significant 32.39% reduction in total injuries, falling from 71 to 48. Both years reported no fatal crashes.

169

▼ -8.2%was 184

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

48

▼ -32.4%was 71

Persons Injured

0

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in Adair County decreased by 8.15% year-over-year, from 184 crashes in 2023 to 169 crashes in 2024. Total injuries also saw a notable decline, dropping by 32.39% from 71 injuries in 2023 to 48 injuries in 2024.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

48

Motorists Injured

Prior: 71↓-32.4%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Saturday in 2023, which had 34 crashes, to Tuesday in 2024, with 33 crashes. The peak hour also changed, with 11 AM recording 15 crashes in 2023, while 2 PM became the peak in 2024 with 16 crashes.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Total injuries decreased from 71 in 2023 to 48 in 2024. Serious injuries (A) decreased from 8 to 5, minor injuries (B) from 22 to 16, and possible injuries (C) from 20 to 19. Both the current and prior periods reported 0 fatal crashes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury5serious injury crashes3%
↓-37.5%prior 8
Minor Injury16minor injury crashes9.5%
↓-27.3%prior 22
Possible Injury19possible injury crashes11.2%
↓-5.0%prior 20
No Injury129no injury crashes76.3%
↓-3.7%prior 134

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to 'Animal' decreased by 13, from 35 in 2023 to 22 in 2024. 'Improper or erratic lane changing' saw a significant reduction of 7 crashes, from 10 in 2023 to 3 in 2024. 'Driving too fast for conditions' also decreased by 3 crashes, from 19 to 16.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Lost Control23 (13.6%)↓-4.2%prior 24
Ran off road - straight22 (13%)↓-4.3%prior 23
Animal22 (13%)↓-37.1%prior 35
Driving too fast for conditions16 (9.5%)↓-15.8%prior 19
Ran off road - left8 (4.7%)↓-11.1%prior 9
Followed too close8 (4.7%)
FTYROW: From stop sign6 (3.6%)
Driver Distraction: Inattentive/lost in thought5 (3%)
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner5 (3%)↓-16.7%prior 6
Failed to keep in proper lane5 (3%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 96 in 2023 to 87 in 2024. Crashes in snow conditions saw a decrease from 20 to 8, while crashes in rain conditions increased from 11 to 14. Crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 105 to 97, but crashes on wet surfaces increased from 21 to 24.

Weather

Clear87 (58.4%)
↓-9.4%prior 96
Cloudy26 (17.4%)
→0.0%prior 26
Rain14 (9.4%)
↑27.3%prior 11
Snow8 (5.4%)
↓-60.0%prior 20
Blowing Snow5 (3.4%)
Freezing rain/drizzle3 (2.0%)
Severe Winds3 (2.0%)
Fog, smoke, smog2 (1.3%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.7%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight108 (71.1%)
↓-0.9%prior 109
Dark - roadway not lighted35 (23.0%)
↓-5.4%prior 37
Dawn4 (2.6%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (1.3%)
Dusk2 (1.3%)
Dark - roadway lighted1 (0.7%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry97 (65.1%)
↓-7.6%prior 105
Wet24 (16.1%)
↑14.3%prior 21
Snow12 (8.1%)
→0.0%prior 12
Ice/frost5 (3.4%)
↓-16.7%prior 6
Gravel5 (3.4%)
↓-16.7%prior 6
Slush4 (2.7%)
↓-33.3%prior 6
Mud, dirt1 (0.7%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.7%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of persons involved in crashes decreased from 354 in 2023 to 248 in 2024. The 16-20 age group saw the largest decrease in involved persons, from 42 to 16, and the 26-34 age group decreased from 69 to 53. Among vehicle makes, Freightliner saw an increase of 8 vehicles involved (from 14 to 22), and Chevrolet increased by 6 (from 22 to 28).

Top Vehicle Makes (242 vehicles)

1
FORD36 (14.9%)
→0.0%prior 36
2
CHEVROLET28 (11.6%)
↑27.3%prior 22
3
CHEV26 (10.7%)
↓-7.1%prior 28
4
FREIGHTLINER22 (9.1%)
↑57.1%prior 14
5
VOLVO9 (3.7%)
6
INTERNATIONA9 (3.7%)
7
DODGE8 (3.3%)
↑60.0%prior 5
8
GMC8 (3.3%)
↓-11.1%prior 9
9
NISSAN7 (2.9%)
10
JEEP6 (2.5%)
↓-25.0%prior 8

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

13 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (164 persons with recorded sex)

Male127 (77.4%)
↓-21.6%prior 162
Female37 (22.6%)
↓-51.9%prior 77

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from Iowa Crash Data, accessed programmatically via the ArcGIS Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.

Data Retrieval

  • Access method: ArcGIS Open Data API (SoQL queries)
  • Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
  • Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
  • Date filter applied: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 169
  • Total persons involved: 248
  • Total vehicles involved: 242

Analytical Methodology

  • Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
  • Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
  • Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
  • Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
  • Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
  • Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
  • AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.

Limitations & Disclaimers

  • Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
  • Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
  • Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
  • AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
  • Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.

Non-Affiliation Disclosure

This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.

Data License

The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.

Corrections & Feedback

If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.

Suggested Citation

ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "iowa, IA Crash Intelligence Report: 2024." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2024-annual-report

About the Publisher

ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.

Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai

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