Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

32 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2022

All metrics benchmarked against2021

In Adams County, total crashes decreased from 35 in 2021 to 32 in 2022, an 8.6% reduction. The most significant change was the elimination of fatal crashes, which dropped from 2 in the prior year to zero in the current year, even as total injuries rose from 12 to 19.

32

▼ -8.6%was 35

Total Crash Events

0

▼ -100.0%was 2

Persons Killed

19

▲ 58.3%was 12

Persons Injured

0

▼ -100.0%was 2

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 · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic crashes in Adams County saw a slight decline in 2022 compared to the previous year, falling by 8.6% from 35 to 32 incidents. While total crashes decreased, the number of people injured increased by 58.3% from 12 to 19. Conversely, fatalities fell to zero in 2022 from two deaths recorded in 2021.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2↓-100.0%

19

Motorists Injured

Prior: 12↑58.3%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2022, the peak days for crashes were Friday and Saturday (6 crashes each), a change from 2021 when Monday and Friday were the peak days (7 crashes each). The peak hour for crashes also moved from the morning to the evening, shifting from 8 a.m. in 2021 (5 crashes) to an evening peak in 2022 where hours like 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8 p.m. each recorded 3 crashes.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity saw a mixed but notable shift year-over-year. Fatal crashes were eliminated, dropping from 2 incidents in 2021 to zero in 2022. However, the number of serious injury crashes rose from zero in 2021 to 3 in 2022, accounting for 9.4% of all crashes. The proportion of crashes resulting in minor injuries also increased from 14.3% to 21.9% of all incidents.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury3serious injury crashes9.4%
Minor Injury7minor injury crashes21.9%
↑40.0%prior 5
Possible Injury5possible injury crashes15.6%
↓-16.7%prior 6
No Injury17no injury crashes53.1%
↓-22.7%prior 22

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors showed some changes between the two years. Collisions involving an 'Animal' remained the top factor in both 2021 (8 crashes) and 2022 (6 crashes), though the count decreased by 25%. Crashes attributed to 'Ran off road - left' doubled in count from 2 to 4, becoming the second most common factor in 2022. Incidents involving 'Ran Stop Sign' also increased from 1 to 3, while 'Followed too close' held steady with 3 crashes in each period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal6 (18.8%)↓-25.0%prior 8
Ran off road - left4 (12.5%)
Followed too close3 (9.4%)
Ran Stop Sign3 (9.4%)
Other (explain in narrative): Other2 (6.3%)
Ran off road - straight2 (6.3%)
Lost Control1 (3.1%)
Made improper turn1 (3.1%)
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner1 (3.1%)
Driver Distraction: Unrestrained animal1 (3.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in 2022 occurred under different conditions compared to the prior year. The proportion of crashes happening in daylight decreased from 57.1% in 2021 to 46.9% in 2022, while crashes in unlit dark conditions increased from 14.3% to 25.0% of all incidents. Similarly, crashes on dry roads accounted for a smaller share, dropping from 77.1% of all crashes in 2021 to 62.5% in 2022, with a corresponding increase in crashes on wet surfaces from 1 to 3 incidents.

Weather

Clear21 (75.0%)
↓-19.2%prior 26
Cloudy5 (17.9%)
Fog, smoke, smog1 (3.6%)
Rain1 (3.6%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight15 (53.6%)
↓-25.0%prior 20
Dark - roadway not lighted8 (28.6%)
↑60.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway lighted2 (7.1%)
Dusk2 (7.1%)
Dawn1 (3.6%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry20 (71.4%)
↓-25.9%prior 27
Gravel4 (14.3%)
Wet3 (10.7%)
Snow1 (3.6%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (48 vehicles)

1
FORD10 (20.8%)
↓-9.1%prior 11
2
CHEV5 (10.4%)
→0.0%prior 5
3
CHEVROLET5 (10.4%)
→0.0%prior 5
4
GMC4 (8.3%)
5
BUIC3 (6.3%)
6
DODGE3 (6.3%)
7
PETERBILT3 (6.3%)
8
KIA2 (4.2%)
9
MACK1 (2.1%)
10
NISS1 (2.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (44 persons with recorded sex)

Male30 (68.2%)
↑20.0%prior 25
Female14 (31.8%)
↓-30.0%prior 20

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 32
  • Total persons involved: 73
  • Total vehicles involved: 48

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: 2022." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2022-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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