Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,977 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2022

All metrics benchmarked against2021

In Black Hawk County, traffic crashes decreased from 2,151 in 2021 to 1,977 in 2022, an 8.1% reduction. This overall decline was accompanied by a drop in total injuries from 767 to 670 and a decrease in fatalities from 9 to 7. The most notable shift was the decline in total crashes in the county's largest city, Waterloo, which saw 191 fewer incidents year-over-year, even as its number of fatalities increased from 3 to 4.

1,977

▼ -8.1%was 2,151

Total Crash Events

7

▼ -22.2%was 9

Persons Killed

670

▼ -12.6%was 767

Persons Injured

5

▼ -44.4%was 9

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (7) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (5) 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

Traffic safety trends in Black Hawk County showed a positive direction from 2021 to 2022. The total number of crashes fell by 174 incidents, representing an 8.1% decrease. Concurrently, the number of people injured in these crashes declined by 12.6% from 767 to 670, and total fatalities decreased from 9 to 7.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

7

Motorists Killed

Prior: 8↓-12.5%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

19

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 16↑18.8%

14

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 18↓-22.2%

635

Motorists Injured

Prior: 731↓-13.1%

2

Other Injured

Prior: 2→0.0%

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 remained consistent year-over-year. In both 2022 and 2021, Friday was the day with the most crashes, recording 351 and 383 incidents, respectively. Similarly, the 3 p.m. hour was the peak time for collisions in both periods, accounting for 192 crashes in 2022 and 220 in 2021, indicating no significant shift in daily or weekly crash patterns.

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

The severity of crashes shifted between the two periods. The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.42% of all crashes in 2021 to 0.25% in 2022. However, the proportion of crashes resulting in serious injuries increased from 1.8% (38 crashes) in 2021 to 2.5% (49 crashes) in 2022. Conversely, crashes involving possible injuries saw a notable decline, dropping from 20.1% of all incidents in 2021 to 17.3% in 2022.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 5 fatal crash events resulted in 7 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.3%
↓-44.4%prior 9
Serious Injury49serious injury crashes2.5%
↑28.9%prior 38
Minor Injury185minor injury crashes9.4%
↓-5.6%prior 196
Possible Injury343possible injury crashes17.3%
↓-20.8%prior 433
No Injury1,395no injury crashes70.6%
↓-5.4%prior 1,475

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 top contributing factors cited in crashes remained largely the same between 2021 and 2022, though their counts varied. Collisions involving animals increased from 157 to 171 incidents, and crashes attributed to following too closely rose from 136 to 142. In contrast, crashes where the primary factor was 'Driving too fast for conditions' decreased from 102 to 95. The most significant change was a 29.4% increase in the count of crashes attributed to running a stop sign, which grew from 102 in 2021 to 131 in 2022.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Other (explain in narrative): Other224 (11.3%)↓-25.6%prior 301
Animal171 (8.6%)↑8.9%prior 157
Followed too close142 (7.2%)↑4.4%prior 136
Ran Stop Sign131 (6.6%)↑28.4%prior 102
FTYROW: From stop sign115 (5.8%)↓-1.7%prior 117
FTYROW: Making left turn108 (5.5%)↑16.1%prior 93
Ran off road - left96 (4.9%)↓-7.7%prior 104
Driving too fast for conditions95 (4.8%)↓-6.9%prior 102
Ran Traffic Signal85 (4.3%)↓-3.4%prior 88
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction83 (4.2%)↑2.5%prior 81

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

The environmental conditions during crashes were broadly similar in 2022 compared to 2021. Most crashes in both years occurred in clear weather (65.2% in 2022 vs. 68.9% in 2021) and on dry road surfaces (68.4% vs. 69.6%). Lighting conditions also showed little change, with about 65% of crashes in both periods happening in daylight. The most notable, though minor, shift was a proportional increase in crashes occurring in snowy weather, which accounted for 6.2% of incidents in 2022, up from 3.3% in 2021.

Weather

Clear1,289 (70.6%)
↓-13.1%prior 1,483
Cloudy247 (13.5%)
↓-19.0%prior 305
Snow122 (6.7%)
↑74.3%prior 70
Rain101 (5.5%)
↑24.7%prior 81
Blowing Snow31 (1.7%)
↑63.2%prior 19
Freezing rain/drizzle21 (1.2%)
↓-46.2%prior 39
Other (explain in narrative)5 (0.3%)
Sleet, hail4 (0.2%)
Severe Winds3 (0.2%)
↓-50.0%prior 6
Fog, smoke, smog2 (0.1%)
↓-71.4%prior 7

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

Lighting

Daylight1,277 (69.7%)
↓-8.9%prior 1,401
Dark - roadway lighted322 (17.6%)
↓-9.3%prior 355
Dark - roadway not lighted136 (7.4%)
↓-22.7%prior 176
Dusk50 (2.7%)
↑8.7%prior 46
Dawn33 (1.8%)
↑13.8%prior 29
Dark - unknown roadway lighting15 (0.8%)
↑7.1%prior 14

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

Road Surface

Dry1,352 (73.6%)
↓-9.7%prior 1,498
Wet201 (10.9%)
↑2.0%prior 197
Snow141 (7.7%)
↓-2.1%prior 144
Ice/frost113 (6.2%)
↓-15.0%prior 133
Gravel16 (0.9%)
↓-5.9%prior 17
Slush10 (0.5%)
↓-60.0%prior 25
Mud, dirt2 (0.1%)
Sand1 (0.1%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.1%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The makes of vehicles involved in crashes and the age of persons involved showed some shifts between 2021 and 2022. Ford and Chevrolet models remained the most frequently involved vehicles in both years. The number of Fords in crashes decreased from 600 to 578, while combined Chevrolet variants ('CHEV' and 'CHEVROLET') decreased from 832 to 676. Regarding persons involved, there was a decrease in crash involvement for younger age groups, with the 16-20 group dropping from 652 to 607 persons and the 21-25 group falling from 573 to 458. Conversely, the 35-44 age group saw an increase in involvement, from 576 persons in 2021 to 628 in 2022.

Top Vehicle Makes (3,505 vehicles)

1
FORD578 (16.5%)
↓-3.7%prior 600
2
CHEV521 (14.9%)
↑9.7%prior 475
3
TOYT217 (6.2%)
↑34.8%prior 161
4
CHEVROLET155 (4.4%)
↓-56.6%prior 357
5
DODG140 (4%)
↑13.8%prior 123
6
HOND138 (3.9%)
↑70.4%prior 81
7
NISS127 (3.6%)
↑25.7%prior 101
8
JEEP119 (3.4%)
↓-22.2%prior 153
9
NR98 (2.8%)
↓-18.3%prior 120
10
CHRY98 (2.8%)
↑60.7%prior 61

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

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

Sex Distribution (3,146 persons with recorded sex)

Male1,734 (55.1%)
↑0.8%prior 1,721
Female1,412 (44.9%)
↓-3.6%prior 1,465

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: 1,977
  • Total persons involved: 4,575
  • Total vehicles involved: 3,505

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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company