Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

351 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In Bremer County, total traffic crashes increased from 290 in 2020 to 351 in 2021, a rise of 21.0%. While total injuries saw a slight decrease from 81 to 78, the most significant year-over-year change was a 200% increase in fatalities, which rose from 2 to 6.

351

▲ 21.0%was 290

Total Crash Events

6

▲ 200.0%was 2

Persons Killed

78

▼ -3.7%was 81

Persons Injured

6

▲ 200.0%was 2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (6) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (6) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic crash trends in Bremer County showed a notable increase in 2021 compared to the prior year. The total number of crashes rose by 61, from 290 to 351. This increase was accompanied by a significant rise in fatalities from 2 to 6, although the total number of people injured remained stable, decreasing slightly from 81 to 78.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

6

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2↑200.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0→%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0→%

74

Motorists Injured

Prior: 81↓-8.6%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

Temporal crash patterns shifted slightly between the two periods. While Friday remained the peak day for crashes in both 2020 (55 crashes) and 2021 (69 crashes), the peak hour for collisions moved later in the day, from the 3 p.m. hour in 2020 (27 crashes) to the 6 p.m. hour in 2021 (28 crashes). Crashes on Thursdays also saw a notable increase, rising from 37 in 2020 to 58 in 2021.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes worsened in 2021 compared to 2020. The number of fatal crashes tripled from 2 to 6, and the fatal crash rate more than doubled, increasing from 0.7% to 1.7% of all incidents. Conversely, the proportion of crashes resulting in any injury decreased from 22.4% in 2020 to 16.6% in 2021, driven primarily by a drop in the share of minor injury crashes from 11.7% to 6.6%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal6fatal crashes1.7%
↑200.0%prior 2
Serious Injury9serious injury crashes2.6%
↑200.0%prior 3
Minor Injury23minor injury crashes6.6%
↓-32.4%prior 34
Possible Injury26possible injury crashes7.4%
↓-7.1%prior 28
No Injury287no injury crashes81.8%
↑28.7%prior 223

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Collisions with animals remained the leading contributing factor in both years, with the count increasing from 114 incidents in 2020 to 143 in 2021. 'Followed too close' also saw a notable increase in count, rising from 19 to 28 crashes. In contrast, crashes attributed to 'Lost Control' decreased from 20 in 2020 to 11 in 2021, dropping from the second-ranked factor to the ninth.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal143 (40.7%)↑25.4%prior 114
Followed too close28 (8%)↑47.4%prior 19
Other (explain in narrative): Other20 (5.7%)↑300.0%prior 5
Ran off road - straight19 (5.4%)↑26.7%prior 15
FTYROW: From stop sign17 (4.8%)↓-5.6%prior 18
Driving too fast for conditions13 (3.7%)↑8.3%prior 12
Ran off road - left13 (3.7%)↑18.2%prior 11
Ran Stop Sign13 (3.7%)↑160.0%prior 5
Lost Control11 (3.1%)↓-45.0%prior 20
FTYROW: Making left turn10 (2.8%)↑25.0%prior 8

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of crashes across lighting and road surface conditions remained largely consistent year-over-year. In both periods, approximately 45-46% of crashes occurred in daylight and 10% occurred on unlighted dark roadways. The proportion of crashes on dry roads was also stable at around 48-50%. However, there was a shift in weather conditions, with the share of crashes occurring in clear weather increasing from 38.6% in 2020 to 46.4% in 2021.

Weather

Clear163 (71.8%)
↑45.5%prior 112
Cloudy39 (17.2%)
↓-20.4%prior 49
Snow11 (4.8%)
↓-15.4%prior 13
Rain6 (2.6%)
↓-45.5%prior 11
Blowing Snow4 (1.8%)
Severe Winds2 (0.9%)
Freezing rain/drizzle2 (0.9%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight162 (70.7%)
↑23.7%prior 131
Dark - roadway not lighted36 (15.7%)
↑24.1%prior 29
Dark - roadway lighted16 (7.0%)
↓-33.3%prior 24
Dusk8 (3.5%)
↑60.0%prior 5
Dawn5 (2.2%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (0.9%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry175 (77.1%)
↑25.0%prior 140
Snow20 (8.8%)
↑42.9%prior 14
Wet14 (6.2%)
↓-41.7%prior 24
Ice/frost11 (4.8%)
↑22.2%prior 9
Gravel6 (2.6%)
Slush1 (0.4%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in crashes, primarily Chevrolet and Ford, remained consistent across both years, with counts for both increasing in 2021. Analysis of persons involved shows a shift in age demographics. The 16-20 age group saw an increase in involvement, from 91 individuals in 2020 to 104 in 2021. More significantly, the 55-64 age group's involvement rose from 69 individuals to 101, making it the second-most represented age group in 2021.

Top Vehicle Makes (496 vehicles)

1
FORD89 (17.9%)
↑36.9%prior 65
2
CHEV82 (16.5%)
↑51.9%prior 54
3
GMC31 (6.3%)
↑181.8%prior 11
4
TOYT24 (4.8%)
↑20.0%prior 20
5
CHEVROLET23 (4.6%)
↓-25.8%prior 31
6
DODG18 (3.6%)
↓-18.2%prior 22
7
JEEP17 (3.4%)
↓-10.5%prior 19
8
TOYOTA16 (3.2%)
↑128.6%prior 7
9
KIA14 (2.8%)
↑75.0%prior 8
10
HOND14 (2.8%)
↑40.0%prior 10

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (402 persons with recorded sex)

Male219 (54.5%)
↓-0.9%prior 221
Female183 (45.5%)
↑11.6%prior 164

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · 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: 2021-01-01 through 2021-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2021-01-01 through 2021-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 351
  • Total persons involved: 640
  • Total vehicles involved: 496

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: 2021." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2021-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