Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

275 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In 2021, Buchanan County recorded 275 total crashes, a slight 2.1% decrease from 281 crashes in 2020. Despite this overall reduction in collisions, the number of fatalities resulting from these crashes doubled from 2 to 4 year-over-year. The total number of injuries also increased significantly, rising from 67 to 85.

275

▼ -2.1%was 281

Total Crash Events

4

▲ 100.0%was 2

Persons Killed

85

▲ 26.9%was 67

Persons Injured

3

▲ 50.0%was 2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (4) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) 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

While total crashes in Buchanan County saw a minor year-over-year decrease of 2.1% from 281 to 275, the severity of these incidents increased. Total injuries rose by 26.9%, from 67 in 2020 to 85 in 2021. Concurrently, fatalities doubled from 2 to 4, indicating a trend toward more severe outcomes despite fewer overall crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

4

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2↑100.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 1→0.0%

84

Motorists Injured

Prior: 66↑27.3%

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

The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2021, Wednesday was the peak day with 53 crashes and 6 p.m. was the peak hour with 24 crashes. This contrasts with 2020, when Friday was the peak day with 49 crashes and 1 p.m. was the peak hour with 20 crashes, indicating a change in the most common times for collisions.

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

Crash severity worsened in 2021 compared to 2020. The number of fatal crashes increased from 2 to 3, and the total number of fatalities doubled from 2 to 4. Crashes resulting in serious injuries increased from 4 to 7, and minor injury crashes rose from 22 to 32. Consequently, the share of crashes involving any injury rose from 20.3% in 2020 to 25.5% in 2021.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 3 fatal crash events resulted in 4 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes1.1%
↑50.0%prior 2
Serious Injury7serious injury crashes2.5%
↑75.0%prior 4
Minor Injury32minor injury crashes11.6%
↑45.5%prior 22
Possible Injury28possible injury crashes10.2%
↓-3.4%prior 29
No Injury205no injury crashes74.5%
↓-8.5%prior 224

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

The leading contributing factors remained consistent across both years, though their counts shifted. Collisions involving an animal were the top factor in both periods but decreased from 101 incidents in 2020 to 90 in 2021. Crashes attributed to 'Followed too close' also declined from 20 to 18. Conversely, incidents where a driver 'Lost Control' increased slightly from 18 to 19.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal90 (32.7%)↓-10.9%prior 101
Lost Control19 (6.9%)↑5.6%prior 18
Followed too close18 (6.5%)↓-10.0%prior 20
Ran off road - left15 (5.5%)↑15.4%prior 13
Ran off road - straight14 (5.1%)↑55.6%prior 9
Driving too fast for conditions14 (5.1%)↓-17.6%prior 17
FTYROW: From stop sign11 (4%)↑22.2%prior 9
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction9 (3.3%)
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner9 (3.3%)→0.0%prior 9
Other (explain in narrative): Other9 (3.3%)↑28.6%prior 7

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

A higher proportion of crashes in 2021 occurred under favorable conditions compared to 2020. Crashes in daylight increased from representing 45.2% of the total to 51.3% of the total year-over-year. Similarly, incidents on dry road surfaces rose from 46.6% to 51.3% of all crashes, suggesting adverse conditions were a factor in a smaller share of collisions in 2021.

Weather

Clear141 (73.4%)
↑5.2%prior 134
Cloudy29 (15.1%)
↑16.0%prior 25
Snow12 (6.3%)
↓-7.7%prior 13
Blowing Snow5 (2.6%)
Rain2 (1.0%)
↓-71.4%prior 7
Severe Winds2 (1.0%)
Freezing rain/drizzle1 (0.5%)

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

Lighting

Daylight141 (73.1%)
↑11.0%prior 127
Dark - roadway not lighted35 (18.1%)
↓-28.6%prior 49
Dark - roadway lighted7 (3.6%)
↓-12.5%prior 8
Dawn5 (2.6%)
Dusk5 (2.6%)

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

Road Surface

Dry141 (73.4%)
↑7.6%prior 131
Snow15 (7.8%)
↑7.1%prior 14
Gravel13 (6.8%)
↑44.4%prior 9
Wet11 (5.7%)
↓-47.6%prior 21
Ice/frost9 (4.7%)
↓-30.8%prior 13
Slush2 (1.0%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.5%)

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, Chevrolet and Ford, maintained their rankings in both 2021 and 2020. However, the age demographics of individuals involved in crashes shifted; in 2020, the 26-34 (97 persons) and 55-64 (91 persons) age groups were most represented. In 2021, the 35-44 age group (79 persons) and the 16-20 age group (73 persons) became the most frequently involved.

Top Vehicle Makes (394 vehicles)

1
FORD79 (20.1%)
↑14.5%prior 69
2
CHEV72 (18.3%)
↓-2.7%prior 74
3
CHEVROLET24 (6.1%)
↑14.3%prior 21
4
DODG21 (5.3%)
↑5.0%prior 20
5
BUIC15 (3.8%)
↑87.5%prior 8
6
DODGE12 (3%)
→0.0%prior 12
7
GMC10 (2.5%)
↑100.0%prior 5
8
JEEP9 (2.3%)
→0.0%prior 9
9
HOND8 (2%)
↑14.3%prior 7
10
TOYT8 (2%)
↑60.0%prior 5

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

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

Sex Distribution (314 persons with recorded sex)

Male191 (60.8%)
↓-14.7%prior 224
Female123 (39.2%)
↓-11.5%prior 139

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 10, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2021-01-01 through 2021-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 275
  • Total persons involved: 523
  • Total vehicles involved: 394

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 10, 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