Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,337 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

In 2023, Dallas County recorded 1,337 traffic crashes, a 1.8% increase from the 1,313 crashes reported in 2022. While the overall crash volume remained relatively stable, the number of fatalities rose significantly, increasing 40% from 10 in the prior year to 14 in the current year. This increase in fatalities occurred alongside a 14.4% rise in total injuries.

1,337

▲ 1.8%was 1,313

Total Crash Events

14

▲ 40.0%was 10

Persons Killed

478

▲ 14.4%was 418

Persons Injured

12

▲ 20.0%was 10

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (14) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (12) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash trends in Dallas County showed a slight increase year-over-year, with total collisions rising by 1.8% from 1,313 in 2022 to 1,337 in 2023. This was accompanied by a more significant rise in crash consequences, as total injuries increased by 14.4% from 418 to 478. Fatalities saw the most substantial change, growing by 40% from 10 to 14 people killed.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

14

Motorists Killed

Prior: 9↑55.6%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 5↓-60.0%

8

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 6↑33.3%

464

Motorists Injured

Prior: 407↑14.0%

4

Other Injured

Prior: 0→%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes in Dallas County remained consistent year-over-year. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both 2023 (229 crashes) and 2022 (231 crashes). The afternoon commute hours continued to be the most frequent time for collisions, with the peak hour occurring at 3 p.m. in 2023 (114 crashes), a slight shift from the dual peak at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. in 2022 (124 crashes each).

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes worsened in 2023 compared to the prior year. The number of fatal crashes increased from 10 to 12, and the share of crashes resulting in a fatality rose from 0.8% to 0.9%. Similarly, the count of serious injury crashes grew from 18 to 23, and possible injury crashes increased from 179 to 200. Consequently, the proportion of crashes with no injuries decreased from 74.0% in 2022 to 72.0% in 2023.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 12 fatal crash events resulted in 14 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal12fatal crashes0.9%
↑20.0%prior 10
Serious Injury23serious injury crashes1.7%
↑27.8%prior 18
Minor Injury139minor injury crashes10.4%
↑3.0%prior 135
Possible Injury200possible injury crashes15%
↑11.7%prior 179
No Injury963no injury crashes72%
↓-0.8%prior 971

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Collisions involving an animal (182 crashes) and following too closely (164 crashes) remained the top two contributing factors in 2023, consistent with 2022, although counts for both factors decreased slightly. A notable shift was the decline in crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions,' which fell by 26.6% from 94 incidents in 2022 to 69 in 2023. Conversely, crashes involving running a traffic signal increased in count by 48.4% from 31 to 46, and incidents of 'Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction' rose by 43.2% from 37 to 53.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal182 (13.6%)↓-6.2%prior 194
Followed too close164 (12.3%)↓-6.3%prior 175
Other (explain in narrative): Other86 (6.4%)↑11.7%prior 77
FTYROW: From stop sign73 (5.5%)↓-15.1%prior 86
FTYROW: Making left turn70 (5.2%)↓-5.4%prior 74
Driving too fast for conditions69 (5.2%)↓-26.6%prior 94
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction53 (4%)↑43.2%prior 37
Ran off road - left51 (3.8%)↓-19.0%prior 63
Lost Control51 (3.8%)↑8.5%prior 47
Ran off road - straight47 (3.5%)↑74.1%prior 27

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The majority of crashes in both periods occurred in clear weather and on dry roads, with the proportion of such incidents increasing in 2023. Crashes during clear weather rose from 62.8% of the total in 2022 to 67.2% in 2023. Correspondingly, crashes on adverse road surfaces saw a marked decrease; incidents on icy or frosty roads fell from 66 in 2022 to 24 in 2023. The proportion of crashes happening in daylight remained stable, while crashes in darkness on lighted roadways increased from 137 to 161.

Weather

Clear898 (75.5%)
↑8.8%prior 825
Cloudy173 (14.6%)
↓-1.1%prior 175
Snow48 (4.0%)
↓-26.2%prior 65
Rain46 (3.9%)
↑12.2%prior 41
Fog, smoke, smog8 (0.7%)
Blowing Snow7 (0.6%)
↓-56.3%prior 16
Freezing rain/drizzle6 (0.5%)
↓-45.5%prior 11
Severe Winds2 (0.2%)
↓-71.4%prior 7
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.1%)
↓-85.7%prior 7

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight849 (71.1%)
↓-0.2%prior 851
Dark - roadway lighted161 (13.5%)
↑17.5%prior 137
Dark - roadway not lighted115 (9.6%)
↑7.5%prior 107
Dusk42 (3.5%)
↑20.0%prior 35
Dawn23 (1.9%)
↑43.8%prior 16
Dark - unknown roadway lighting4 (0.3%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry975 (81.9%)
↑10.2%prior 885
Wet97 (8.1%)
↓-5.8%prior 103
Snow55 (4.6%)
↓-21.4%prior 70
Gravel28 (2.4%)
↑40.0%prior 20
Ice/frost24 (2.0%)
↓-63.6%prior 66
Slush9 (0.8%)
Mud, dirt2 (0.2%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The vehicle makes most frequently involved in crashes saw a minor shift in ranking year-over-year. In 2023, Ford was the most common make with 339 vehicles involved, followed by Chevrolet with 307; this reverses the 2022 order where Chevrolet led with 338 vehicles to Ford's 320. The age demographics of persons involved in crashes also changed, with a decrease in the 16-20 age group (from 456 to 417 persons). In contrast, involvement increased for the 26-34 age group (from 493 to 541 persons) and the 35-44 age group (from 493 to 547 persons).

Top Vehicle Makes (2,379 vehicles)

1
FORD339 (14.2%)
↑5.9%prior 320
2
CHEV307 (12.9%)
↓-9.2%prior 338
3
TOYT153 (6.4%)
↑18.6%prior 129
4
HOND126 (5.3%)
↑5.9%prior 119
5
CHEVROLET108 (4.5%)
↓-0.9%prior 109
6
JEEP107 (4.5%)
↓-1.8%prior 109
7
NISS101 (4.2%)
↓-1.9%prior 103
8
GMC75 (3.2%)
↑10.3%prior 68
9
KIA73 (3.1%)
↑28.1%prior 57
10
DODG72 (3%)
↓-5.3%prior 76

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (2,239 persons with recorded sex)

Male1,262 (56.4%)
↑3.9%prior 1,215
Female977 (43.6%)
↓-3.4%prior 1,011

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,337
  • Total persons involved: 3,109
  • Total vehicles involved: 2,379

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: 2023." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2023-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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