Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

3,451 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In Linn County, total traffic crashes increased from 3,106 in 2024 to 3,451 in 2025, representing an 11.1% rise. While overall crashes and injuries grew, the most notable year-over-year change was a significant decrease in fatalities, which fell from 18 in the prior period to 2 in the current period. The number of fatal crashes correspondingly dropped from 16 to 2.

3,451

▲ 11.1%was 3,106

Total Crash Events

▼ -88.9%was 18

Persons Killed

1,008

▲ 7.5%was 938

Persons Injured

▼ -87.5%was 16

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for Linn County indicates a rising trend in the total number of incidents, with a year-over-year increase of 345 crashes (11.1%). The number of people injured also rose from 938 to 1,008. In contrast, crash severity saw a significant positive trend, with total fatalities declining by 88.9% from 18 to 2.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 2↓-100.0%

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

Motorists Killed

Prior: 16↓-87.5%

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 22↓-13.6%

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 20↑35.0%

955

Motorists Injured

Prior: 893↑6.9%

Other Injured

Prior: 3↑133.3%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes showed a slight shift between the two periods. In 2025, the peak day for crashes was Thursday with 595 incidents, a change from the prior period's peak on Friday (555 incidents). Similarly, the peak hour shifted from the 3 p.m. hour (295 crashes) in 2024 to the 4 p.m. hour (323 crashes) in 2025.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes increased, the severity of crashes decreased significantly year-over-year. Fatal crashes fell from 16 incidents to 2, and the fatal crash rate dropped from 0.52% to 0.06%. The count of serious injury crashes remained unchanged at 47. Crashes resulting in minor injuries (288 to 302) and possible injuries (439 to 487) saw increases, consistent with the overall rise in crash volume.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes0.1%

↓-87.5%prior 16

Serious Injury47serious injury crashes1.4%

→0.0%prior 47

Minor Injury302minor injury crashes8.8%

↑4.9%prior 288

Possible Injury487possible injury crashes14.1%

↑10.9%prior 439

No Injury2,613no injury crashes75.7%

↑12.8%prior 2,316

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The primary contributing factors to crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. "Followed too close" was the top factor in both periods, though its count decreased slightly from 390 to 379. The second-ranked factor, collisions with an animal, saw its count increase from 321 to 344. Other notable count increases among top factors include "Ran off road - left" (from 247 to 301) and "FTYROW: Making left turn" (from 189 to 230).

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too close379 (11%)↓-2.8%prior 390

Animal344 (10%)↑7.2%prior 321

Ran off road - left301 (8.7%)↑21.9%prior 247

FTYROW: Making left turn230 (6.7%)↑21.7%prior 189

Other (explain in narrative): Other213 (6.2%)↑27.5%prior 167

FTYROW: From stop sign207 (6%)↑7.3%prior 193

Ran Traffic Signal169 (4.9%)↓-1.2%prior 171

Driving too fast for conditions158 (4.6%)↓-2.5%prior 162

Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction129 (3.7%)↑1.6%prior 127

Lost Control106 (3.1%)↑19.1%prior 89

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of environmental conditions at the time of crashes remained stable year-over-year. Crashes in daylight accounted for 66.5% of incidents in 2025, compared to 67.2% in 2024. Similarly, crashes on dry road surfaces made up 70.4% of the total in the current period versus 69.3% in the prior period. Crashes in clear weather were also consistent, representing 63.1% of the total in 2025 compared to 62.7% in 2024.

Weather

Clear2,176 (69.3%)

↑11.8%prior 1,946

Cloudy605 (19.3%)

↑19.8%prior 505

Snow143 (4.6%)

↑34.9%prior 106

Rain132 (4.2%)

↓-18.5%prior 162

Blowing Snow27 (0.9%)

↑22.7%prior 22

Fog, smoke, smog21 (0.7%)

↓-27.6%prior 29

Freezing rain/drizzle17 (0.5%)

↓-50.0%prior 34

Severe Winds8 (0.3%)

↑60.0%prior 5

Other (explain in narrative)7 (0.2%)

↑16.7%prior 6

Sleet, hail5 (0.2%)

↓-16.7%prior 6

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,294 (72.6%)

↑9.9%prior 2,088

Dark - roadway lighted513 (16.2%)

↑26.7%prior 405

Dark - roadway not lighted198 (6.3%)

↑7.6%prior 184

Dawn61 (1.9%)

↑13.0%prior 54

Dusk60 (1.9%)

↓-35.5%prior 93

Dark - unknown roadway lighting32 (1.0%)

↑60.0%prior 20

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2,430 (77.4%)

↑13.0%prior 2,151

Wet354 (11.3%)

↑3.2%prior 343

Snow217 (6.9%)

↑26.2%prior 172

Ice/frost94 (3.0%)

↓-12.1%prior 107

Slush23 (0.7%)

↓-25.8%prior 31

Gravel22 (0.7%)

↑10.0%prior 20

Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The makes of vehicles involved in crashes showed high consistency between the two periods. The top three makes in 2025 were Ford (989 vehicles), Chevrolet (777), and Toyota (522), the same as in 2024 (916, 750, and 489, respectively). The age distribution of persons involved also remained relatively stable, with the largest cohort in both years being the 35-44 age group, which saw its involvement grow from 928 individuals to 1,060.

Top Vehicle Makes (6,192 vehicles)

FORD989 (16%)

↑8.0%prior 916

CHEV777 (12.5%)

↑3.6%prior 750

TOYT522 (8.4%)

↑6.7%prior 489

HOND364 (5.9%)

↑15.9%prior 314

JEEP273 (4.4%)

↑17.2%prior 233

NISS261 (4.2%)

↑12.5%prior 232

GMC210 (3.4%)

↑17.3%prior 179

DODG208 (3.4%)

↑11.8%prior 186

KIA203 (3.3%)

↑0.5%prior 202

HYUN196 (3.2%)

↑21.7%prior 161

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (4,512 persons with recorded sex)

Male2,489 (55.2%)

↑10.2%prior 2,258

Female2,023 (44.8%)

↑9.6%prior 1,845

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31
Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31 (365 days)
Geographic scope: iowa, IA
Total crash records analyzed: 3,451
Total persons involved: 6,412
Total vehicles involved: 6,192

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: 2025." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2025-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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3,451 CRASHES INIOWA, IA2025