Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

139 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In O'Brien County, total traffic crashes remained relatively stable, increasing slightly from 136 in 2020 to 139 in 2021, a 2.2% rise. While overall crash volume was steady, the most significant year-over-year change was a positive one: traffic fatalities dropped from 3 in the prior period to 0 in the current period. Concurrently, total injuries also decreased from 67 to 55.

139

▲ 2.2%was 136

Total Crash Events

0

▼ -100.0%was 3

Persons Killed

55

▼ -17.9%was 67

Persons Injured

0

▼ -100.0%was 3

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) 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 crash trends in O'Brien County show a slight increase in total incidents, rising from 136 in 2020 to 139 in 2021. Despite this marginal rise in crash volume, key safety metrics improved, with fatal crashes decreasing from 3 to 0 and total injuries declining by 17.9% from 67 to 55 year-over-year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3↓-100.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0→%

54

Motorists Injured

Prior: 67↓-19.4%

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 temporal patterns of crashes showed consistency year-over-year. Thursday remained the peak day for crashes in both 2021 (27 crashes) and 2020 (28 crashes). The peak hour for collisions shifted slightly later, moving from the 3 p.m. hour in 2020 (14 crashes) to the 4 p.m. hour in 2021, which saw 16 crashes.

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 significantly decreased from 2020 to 2021. Fatal crashes were eliminated, falling from 3 incidents (2.2% of all crashes) in 2020 to 0 in 2021. The number of serious injury crashes also declined from 5 to 4. Overall, the proportion of crashes resulting in any level of injury (serious, minor, or possible) fell from 35.3% in 2020 to 33.1% in 2021.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury4serious injury crashes2.9%
↓-20.0%prior 5
Minor Injury22minor injury crashes15.8%
↑15.8%prior 19
Possible Injury20possible injury crashes14.4%
↓-16.7%prior 24
No Injury93no injury crashes66.9%
↑9.4%prior 85

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 for crashes shifted between 2020 and 2021. In 2021, 'Failure to yield right of way from a stop sign' was the most common factor, cited in 19 crashes, a significant increase from just 7 in the prior year. Conversely, 'Driving too fast for conditions,' which was the top factor in 2020 with 25 crashes, saw its count decrease by 40% to 15 crashes in 2021. 'Following too close' remained a top-three factor, increasing from 12 to 15 incidents.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

FTYROW: From stop sign19 (13.7%)↑171.4%prior 7
Followed too close15 (10.8%)↑25.0%prior 12
Driving too fast for conditions15 (10.8%)↓-40.0%prior 25
Ran off road - left12 (8.6%)↑33.3%prior 9
Lost Control7 (5%)↓-36.4%prior 11
Ran Stop Sign7 (5%)↑16.7%prior 6
Animal6 (4.3%)↓-25.0%prior 8
Ran off road - straight6 (4.3%)
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction6 (4.3%)↓-14.3%prior 7
FTYROW: Making left turn4 (2.9%)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in 2021 occurred more frequently in clear conditions compared to the prior year. The proportion of crashes on dry road surfaces increased from 61.0% in 2020 to 67.6% in 2021. Correspondingly, crashes attributed to adverse road conditions like snow and ice decreased; incidents on snowy surfaces fell from 21 to 19, and crashes on icy or frosty roads dropped from 14 to 6.

Weather

Clear84 (63.2%)
↑9.1%prior 77
Cloudy32 (24.1%)
↑28.0%prior 25
Snow7 (5.3%)
↓-41.7%prior 12
Rain4 (3.0%)
Blowing Snow2 (1.5%)
↓-66.7%prior 6
Fog, smoke, smog2 (1.5%)
Severe Winds1 (0.8%)
Freezing rain/drizzle1 (0.8%)

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

Lighting

Daylight96 (72.2%)
↑14.3%prior 84
Dark - roadway not lighted15 (11.3%)
↓-34.8%prior 23
Dark - roadway lighted13 (9.8%)
↓-18.8%prior 16
Dusk6 (4.5%)
↑20.0%prior 5
Dawn3 (2.3%)

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

Road Surface

Dry94 (71.2%)
↑13.3%prior 83
Snow19 (14.4%)
↓-9.5%prior 21
Wet6 (4.5%)
↑20.0%prior 5
Ice/frost6 (4.5%)
↓-57.1%prior 14
Slush4 (3.0%)
Gravel3 (2.3%)
↓-50.0%prior 6

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained consistent, with Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge being the most common in both 2021 and 2020. Ford vehicles were involved in 42 crashes in 2021, down slightly from 45 in 2020, while Chevrolet vehicles increased from 54 to 59. The age distribution of persons involved showed a slight increase in the 16-20 age group, from 45 individuals in 2020 to 49 in 2021.

Top Vehicle Makes (236 vehicles)

1
FORD42 (17.8%)
↓-6.7%prior 45
2
CHEV34 (14.4%)
↑13.3%prior 30
3
CHEVROLET25 (10.6%)
↑4.2%prior 24
4
DODG13 (5.5%)
↓-7.1%prior 14
5
GMC12 (5.1%)
↓-14.3%prior 14
6
TOYT11 (4.7%)
↑22.2%prior 9
7
JEEP7 (3%)
8
DODGE6 (2.5%)
9
BUIC5 (2.1%)
↓-37.5%prior 8
10
HOND4 (1.7%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (201 persons with recorded sex)

Male116 (57.7%)
↓-7.9%prior 126
Female85 (42.3%)
↑13.3%prior 75

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: 139
  • Total persons involved: 291
  • Total vehicles involved: 236

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