Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

10,382 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

Total crashes in Polk County decreased by 3.66% from 10,776 in 2022 to 10,382 in 2023. Despite the overall reduction in crashes, fatalities increased by 18.18%, rising from 33 in 2022 to 39 in 2023. Injuries saw a slight decrease of 3.54% year-over-year, from 3,612 to 3,484.

10,382

▼ -3.7%was 10,776

Total Crash Events

▲ 18.2%was 33

Persons Killed

3,484

▼ -3.5%was 3,612

Persons Injured

▲ 12.1%was 33

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (39) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (37) 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

Overall crash volume in Polk County decreased by 3.66%, from 10,776 crashes in 2022 to 10,382 crashes in 2023, indicating a slight downward trend in total incidents. However, total fatalities increased by 18.18%, from 33 in 2022 to 39 in 2023. Total injuries also decreased by 3.54%, from 3,612 to 3,484.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 3↑33.3%

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→%

Motorists Killed

Prior: 30↑6.7%

Other Killed

Prior: 0→%

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 98↓-4.1%

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 52↑3.8%

3,319

Motorists Injured

Prior: 3,452↓-3.9%

Other Injured

Prior: 10↑70.0%

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

Friday remained the peak day for crashes in both 2022 and 2023, though the count on Fridays decreased from 1,919 to 1,753. The peak hour for crashes remained 4 PM, with the count increasing from 1,014 in 2022 to 1,055 in 2023. Notably, December experienced a significant decrease in crashes, falling from 1,198 in 2022 to 778 in 2023.

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 fatal crash rate increased from 0.31% in 2022 to 0.36% in 2023, corresponding to an increase of 4 fatal crashes (33 to 37). Crashes resulting in minor injuries (B) saw a notable increase of 90 incidents, rising from 926 to 1,016. Conversely, crashes with possible injuries (C) decreased by 154 incidents, from 2,461 to 2,307.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 37 fatal crash events resulted in 39 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal37fatal crashes0.4%

↑12.1%prior 33

Serious Injury160serious injury crashes1.5%

↑2.6%prior 156

Minor Injury1,016minor injury crashes9.8%

↑9.7%prior 926

Possible Injury2,307possible injury crashes22.2%

↓-6.3%prior 2,461

No Injury6,862no injury crashes66.1%

↓-4.7%prior 7,200

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

“Followed too close” remained the leading contributing factor, with 1,627 incidents in 2023, a slight decrease of 7 crashes from 1,634 in 2022. “Driving too fast for conditions” saw the most significant reduction, decreasing by 302 crashes from 763 in 2022 to 461 in 2023, causing its ranking to drop from second to seventh. Conversely, crashes attributed to “FTYROW: Making left turn” increased by 38 incidents, from 613 to 651 year-over-year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too close1,627 (15.7%)↓-0.4%prior 1,634

Other (explain in narrative): Other786 (7.6%)↑3.6%prior 759

FTYROW: Making left turn651 (6.3%)↑6.2%prior 613

Ran Traffic Signal597 (5.8%)↓-1.8%prior 608

Ran off road - left527 (5.1%)↓-9.6%prior 583

Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner515 (5%)↓-8.4%prior 562

Driving too fast for conditions461 (4.4%)↓-39.6%prior 763

FTYROW: From stop sign411 (4%)↓-3.3%prior 425

Improper or erratic lane changing405 (3.9%)↑17.7%prior 344

Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction374 (3.6%)↑7.5%prior 348

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in snowy weather conditions decreased significantly from 531 in 2022 to 290 in 2023, a reduction of 241 incidents. Similarly, crashes on icy/frosty road surfaces saw a substantial drop of 434 incidents, from 590 in 2022 to 156 in 2023. This led to a notable increase of 494 crashes on dry road surfaces, rising from 8,128 to 8,622.

Weather

Clear7,610 (74.8%)

↑2.0%prior 7,464

Cloudy1,655 (16.3%)

↓-2.4%prior 1,695

Rain469 (4.6%)

↓-14.3%prior 547

Snow290 (2.8%)

↓-45.4%prior 531

Freezing rain/drizzle76 (0.7%)

↓-33.9%prior 115

Fog, smoke, smog42 (0.4%)

↑82.6%prior 23

Blowing Snow20 (0.2%)

↓-83.7%prior 123

Other (explain in narrative)8 (0.1%)

↓-27.3%prior 11

Severe Winds5 (0.0%)

↓-80.8%prior 26

Sleet, hail4 (0.0%)

↓-33.3%prior 6

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

Lighting

Daylight7,317 (71.7%)

↓-2.9%prior 7,539

Dark - roadway lighted2,093 (20.5%)

↓-4.6%prior 2,194

Dark - roadway not lighted367 (3.6%)

↓-9.6%prior 406

Dusk251 (2.5%)

↑1.2%prior 248

Dawn162 (1.6%)

↓-8.0%prior 176

Dark - unknown roadway lighting22 (0.2%)

↓-33.3%prior 33

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

Road Surface

Dry8,622 (84.5%)

↑6.1%prior 8,128

Wet1,038 (10.2%)

↓-12.7%prior 1,189

Snow313 (3.1%)

↓-45.8%prior 577

Ice/frost156 (1.5%)

↓-73.6%prior 590

Slush42 (0.4%)

↓-26.3%prior 57

Gravel20 (0.2%)

→0.0%prior 20

Other (explain in narrative)4 (0.0%)

↓-33.3%prior 6

Sand2 (0.0%)

Mud, dirt2 (0.0%)

Oil1 (0.0%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

Chevrolet (CHEV) became the top vehicle make involved in crashes in 2023 with 2,747 incidents, surpassing Ford (FORD) which saw a decrease of 270 incidents from 2,906 to 2,636. Among age groups, individuals aged 21-25 and 26-34 saw the largest decreases in involvement, with 253 fewer persons (2,876 to 2,623) and 236 fewer persons (4,417 to 4,181) respectively. Conversely, persons aged 65 and older involved in crashes increased by 67, from 2,154 in 2022 to 2,221 in 2023.

Top Vehicle Makes (19,974 vehicles)

CHEV2,747 (13.8%)

↑1.5%prior 2,707

FORD2,636 (13.2%)

↓-9.3%prior 2,906

TOYT1,058 (5.3%)

↑0.5%prior 1,053

NR1,001 (5%)

↑2.5%prior 977

HOND943 (4.7%)

↓-2.1%prior 963

CHEVROLET939 (4.7%)

↓-6.9%prior 1,009

NISS905 (4.5%)

↑1.7%prior 890

JEEP896 (4.5%)

↑0.3%prior 893

DODG668 (3.3%)

↓-3.5%prior 692

GMC600 (3%)

↑4.0%prior 577

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

4,013 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (17,601 persons with recorded sex)

Male9,996 (56.8%)

↓-2.1%prior 10,207

Female7,605 (43.2%)

↓-4.2%prior 7,942

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: 10,382
Total persons involved: 25,496
Total vehicles involved: 19,974

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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10,382 CRASHES INIOWA, IA2023