Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

32 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2016

All metrics benchmarked against2015

In Ringgold County, total traffic crashes decreased by 17.9%, from 39 incidents in 2015 to 32 in 2016. While overall collisions and injuries declined, the most significant year-over-year change was the emergence of traffic fatalities. The county recorded 6 deaths from 2 fatal crashes in 2016, compared to zero in the prior year.

32

▼ -17.9%was 39

Total Crash Events

6

Persons Killed

18

▼ -18.2%was 22

Persons Injured

2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (6) 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 · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash volume in Ringgold County showed a downward trend, falling 17.9% from 39 incidents in 2015 to 32 in 2016. The number of persons injured also decreased by 18.2%, from 22 to 18. In stark contrast to these trends, traffic fatalities increased from zero in 2015 to 6 in 2016.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

6

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0→%

18

Motorists Injured

Prior: 22↓-18.2%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted slightly between the two periods. The peak day for collisions moved from Tuesday in 2015 (8 crashes) to Wednesday in 2016 (8 crashes). Similarly, the peak hour for crashes occurred slightly later in the day, shifting from the 2 p.m. hour in 2015 (6 crashes) to the 3 p.m. hour in 2016 (5 crashes).

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity worsened significantly year-over-year, driven entirely by the appearance of fatal incidents. In 2016, 6.3% of crashes were fatal (2 incidents), resulting in 6 deaths, whereas there were no fatal crashes in 2015. The count of serious injury crashes saw a slight decrease from 3 in 2015 to 2 in 2016, while the total number of persons injured fell from 22 to 18.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 2 fatal crash events resulted in 6 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes6.3%
Serious Injury2serious injury crashes6.3%
↓-33.3%prior 3
Minor Injury7minor injury crashes21.9%
↑16.7%prior 6
Possible Injury6possible injury crashes18.8%
↓-33.3%prior 9
No Injury15no injury crashes46.9%
↓-28.6%prior 21

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors shifted between periods, primarily due to a significant drop in animal-related incidents. Crashes involving animals, the top factor in 2015 with 8 incidents, decreased by 62.5% to 3 incidents in 2016. As a result, "Lost Control" became the top-ranked factor in 2016 with 5 crashes, a slight decrease from 6 in the prior year. Incidents where a driver ran a stop sign increased from 3 to 4 year-over-year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Lost Control5 (15.6%)↓-16.7%prior 6
Ran Stop Sign4 (12.5%)
Animal3 (9.4%)↓-62.5%prior 8
Ran off road - straight3 (9.4%)
FTYROW: From stop sign2 (6.3%)
FTYROW: Making left turn2 (6.3%)
Driver Distraction: Passenger2 (6.3%)
Followed too close2 (6.3%)
Other (explain in narrative): Other2 (6.3%)
Made improper turn1 (3.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

While most crashes in both years occurred during daylight in clear weather on dry roads, there was a distinct shift in lighting conditions. The share of crashes taking place on dark, unlit roadways increased from 17.9% of total crashes in 2015 (7 incidents) to 28.1% in 2016 (9 incidents). Conversely, the number of crashes on wet roads decreased from 4 in 2015 to just 1 in 2016.

Weather

Clear25 (83.3%)
→0.0%prior 25
Cloudy3 (10.0%)
Fog, smoke, smog1 (3.3%)
Rain1 (3.3%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight18 (62.1%)
↓-21.7%prior 23
Dark - roadway not lighted9 (31.0%)
↑28.6%prior 7
Dark - roadway lighted1 (3.4%)
Dusk1 (3.4%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry25 (83.3%)
↓-3.8%prior 26
Gravel1 (3.3%)
Ice/frost1 (3.3%)
Mud, dirt1 (3.3%)
Snow1 (3.3%)
Wet1 (3.3%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (48 vehicles)

1
FORD8 (16.7%)
↓-20.0%prior 10
2
CHEV4 (8.3%)
↓-20.0%prior 5
3
CHEVROLET4 (8.3%)
↓-33.3%prior 6
4
DODGE3 (6.3%)
5
BUIC3 (6.3%)
6
DODG3 (6.3%)
7
GMC2 (4.2%)
8
CAT2 (4.2%)
9
HARLEY DAVID2 (4.2%)
10
JEEP2 (4.2%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (29 persons with recorded sex)

Male17 (58.6%)
↓-43.3%prior 30
Female12 (41.4%)
↓-33.3%prior 18

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31 · 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: 2016-01-01 through 2016-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2016-01-01 through 2016-12-31 (366 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 32
  • Total persons involved: 60
  • Total vehicles involved: 48

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: 2016." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2016-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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