Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

3,228 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2022

All metrics benchmarked against2021

In Scott County, total vehicle crashes decreased by 17.4% from 3,909 in 2021 to 3,228 in 2022. Despite this significant drop in the overall number of collisions, the human cost increased slightly, with total fatalities rising from 16 to 17 and total injuries increasing from 1,139 to 1,216. The most notable shift was the decrease in overall crash frequency while the number of minor injury crashes and the fatal crash rate both increased.

3,228

▼ -17.4%was 3,909

Total Crash Events

17

▲ 6.3%was 16

Persons Killed

1,216

▲ 6.8%was 1,139

Persons Injured

15

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (17) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (15) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic safety data for Scott County shows a falling trend in the total number of crashes, which declined from 3,909 in 2021 to 3,228 in 2022. However, this positive trend in crash volume is contrasted by a negative trend in outcomes. Total injuries increased by 6.8% year-over-year, and fatalities rose from 16 to 17.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 6↓-50.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

14

Motorists Killed

Prior: 8↑75.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

31

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 32↓-3.1%

15

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 15→0.0%

1,166

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,088↑7.2%

4

Other Injured

Prior: 4→0.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes remained consistent between 2021 and 2022. Friday continued to be the peak day for crashes and 3 p.m. remained the peak hour in both periods. Although the timing of peak crash activity did not change, the volume of crashes during these peaks declined, with Friday crashes falling from 667 to 598 and collisions during the 3 p.m. hour decreasing from 347 to 267.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While the number of fatal crashes remained unchanged at 15 in both 2021 and 2022, the fatal crash rate increased from 0.38 to 0.46 per 1,000 crashes due to the lower overall crash total. The number of serious injury crashes decreased from 66 to 56. Conversely, minor injury crashes saw a significant increase in both count, from 306 to 366, and proportion, rising from 7.8% to 11.3% of all crashes. The share of crashes resulting in no injury decreased from 71.1% in 2021 to 67.2% in 2022.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 15 fatal crash events resulted in 17 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal15fatal crashes0.5%
→0.0%prior 15
Serious Injury56serious injury crashes1.7%
↓-15.2%prior 66
Minor Injury366minor injury crashes11.3%
↑19.6%prior 306
Possible Injury623possible injury crashes19.3%
↓-15.9%prior 741
No Injury2,168no injury crashes67.2%
↓-22.0%prior 2,781

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors for crashes showed some consistency and some shifts between 2021 and 2022. "Followed too close" remained the primary factor in both years, though its count decreased from 513 to 378. Similarly, "Ran off road - left" remained the second-most common factor, with its count dropping from 427 to 351. Notably, crashes attributed to "Ran Traffic Signal" increased by 13.3%, from 181 incidents in 2021 to 205 in 2022, making it the third-leading cause in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too close378 (11.7%)↓-26.3%prior 513
Ran off road - left351 (10.9%)↓-17.8%prior 427
Ran Traffic Signal205 (6.4%)↑13.3%prior 181
FTYROW: Making left turn197 (6.1%)↓-12.1%prior 224
Animal177 (5.5%)↓-5.3%prior 187
Other (explain in narrative): Other165 (5.1%)↓-39.8%prior 274
FTYROW: From stop sign150 (4.6%)↓-17.1%prior 181
Lost Control128 (4%)↓-2.3%prior 131
Driving too fast for conditions121 (3.7%)↓-20.9%prior 153
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner95 (2.9%)↓-17.4%prior 115

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The conditions under which crashes occurred were largely similar year-over-year. In both 2021 and 2022, the vast majority of collisions happened during daylight hours (66.7% and 61.8%, respectively), in clear weather (69.3% and 67.9%), and on dry road surfaces (75.4% and 74.6%). There were no significant shifts in the proportion of crashes occurring in adverse weather, lighting, or road conditions, indicating a stable environmental profile for collisions across the two periods.

Weather

Clear2,192 (71.1%)
↓-19.1%prior 2,708
Cloudy500 (16.2%)
↓-24.0%prior 658
Rain159 (5.2%)
↓-10.2%prior 177
Snow113 (3.7%)
↓-6.6%prior 121
Blowing Snow42 (1.4%)
↑250.0%prior 12
Freezing rain/drizzle37 (1.2%)
↓-30.2%prior 53
Severe Winds17 (0.6%)
Fog, smoke, smog13 (0.4%)
↑30.0%prior 10
Other (explain in narrative)6 (0.2%)
Sleet, hail1 (0.0%)
↓-83.3%prior 6

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight1,995 (64.9%)
↓-23.5%prior 2,609
Dark - roadway lighted741 (24.1%)
↓-3.6%prior 769
Dark - roadway not lighted203 (6.6%)
↓-8.6%prior 222
Dusk84 (2.7%)
↓-17.6%prior 102
Dawn45 (1.5%)
↓-11.8%prior 51
Dark - unknown roadway lighting5 (0.2%)
↓-28.6%prior 7

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2,409 (78.2%)
↓-18.2%prior 2,946
Wet399 (12.9%)
↓-8.1%prior 434
Snow133 (4.3%)
↓-16.4%prior 159
Ice/frost107 (3.5%)
↓-33.5%prior 161
Gravel17 (0.6%)
↑88.9%prior 9
Slush14 (0.5%)
↓-65.9%prior 41
Other (explain in narrative)2 (0.1%)
↓-60.0%prior 5
Water (standing or moving)1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The demographic profile of vehicles and persons involved in crashes remained consistent from 2021 to 2022. Ford and Chevrolet were the top two vehicle makes involved in collisions in both years, with their crash counts decreasing in line with the overall trend. The age distribution of persons involved also showed little change; the 26-34 age group represented the largest single cohort in both periods, accounting for 1,345 individuals in 2021 and 1,195 in 2022.

Top Vehicle Makes (5,976 vehicles)

1
FORD1,053 (17.6%)
↓-16.0%prior 1,253
2
CHEV514 (8.6%)
↓-11.2%prior 579
3
CHEVROLET449 (7.5%)
↓-33.9%prior 679
4
TOYT293 (4.9%)
↑1.4%prior 289
5
HOND256 (4.3%)
↑8.0%prior 237
6
NR225 (3.8%)
↓-32.4%prior 333
7
JEEP214 (3.6%)
↓-22.7%prior 277
8
GMC213 (3.6%)
↓-14.1%prior 248
9
TOYOTA212 (3.5%)
↓-35.2%prior 327
10
HONDA206 (3.4%)
↓-5.9%prior 219

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

1,420 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (5,127 persons with recorded sex)

Male2,886 (56.3%)
↓-10.1%prior 3,210
Female2,241 (43.7%)
↓-13.1%prior 2,578

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 3,228
  • Total persons involved: 8,129
  • Total vehicles involved: 5,976

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: 2022." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2022-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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