Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

53,342 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

In 2024, Iowa recorded 53,342 total vehicle crashes, a 0.9% increase from the 52,870 crashes reported in 2023. While overall crash volume rose slightly, fatalities and injuries both declined, dropping by 5.8% and 2.8% respectively. The most significant year-over-year shift was a 20.8% increase in non-collision, single-vehicle crashes, which grew from 14,130 incidents in 2023 to 17,070 in 2024.

53,342

▲ 0.9%was 52,870

Total Crash Events

357

▼ -5.8%was 379

Persons Killed

16,289

▼ -2.8%was 16,752

Persons Injured

325

▼ -1.5%was 330

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (357) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (325) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash volume in Iowa saw a marginal increase of 0.9% from 2023 to 2024, with total incidents rising from 52,870 to 53,342. However, the severity of these crashes appears to have lessened, as total fatalities decreased by 5.8% (from 379 to 357) and total injuries declined by 2.8% (from 16,752 to 16,289) over the same period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

30

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 26↑15.4%

4

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 5↓-20.0%

322

Motorists Killed

Prior: 343↓-6.1%

1

Other Killed

Prior: 5↓-80.0%

357

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 348↑2.6%

350

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 312↑12.2%

15,512

Motorists Injured

Prior: 16,021↓-3.2%

70

Other Injured

Prior: 71↓-1.4%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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 largely consistent year-over-year, with Friday being the peak day and the 5 p.m. hour being the peak hour in both 2023 and 2024. A notable shift occurred in the daily distribution, as crashes on Mondays increased by 12.1% from 7,217 to 8,091 incidents. Conversely, crashes occurring on Thursdays decreased by 8.9%, falling from 8,527 to 7,771.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The overall severity of crashes trended downward from 2023 to 2024. The fatal crash rate decreased slightly from 0.62% to 0.61% of all crashes, and the total number of fatal crash events fell from 330 to 325. The proportion of crashes resulting in any type of injury (Serious, Minor, or Possible) also declined from 27.5% to 26.7%, while the share of no-injury crashes increased from 71.9% to 72.7%.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 325 fatal crash events resulted in 357 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal325fatal crashes0.6%
↓-1.5%prior 330
Serious Injury1,157serious injury crashes2.2%
↑0.3%prior 1,153
Minor Injury5,072minor injury crashes9.5%
↓-1.8%prior 5,166
Possible Injury7,991possible injury crashes15%
↓-2.8%prior 8,217
No Injury38,797no injury crashes72.7%
↑2.1%prior 38,004

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors remained consistent, with "Animal" (7,877 crashes) and "Followed too close" (5,191 crashes) as the top two causes in 2024, both showing a minor decrease in count from 2023. There were significant shifts in other factors, as crashes attributed to "Driving too fast for conditions" increased in count by 25.0% (from 2,178 to 2,722). In contrast, crashes due to "Lost Control" decreased by 12.5% (from 2,622 to 2,295 incidents).

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal7,877 (14.8%)↓-1.9%prior 8,026
Followed too close5,191 (9.7%)↓-0.3%prior 5,205
Ran off road - left3,472 (6.5%)↑11.3%prior 3,119
Other (explain in narrative): Other2,843 (5.3%)↓-8.9%prior 3,121
FTYROW: From stop sign2,794 (5.2%)↑3.0%prior 2,713
Driving too fast for conditions2,722 (5.1%)↑25.0%prior 2,178
Lost Control2,295 (4.3%)↓-12.5%prior 2,622
FTYROW: Making left turn2,274 (4.3%)↑0.1%prior 2,271
Ran Traffic Signal1,855 (3.5%)↓-2.1%prior 1,895
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction1,787 (3.4%)↑3.6%prior 1,725

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

While lighting conditions at the time of crashes remained stable, there was a significant shift toward more incidents occurring in adverse road conditions. Crashes on wet roads increased by 11.9% (from 4,294 to 4,805), and incidents on icy or frosty surfaces rose by 29.3% (from 1,669 to 2,158). This corresponds with a 19.2% increase in crashes during rain, while crashes on dry roads decreased from 36,930 to 35,644.

Weather

Clear33,615 (72.5%)
↑0.4%prior 33,468
Cloudy7,081 (15.3%)
↓-6.2%prior 7,548
Rain2,239 (4.8%)
↑19.2%prior 1,878
Snow1,652 (3.6%)
↓-8.3%prior 1,802
Freezing rain/drizzle526 (1.1%)
↓-4.9%prior 553
Fog, smoke, smog508 (1.1%)
↑21.5%prior 418
Blowing Snow433 (0.9%)
↑84.3%prior 235
Severe Winds130 (0.3%)
↑71.1%prior 76
Other (explain in narrative)93 (0.2%)
↑34.8%prior 69
Sleet, hail56 (0.1%)
↑5.7%prior 53

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight32,561 (69.5%)
↑1.1%prior 32,217
Dark - roadway lighted6,725 (14.4%)
↓-1.5%prior 6,826
Dark - roadway not lighted4,760 (10.2%)
↓-2.7%prior 4,893
Dusk1,286 (2.7%)
↑1.8%prior 1,263
Dawn999 (2.1%)
↑6.8%prior 935
Dark - unknown roadway lighting504 (1.1%)
↑83.3%prior 275

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry35,644 (76.7%)
↓-3.5%prior 36,930
Wet4,805 (10.3%)
↑11.9%prior 4,294
Snow2,555 (5.5%)
↑28.3%prior 1,992
Ice/frost2,158 (4.6%)
↑29.3%prior 1,669
Gravel799 (1.7%)
↓-5.2%prior 843
Slush414 (0.9%)
↑5.6%prior 392
Mud, dirt47 (0.1%)
↓-30.9%prior 68
Other (explain in narrative)31 (0.1%)
↓-27.9%prior 43
Water (standing or moving)15 (0.0%)
↑150.0%prior 6
Sand10 (0.0%)
↓-23.1%prior 13

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The rankings of the most common vehicle makes involved in crashes were stable year-over-year. After aggregating name variations, Chevrolet (16,932 vehicles), Ford (14,387 vehicles), and Toyota (7,924 vehicles) were the top three makes in 2024, consistent with their 2023 rankings. The counts for these leading makes changed minimally from the prior year, indicating a consistent vehicle fleet involved in collisions.

Top Vehicle Makes (90,982 vehicles)

1
FORD14,387 (15.8%)
↑0.9%prior 14,253
2
CHEV12,228 (13.4%)
↓-1.3%prior 12,392
3
CHEVROLET4,704 (5.2%)
↑4.1%prior 4,520
4
TOYT4,440 (4.9%)
↑1.7%prior 4,365
5
JEEP4,166 (4.6%)
↑9.3%prior 3,811
6
HOND3,705 (4.1%)
↑5.6%prior 3,507
7
GMC3,318 (3.6%)
↑2.9%prior 3,224
8
DODG3,066 (3.4%)
↓-7.5%prior 3,315
9
NISS3,058 (3.4%)
↓-0.9%prior 3,086
10
KIA2,612 (2.9%)
↑6.9%prior 2,443

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

10,847 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (59,279 persons with recorded sex)

Male34,304 (57.9%)
↓-26.4%prior 46,594
Female24,975 (42.1%)
↓-27.1%prior 34,266

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 53,342
  • Total persons involved: 94,521
  • Total vehicles involved: 90,982

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: 2024." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2024-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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