ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · APRIL 2021
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/iowa/statewide/april-2021-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
3,725 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
APRIL 2021
In April 2021, there were 3,725 total crashes in Iowa, a 57.3% increase from the 2,368 crashes recorded in April 2020. This year-over-year comparison also shows a significant rise in crash outcomes, with total fatalities increasing from 17 to 28 and total injuries rising from 790 to 1,295.
3,725
▲ 57.3%was 2,368
Total Crash Events
28
▲ 64.7%was 17
Persons Killed
1,295
▲ 63.9%was 790
Persons Injured
28
▲ 75.0%was 16
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (28) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (28) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Comparing April 2021 to the same month in the prior year, traffic crashes saw a significant upward trend. Total crashes increased by 57.3%, from 2,368 to 3,725. Similarly, total fatalities rose by 64.7% from 17 to 28, and total injuries increased by 63.9% from 790 to 1,295.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
25
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
24
Pedestrians Injured
24
Cyclists Injured
1,246
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The timing of crashes showed notable shifts between April 2020 and April 2021. The peak day for crashes moved from Wednesday (421 crashes) in the prior year to Friday (735 crashes) in the current period. While the peak hour for collisions remained at 3 PM, the number of incidents during that hour more than doubled, from 177 to 359. Crash volumes increased across all days of the week, with the largest daily counts shifting towards the latter half of the week in 2021.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While the total number of crashes rose dramatically, the distribution of crash severity remained largely consistent year-over-year. The share of fatal crashes was 0.8% in April 2021 (28 crashes) compared to 0.7% in April 2020 (16 crashes). The proportion of crashes involving any level of injury (serious, minor, or possible) was also stable, accounting for 30.2% of all crashes in 2021 versus 29.6% in 2020. The rate of fatal crashes per 100 collisions increased slightly from 0.68 to 0.75.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors for crashes shifted between the two periods. In April 2021, 'Followed too close' was the top factor with 389 crashes, a 156% increase from its 152 occurrences in April 2020 when it ranked third. 'Animal' collisions, the top factor in 2020 with 315 crashes, dropped to second place in 2021 with 380 crashes. Other significant changes include crashes related to 'Failure to yield right-of-way when making a left turn,' which surged from 60 to 172 incidents, and 'Ran Traffic Signal,' which increased from 93 to 151 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
In April 2021, a larger proportion of crashes occurred under favorable conditions compared to the previous year. Crashes in daylight increased from 63.2% of the total in 2020 to 69.3% in 2021. Similarly, incidents on dry road surfaces grew from 70.9% to 82.2% of all crashes. The share of collisions happening in clear weather also rose from 58.9% to 67.4%, indicating that the overall increase in crashes was not driven by a higher prevalence of adverse environmental conditions.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The makes of vehicles involved in crashes showed consistent rankings, with Chevrolet and Ford remaining the top two most frequently involved makes in both periods. All top vehicle makes saw a significant increase in crash counts, mirroring the overall rise in collisions. Analysis of persons involved reveals shifts in age demographics: the 16-20 age group's representation grew from 11.8% of all persons in April 2020 to 14.0% in April 2021. Similarly, the share of persons aged 65 and older increased from 8.8% to 10.3% over the same period.
Top Vehicle Makes (6,538 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · Vehicle unit records
1,236 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (5,857 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30 · 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: 2021-04-01 through 2021-04-30
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2021-04-01 through 2021-04-30 (30 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 3,725
- Total persons involved: 8,756
- Total vehicles involved: 6,538
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: April 2021." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2021-04-30. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/april-2021-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
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS
Period: 2021-04-01 – 2021-04-30
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved