Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

3,994 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
FEBRUARY 2017

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2016

In February 2017, Iowa recorded 3,994 traffic crashes, a 12.1% decrease from the 4,545 crashes reported in February 2016. Despite the overall reduction in collisions and a 6.9% drop in injuries, the number of fatalities slightly increased from 19 to 20 year-over-year. The most significant change was a substantial decrease in crashes attributed to adverse weather and road conditions, with collisions on snowy or icy roads falling from 33.7% of the total in the prior year to 18.2% in the current period.

3,994

▼ -12.1%was 4,545

Total Crash Events

20

▲ 5.3%was 19

Persons Killed

1,274

▼ -6.9%was 1,368

Persons Injured

18

▲ 12.5%was 16

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (20) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (18) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic safety trends improved year-over-year, with total crashes falling by 12.1% from 4,545 in February 2016 to 3,994 in February 2017. This downward trend included a 6.9% decrease in total injuries, from 1,368 to 1,274. However, total fatalities saw a slight increase, rising from 19 to 20 persons killed.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1↑100.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

18

Motorists Killed

Prior: 18→0.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

18

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 34↓-47.1%

17

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 8↑112.5%

1,229

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,325↓-7.2%

10

Other Injured

Prior: 1↑900.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted significantly between the two periods. In February 2017, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 917 incidents, and the peak hour was the 4 p.m. evening commute with 348 crashes. This contrasts with the prior year, when the peak was on Monday (777 crashes) and the 7 a.m. morning commute hour was the busiest (343 crashes).

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes decreased, the severity of crashes showed a mixed trend. The fatal crash rate increased from 0.35 per 100 crashes in February 2016 to 0.45 in February 2017, with fatal crashes rising from 16 to 18. The proportion of serious injury crashes also grew, from 1.3% to 2.0% of all collisions. Crashes resulting in no injuries represented 73.2% of the total in the current period, a slight decrease from 74.0% in the prior year.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 18 fatal crash events resulted in 20 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal18fatal crashes0.5%
↑12.5%prior 16
Serious Injury79serious injury crashes2%
↑33.9%prior 59
Minor Injury302minor injury crashes7.6%
↓-12.5%prior 345
Possible Injury671possible injury crashes16.8%
↓-12.1%prior 763
No Injury2,924no injury crashes73.2%
↓-13.0%prior 3,362

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors for crashes shifted year-over-year. In February 2017, collisions involving an 'Animal' became the top factor with 422 incidents, an increase of 47 crashes from the prior year's 375. Conversely, 'Driving too fast for conditions,' which was the leading factor in 2016 with 516 crashes, saw its count drop by 37% to 325 crashes in 2017, moving it to the third-ranked cause. 'Followed too close' remained a top issue, increasing slightly from 375 to 385 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal422 (10.6%)↑12.5%prior 375
Followed too close385 (9.6%)↑2.7%prior 375
Driving too fast for conditions325 (8.1%)↓-37.0%prior 516
Ran off road - left269 (6.7%)↓-33.1%prior 402
Lost Control264 (6.6%)↓-24.6%prior 350
FTYROW: From stop sign234 (5.9%)↑3.1%prior 227
Other (explain in narrative): Other203 (5.1%)↓-8.6%prior 222
FTYROW: Making left turn185 (4.6%)↓-0.5%prior 186
Ran Traffic Signal149 (3.7%)↓-7.5%prior 161
Ran off road - straight146 (3.7%)↓-32.4%prior 216

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a significant year-over-year improvement in crash conditions. Crashes on dry road surfaces accounted for 62.0% of all incidents in February 2017, up from 48.2% in the prior year. Correspondingly, crashes on snow, ice, or slush surfaces dropped from 33.7% of the total in 2016 to 18.2% in 2017. This shift aligns with a decrease in crashes occurring during snow conditions (from 16.5% to 10.7% of total crashes).

Weather

Clear2,354 (64.7%)
↑23.3%prior 1,909
Cloudy625 (17.2%)
↓-53.1%prior 1,332
Snow337 (9.3%)
↓-40.9%prior 570
Rain113 (3.1%)
↑438.1%prior 21
Blowing Snow92 (2.5%)
↓-48.9%prior 180
Freezing rain/drizzle68 (1.9%)
↓-8.1%prior 74
Fog, smoke, smog37 (1.0%)
↓-40.3%prior 62
Sleet, hail8 (0.2%)
↓-33.3%prior 12
Severe Winds5 (0.1%)
↓-89.4%prior 47
Other (explain in narrative)2 (0.1%)
↓-80.0%prior 10

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,325 (63.5%)
↓-16.8%prior 2,793
Dark - roadway lighted658 (18.0%)
↓-6.9%prior 707
Dark - roadway not lighted450 (12.3%)
↓-3.6%prior 467
Dusk120 (3.3%)
↑6.2%prior 113
Dawn91 (2.5%)
↓-29.5%prior 129
Dark - unknown roadway lighting16 (0.4%)
↓-36.0%prior 25

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2,478 (67.9%)
↑13.2%prior 2,190
Snow414 (11.3%)
↓-50.8%prior 841
Wet400 (11.0%)
↓-9.1%prior 440
Ice/frost276 (7.6%)
↓-47.4%prior 525
Slush36 (1.0%)
↓-78.3%prior 166
Gravel32 (0.9%)
↑23.1%prior 26
Sand6 (0.2%)
↓-53.8%prior 13
Other (explain in narrative)4 (0.1%)
↓-42.9%prior 7
Mud, dirt4 (0.1%)
↓-69.2%prior 13

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The most common vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Ford and Chevrolet models topping the list in both periods, though their total counts decreased in line with the overall crash reduction. An analysis of persons involved shows the 26-34 age group was the most represented in both years. However, the 16-20 age group saw a slight increase in involvement from 1,138 persons in February 2016 to 1,187 in February 2017, despite the overall decrease in people involved in crashes.

Top Vehicle Makes (6,923 vehicles)

1
FORD1,095 (15.8%)
↓-11.1%prior 1,232
2
CHEV774 (11.2%)
↓-9.5%prior 855
3
CHEVROLET574 (8.3%)
↓-15.0%prior 675
4
TOYT295 (4.3%)
↓-16.2%prior 352
5
DODG267 (3.9%)
↓-16.0%prior 318
6
TOYOTA230 (3.3%)
↑1.3%prior 227
7
JEEP230 (3.3%)
↓-3.4%prior 238
8
GMC225 (3.3%)
↑14.8%prior 196
9
DODGE225 (3.3%)
↓-14.1%prior 262
10
HOND215 (3.1%)
↑9.1%prior 197

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Vehicle unit records

1,131 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (6,041 persons with recorded sex)

Male3,330 (55.1%)
↓-5.0%prior 3,507
Female2,711 (44.9%)
↓-0.2%prior 2,717

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · 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: 2017-02-01 through 2017-02-28
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2017-02-01 through 2017-02-28 (28 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 3,994
  • Total persons involved: 8,887
  • Total vehicles involved: 6,923

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: February 2017." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/february-2017-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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