ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · FEBRUARY 2018
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/february-2018-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
4,968 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
FEBRUARY 2018
In February 2018, there were 4,968 total traffic crashes, a 24.4% increase from the 3,994 crashes recorded in February 2017. This rise coincided with a significant year-over-year increase in incidents occurring on snowy or icy roads. The number of crashes attributed to 'driving too fast for conditions' increased by 167.4%, from 325 to 869 incidents.
4,968
▲ 24.4%was 3,994
Total Crash Events
25
▲ 25.0%was 20
Persons Killed
1,356
▲ 6.4%was 1,274
Persons Injured
21
▲ 16.7%was 18
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (25) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (21) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Crash data for February 2018 indicates a rising trend compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes increased by 24.4%, from 3,994 to 4,968. Similarly, the number of fatalities rose by 25% (from 20 to 25), and total injuries increased by 6.4% (from 1,274 to 1,356).
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
23
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
28
Pedestrians Injured
4
Cyclists Injured
1,323
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between February 2017 and February 2018. The day with the highest number of crashes moved from Friday (917 incidents) in the prior year to Monday (995 incidents) in the current period. The peak hour for crashes also changed, shifting from the 4 PM hour in 2017 (348 crashes) to the 12 PM hour in 2018 (365 crashes).
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While the absolute number of fatal crashes rose from 18 to 21 year-over-year, their proportion relative to all crashes slightly decreased from 0.5% to 0.4%. The share of crashes resulting in any level of injury (Serious, Minor, or Possible) also declined, from 26.3% of crashes in February 2017 to 23.6% in February 2018. Consequently, the proportion of crashes with no injuries increased from 73.2% to 75.9% of all incidents.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 21 fatal crash events resulted in 25 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors for crashes changed significantly year-over-year. 'Driving too fast for conditions' became the top factor in February 2018, with its incident count increasing by 167.4% from 325 to 869. 'Ran off road - left' also saw a substantial 70.6% increase in count, rising from 269 to 459 incidents and becoming the second-most cited factor. Conversely, crashes involving an 'Animal,' the leading factor in the prior year with 422 incidents, decreased to 362 incidents in the current period.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
A major shift occurred in road surface conditions, with crashes on snowy surfaces increasing from 414 to 1,568 and on icy surfaces from 276 to 643. This corresponds with a rise in crashes reported during 'Snow' weather, which grew from 337 to 902 incidents. In contrast, crashes on dry roads decreased from 2,478 to 1,570. The distribution of crashes by lighting condition remained relatively stable, with most incidents in both periods occurring during daylight hours.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The most common vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent year-over-year, with Ford and Chevrolet models ranking at the top in both periods. The number of Ford vehicles in crashes increased from 1,095 to 1,399, while Chevrolet models (listed as 'CHEV' and 'CHEVROLET') saw a combined increase from 1,348 to 1,717. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes also showed a similar pattern between the two periods, with the 26-34 age group representing the largest share in both February 2017 (15.6%) and February 2018 (16.1%).
Top Vehicle Makes (8,772 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Vehicle unit records
1,421 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (7,813 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · 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: 2018-02-01 through 2018-02-28
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2018-02-01 through 2018-02-28 (28 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 4,968
- Total persons involved: 11,131
- Total vehicles involved: 8,772
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 2018." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/february-2018-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: 2018-02-01 – 2018-02-28
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved