Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

3,287 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
FEBRUARY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2023

In February 2024, there were 3,287 traffic crashes statewide, a 17.7% decrease from the 3,993 crashes recorded in February 2023. This overall reduction in collisions was accompanied by fewer injuries and fatalities. The most notable year-over-year shift was a substantial decrease in crashes occurring on adverse road surfaces, with incidents on snow or ice-covered roads falling from a combined 921 to 256.

3,287

▼ -17.7%was 3,993

Total Crash Events

17

▼ -15.0%was 20

Persons Killed

958

▼ -13.5%was 1,108

Persons Injured

17

▲ 13.3%was 15

Fatal Crash Events

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

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic collisions showed a significant downward trend year-over-year. Total crashes decreased by 17.7%, from 3,993 in February 2023 to 3,287 in February 2024. This trend extended to crash outcomes, with total injuries declining by 13.5% from 1,108 to 958, and total fatalities decreasing from 20 to 17.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

16

Motorists Killed

Prior: 19↓-15.8%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

27

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 23↑17.4%

15

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 5↑200.0%

911

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,072↓-15.0%

5

Other Injured

Prior: 8↓-37.5%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · 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 the two periods. In February 2024, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 642 incidents, a change from the prior year when Thursday was the peak day with 947 crashes. The peak hour for collisions also moved later in the day, from 3 p.m. (325 crashes) in 2023 to 6 p.m. (288 crashes) in 2024.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes decreased, the severity of incidents that did occur showed a mixed pattern. The number of fatal crashes increased from 15 to 17 year-over-year, and the fatal crash rate rose from 0.38% to 0.52%. The proportion of crashes resulting in serious injuries also increased from 1.5% to 1.8% of total incidents. Conversely, crashes resulting in only 'possible' injuries decreased as a share of the total, from 16.3% to 15.2%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal17fatal crashes0.5%
↑13.3%prior 15
Serious Injury58serious injury crashes1.8%
↓-4.9%prior 61
Minor Injury290minor injury crashes8.8%
↓-2.0%prior 296
Possible Injury501possible injury crashes15.2%
↓-22.8%prior 649
No Injury2,421no injury crashes73.7%
↓-18.5%prior 2,972

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors shifted between the two periods, largely driven by a significant reduction in incidents related to poor conditions. While collisions involving an 'Animal' remained the top factor, increasing slightly in count from 441 to 458 incidents, 'Driving too fast for conditions' fell from the second-most common factor with 350 crashes in 2023 to the eighth-ranked factor with 122 crashes in 2024, a 65% decrease in count. 'Followed too close' became the second-ranked factor in 2024 with 278 incidents, despite its count decreasing from 327 in the prior year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal458 (13.9%)↑3.9%prior 441
Followed too close278 (8.5%)↓-15.0%prior 327
Ran off road - left222 (6.8%)↓-27.9%prior 308
Other (explain in narrative): Other201 (6.1%)↓-21.8%prior 257
FTYROW: From stop sign163 (5%)↓-15.1%prior 192
Lost Control157 (4.8%)↓-35.1%prior 242
FTYROW: Making left turn138 (4.2%)↓-14.8%prior 162
Ran Traffic Signal122 (3.7%)↓-21.8%prior 156
Driving too fast for conditions122 (3.7%)↓-65.1%prior 350
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction114 (3.5%)↑11.8%prior 102

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash conditions improved significantly in February 2024 compared to the prior year, primarily due to better road surfaces. Crashes on snow- or ice-covered roads decreased from a combined 921 incidents in 2023 to just 256 in 2024. Consequently, the number of crashes reported on dry roads increased from 2,217 to 2,500. While the total number of crashes in daylight decreased, their share of all crashes also fell from 61.3% to 55.9%.

Weather

Clear2,333 (80.8%)
↑1.3%prior 2,303
Cloudy353 (12.2%)
↓-39.1%prior 580
Snow140 (4.8%)
↓-63.3%prior 381
Fog, smoke, smog15 (0.5%)
↑200.0%prior 5
Rain11 (0.4%)
↓-91.3%prior 127
Other (explain in narrative)10 (0.3%)
↑42.9%prior 7
Freezing rain/drizzle10 (0.3%)
↓-90.6%prior 106
Blowing Snow10 (0.3%)
↓-86.3%prior 73
Severe Winds5 (0.2%)
↓-16.7%prior 6

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight1,837 (63.0%)
↓-25.0%prior 2,449
Dark - roadway lighted525 (18.0%)
↓-10.7%prior 588
Dark - roadway not lighted347 (11.9%)
↑1.8%prior 341
Dusk90 (3.1%)
↓-25.6%prior 121
Dawn86 (2.9%)
↑1.2%prior 85
Dark - unknown roadway lighting33 (1.1%)
↑83.3%prior 18

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2,500 (86.2%)
↑12.8%prior 2,217
Snow152 (5.2%)
↓-70.0%prior 507
Ice/frost104 (3.6%)
↓-74.9%prior 414
Wet87 (3.0%)
↓-75.7%prior 358
Gravel38 (1.3%)
↑35.7%prior 28
Slush13 (0.4%)
↓-81.9%prior 72
Mud, dirt4 (0.1%)
↓-42.9%prior 7
Sand1 (0.0%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained broadly consistent year-over-year. Ford and Chevrolet vehicles were most frequently involved in both periods; in February 2024, 913 Ford vehicles and a combined 1,044 Chevrolet vehicles were recorded, down from 1,181 and 1,256 respectively. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes also showed little change, with the 35-44 age group being the largest in both years. The 65+ age group saw a slight proportional increase, representing 11.0% of persons involved, up from 10.5% in the previous year.

Top Vehicle Makes (5,606 vehicles)

1
FORD913 (16.3%)
↓-22.7%prior 1,181
2
CHEV751 (13.4%)
↓-20.5%prior 945
3
CHEVROLET293 (5.2%)
↓-5.8%prior 311
4
JEEP260 (4.6%)
↓-13.0%prior 299
5
TOYT260 (4.6%)
↓-28.6%prior 364
6
HOND238 (4.2%)
↑9.7%prior 217
7
GMC205 (3.7%)
↓-23.2%prior 267
8
DODG182 (3.2%)
↓-33.3%prior 273
9
NISS180 (3.2%)
↓-25.6%prior 242
10
NR163 (2.9%)
↓-23.8%prior 214

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Vehicle unit records

725 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (3,681 persons with recorded sex)

Male2,079 (56.5%)
↓-41.7%prior 3,566
Female1,602 (43.5%)
↓-36.9%prior 2,537

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · 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: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29 (29 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 3,287
  • Total persons involved: 5,830
  • Total vehicles involved: 5,606

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 2024." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/february-2024-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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