Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4,484 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
JANUARY 2017

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2016

In January 2017, there were 4,484 total crashes, a 10.6% decrease from the 5,014 crashes recorded in January 2016. This overall reduction in crashes was accompanied by a notable year-over-year shift in outcomes, with total fatalities dropping from 28 to 20, a 28.6% decrease.

4,484

▼ -10.6%was 5,014

Total Crash Events

20

▼ -28.6%was 28

Persons Killed

1,340

▼ -11.3%was 1,510

Persons Injured

19

▼ -20.8%was 24

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (20) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (19) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data from January 2017 indicates a downward trend compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes fell by 10.6%, from 5,014 to 4,484. This trend extended to crash outcomes, with total fatalities decreasing by 28.6% (from 28 to 20) and total injuries declining by 11.3% (from 1,510 to 1,340).

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1→0.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

19

Motorists Killed

Prior: 27↓-29.6%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

29

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 45↓-35.6%

4

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 4→0.0%

1,304

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,457↓-10.5%

3

Other Injured

Prior: 4↓-25.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes showed a notable shift year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (932 crashes) in the prior period to Tuesday (871 crashes) in the current period. While the peak hour for collisions remained consistent at 5 p.m. in both periods, the number of crashes during this hour decreased from 452 to 376.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes lessened slightly in January 2017 compared to the previous year. The fatal crash rate, as a percentage of all crashes, decreased from 0.48% to 0.42%. While the proportion of serious injury crashes remained stable at 1.6% in both periods, there was a small shift in other categories, with minor injury crashes increasing their share from 7.0% to 7.8% and no-injury crashes decreasing their share from 74.7% to 73.8%.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 19 fatal crash events resulted in 20 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal19fatal crashes0.4%
↓-20.8%prior 24
Serious Injury73serious injury crashes1.6%
↓-8.8%prior 80
Minor Injury348minor injury crashes7.8%
↓-1.4%prior 353
Possible Injury736possible injury crashes16.4%
↓-9.4%prior 812
No Injury3,308no injury crashes73.8%
↓-11.7%prior 3,745

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The primary contributing factors for crashes remained consistent year-over-year, with 'Driving too fast for conditions' and collisions with an 'Animal' being the top two causes in both periods. However, the number of crashes attributed to these factors decreased. Crashes due to 'Driving too fast for conditions' fell by a count of 103 (from 578 to 475), while crashes involving animals decreased by a count of 84 (from 528 to 444). The top five factors were identical in both years, though their internal ranking shifted slightly.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Driving too fast for conditions475 (10.6%)↓-17.8%prior 578
Animal444 (9.9%)↓-15.9%prior 528
Followed too close395 (8.8%)↓-10.4%prior 441
Lost Control374 (8.3%)→0.0%prior 374
Ran off road - left360 (8%)↓-7.0%prior 387
Ran off road - straight230 (5.1%)↓-11.2%prior 259
Other (explain in narrative): Other218 (4.9%)↓-20.1%prior 273
FTYROW: From stop sign205 (4.6%)↓-7.7%prior 222
FTYROW: Making left turn168 (3.7%)↓-13.0%prior 193
Ran Stop Sign142 (3.2%)↓-5.3%prior 150

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a noticeable shift in the weather conditions reported during crashes. The proportion of incidents occurring in 'Clear' weather decreased from 43.0% in the prior period to 35.8% in the current period. Conversely, the share of crashes during 'Freezing rain/drizzle' more than doubled, increasing from 4.3% to 8.9% of all crashes. The distribution of crashes by road surface condition remained more stable, with a slight increase in the proportion of crashes on icy or wet surfaces.

Weather

Clear1,604 (39.2%)
↓-25.6%prior 2,157
Cloudy1,367 (33.4%)
↑6.7%prior 1,281
Freezing rain/drizzle397 (9.7%)
↑82.1%prior 218
Snow294 (7.2%)
↓-48.1%prior 566
Fog, smoke, smog188 (4.6%)
↑164.8%prior 71
Rain153 (3.7%)
↑43.0%prior 107
Blowing Snow59 (1.4%)
↓-46.4%prior 110
Other (explain in narrative)14 (0.3%)
→0.0%prior 14
Sleet, hail12 (0.3%)
↑9.1%prior 11
Severe Winds7 (0.2%)
↑16.7%prior 6

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,151 (52.3%)
↓-13.9%prior 2,497
Dark - roadway lighted942 (22.9%)
↓-4.3%prior 984
Dark - roadway not lighted721 (17.5%)
↓-4.6%prior 756
Dawn133 (3.2%)
↑3.1%prior 129
Dusk131 (3.2%)
↓-24.3%prior 173
Dark - unknown roadway lighting32 (0.8%)
↑39.1%prior 23

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry1,996 (48.7%)
↓-4.3%prior 2,085
Ice/frost899 (21.9%)
↑2.9%prior 874
Wet729 (17.8%)
↑0.4%prior 726
Snow331 (8.1%)
↓-52.5%prior 697
Slush62 (1.5%)
↓-52.3%prior 130
Gravel50 (1.2%)
↑100.0%prior 25
Sand15 (0.4%)
↑114.3%prior 7
Mud, dirt12 (0.3%)
Other (explain in narrative)7 (0.2%)
↓-12.5%prior 8

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The demographic data for vehicles and persons involved in crashes showed high stability between the two periods. The top vehicle makes involved in collisions were consistent, with Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, and Toyota leading the list in both January 2017 and January 2016, though the total count for each make decreased. Similarly, the age distribution of persons involved in crashes saw no significant changes, with the 26-34 age group representing the largest cohort in both years.

Top Vehicle Makes (7,537 vehicles)

1
FORD1,209 (16%)
↓-11.8%prior 1,371
2
CHEVROLET773 (10.3%)
↑22.5%prior 631
3
CHEV750 (10%)
↓-31.3%prior 1,091
4
DODGE320 (4.2%)
↑22.1%prior 262
5
TOYT295 (3.9%)
↓-16.7%prior 354
6
DODG261 (3.5%)
↓-35.1%prior 402
7
JEEP237 (3.1%)
↓-13.2%prior 273
8
TOYOTA235 (3.1%)
↑0.4%prior 234
9
GMC216 (2.9%)
↓-17.2%prior 261
10
NR190 (2.5%)
↑1.6%prior 187

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

1,330 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (6,674 persons with recorded sex)

Male3,850 (57.7%)
↑1.0%prior 3,810
Female2,824 (42.3%)
↓-5.2%prior 2,980

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31 · 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: 2017-01-01 through 2017-01-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2017-01-01 through 2017-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4,484
  • Total persons involved: 9,546
  • Total vehicles involved: 7,537

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: January 2017." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2017-01-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/january-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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