ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · JANUARY 2023
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/january-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
4,655 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
JANUARY 2023
In January 2023, there were 4,655 total crashes, a 6.5% increase from the 4,370 crashes recorded in January 2022. This rise in collisions was accompanied by an 8.2% increase in injuries, from 1,153 to 1,248. The most significant year-over-year change was a 52.9% increase in total fatalities, which rose from 17 to 26.
4,655
▲ 6.5%was 4,370
Total Crash Events
26
▲ 52.9%was 17
Persons Killed
1,248
▲ 8.2%was 1,153
Persons Injured
22
▲ 29.4%was 17
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (26) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (22) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crash trends show an increase in January 2023 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes rose from 4,370 to 4,655, and the number of people injured increased from 1,153 to 1,248. Most notably, fatalities increased significantly, from 17 in January 2022 to 26 in January 2023.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
25
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
23
Pedestrians Injured
6
Cyclists Injured
1,218
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The timing of crashes shifted year-over-year. In January 2023, the peak day for crashes was Wednesday with 772 incidents, a change from the prior year when Friday was the peak day with 793 crashes. The peak hour also shifted from 3 p.m. (369 crashes) in the prior period to 5 p.m. (406 crashes) in the current period.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity increased in January 2023 compared to the previous year. The number of fatal crashes rose from 17 to 22, and the fatal crash rate increased from 0.39% to 0.47% of all crashes. While the proportion of serious injury crashes remained stable at 1.4%, the share of crashes resulting in possible injuries grew from 14.9% (653 crashes) to 15.4% (717 crashes).
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 22 fatal crash events resulted in 26 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top three contributing factors remained consistent between both periods: 'Driving too fast for conditions,' 'Animal,' and 'Ran off road - left.' However, the count for animal-related crashes increased substantially, rising from 420 incidents in January 2022 to 543 in January 2023, a 29.3% increase in count. Crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions' also saw a slight increase in count from 532 to 549.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a shift in the conditions under which crashes occurred. The proportion of crashes in 'Clear' weather decreased from 59.3% in January 2022 to 43.8% in January 2023. Correspondingly, the share of crashes during 'Cloudy' weather increased from 14.4% to 21.8%. Similarly, the percentage of crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces fell from 46.2% to 40.6%, while incidents on roads with 'Snow' or 'Ice/frost' made up a larger combined share of the total.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained relatively consistent, with Ford and Chevrolet vehicles appearing most frequently in both periods. Analysis of persons involved shows an increase across most age demographics year-over-year. The number of individuals aged 16-20 involved in crashes rose from 1,170 to 1,246, and the 55-64 age group saw an increase from 988 to 1,079.
Top Vehicle Makes (7,722 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Vehicle unit records
1,334 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (6,908 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-01-31
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-01-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 4,655
- Total persons involved: 10,049
- Total vehicles involved: 7,722
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 2023." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/january-2023-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: 2023-01-01 – 2023-01-31
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved