Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4,636 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
NOVEMBER 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2019

In November 2020, Iowa recorded 4,636 total traffic crashes, a 22.3% decrease from the 5,964 crashes documented in November 2019. This year-over-year decline was also reflected in fatalities, which fell from 35 to 26, and injuries, which dropped from 1,605 to 1,235. The most notable shift was a significant reduction in crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions,' which decreased by 71% from the prior year.

4,636

▼ -22.3%was 5,964

Total Crash Events

26

▼ -25.7%was 35

Persons Killed

1,235

▼ -23.1%was 1,605

Persons Injured

25

▼ -21.9%was 32

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (26) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (25) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic incidents showed a significant downward trend in November 2020 compared to the same month in the previous year. The total number of crashes fell by 22.3%, from 5,964 to 4,636. This decrease was accompanied by a 25.7% drop in fatalities (from 35 to 26) and a 23.1% reduction in total injuries (from 1,605 to 1,235).

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 2↑100.0%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→%

21

Motorists Killed

Prior: 33↓-36.4%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

35

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 39↓-10.3%

16

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10↑60.0%

1,181

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,555↓-24.1%

3

Other Injured

Prior: 1↑200.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted slightly between the two periods. In November 2020, Monday was the peak day for crashes with 779 incidents, a change from November 2019 when Friday was the peak day with 1,154 crashes. The peak hour for collisions remained consistent at the 5 p.m. hour for both years, though the volume of crashes during this hour decreased from 702 to 578.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While the total number of fatal and injury crashes decreased, the distribution of severity saw some changes. The fatal crash rate remained stable at 0.54 fatal crashes per 100 total crashes in both November 2020 and November 2019. However, the proportion of crashes resulting in a serious injury increased from 1.6% (95 crashes) in the prior year to 2.3% (107 crashes) in the current period.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 25 fatal crash events resulted in 26 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal25fatal crashes0.5%
↓-21.9%prior 32
Serious Injury107serious injury crashes2.3%
↑12.6%prior 95
Minor Injury324minor injury crashes7%
↓-15.8%prior 385
Possible Injury657possible injury crashes14.2%
↓-22.0%prior 842
No Injury3,523no injury crashes76%
↓-23.6%prior 4,610

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Collisions with animals remained the top contributing factor in both periods, though the count decreased by 11.9% from 1,588 to 1,399 crashes. A significant change occurred with crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions,' which fell from the 3rd-ranked factor in November 2019 with 414 crashes to the 11th-ranked factor in November 2020 with 120 crashes, a 71.0% decrease in count. 'Followed too close' remained the second-leading cause, with its count dropping from 496 to 359 incidents.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal1,399 (30.2%)↓-11.9%prior 1,588
Followed too close359 (7.7%)↓-27.6%prior 496
Ran off road - left232 (5%)↓-35.9%prior 362
Lost Control232 (5%)↓-25.6%prior 312
Other (explain in narrative): Other202 (4.4%)↓-26.0%prior 273
FTYROW: From stop sign178 (3.8%)↓-34.6%prior 272
FTYROW: Making left turn160 (3.5%)↓-16.7%prior 192
Ran Traffic Signal146 (3.1%)↓-12.0%prior 166
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner135 (2.9%)↑19.5%prior 113
Ran off road - straight135 (2.9%)↓-25.0%prior 180

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a notable shift in the conditions under which crashes occurred. The proportion of collisions on icy or snowy road surfaces decreased significantly, from a combined 14.6% of all crashes in November 2019 (871 incidents) to just 2.8% in November 2020 (131 incidents). Consequently, crashes on dry roads made up a larger share of the total, increasing from 49.7% to 59.9% year-over-year. The distribution of crashes by lighting conditions remained relatively stable.

Weather

Clear2,625 (75.0%)
↓-5.7%prior 2,784
Cloudy452 (12.9%)
↓-56.5%prior 1,038
Rain234 (6.7%)
↓-19.6%prior 291
Snow83 (2.4%)
↓-74.8%prior 329
Freezing rain/drizzle62 (1.8%)
↓-56.6%prior 143
Severe Winds12 (0.3%)
↑50.0%prior 8
Fog, smoke, smog11 (0.3%)
↑22.2%prior 9
Blowing Snow10 (0.3%)
↓-88.8%prior 89
Other (explain in narrative)6 (0.2%)
→0.0%prior 6
Sleet, hail4 (0.1%)
↓-69.2%prior 13

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight1,813 (51.6%)
↓-28.6%prior 2,540
Dark - roadway lighted802 (22.8%)
↓-16.4%prior 959
Dark - roadway not lighted659 (18.7%)
↓-25.3%prior 882
Dusk151 (4.3%)
↓-15.2%prior 178
Dawn77 (2.2%)
↓-40.3%prior 129
Dark - unknown roadway lighting14 (0.4%)
↓-56.3%prior 32

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2,778 (79.3%)
↓-6.4%prior 2,967
Wet451 (12.9%)
↓-34.7%prior 691
Gravel89 (2.5%)
↑11.3%prior 80
Ice/frost78 (2.2%)
↓-83.8%prior 482
Snow53 (1.5%)
↓-86.4%prior 389
Slush45 (1.3%)
↓-47.1%prior 85
Mud, dirt8 (0.2%)
↓-11.1%prior 9
Other (explain in narrative)2 (0.1%)
↓-66.7%prior 6

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in crashes, Ford and Chevrolet, maintained their rankings from the previous year, although the number of vehicles involved for each make decreased. Ford vehicles were involved in 1,242 crashes, down from 1,602, while Chevrolet vehicles were involved in a combined 1,484 crashes (954 as 'CHEV', 530 as 'CHEVROLET'), down from 1,891. The proportional involvement of different driver age groups remained largely consistent, with all groups seeing a decrease in raw numbers corresponding to the overall drop in crashes.

Top Vehicle Makes (7,273 vehicles)

1
FORD1,242 (17.1%)
↓-22.5%prior 1,602
2
CHEV954 (13.1%)
↓-26.8%prior 1,304
3
CHEVROLET530 (7.3%)
↓-9.7%prior 587
4
TOYT298 (4.1%)
↓-30.5%prior 429
5
JEEP285 (3.9%)
↓-17.2%prior 344
6
DODG267 (3.7%)
↓-39.5%prior 441
7
GMC248 (3.4%)
↓-16.8%prior 298
8
HOND230 (3.2%)
↓-22.8%prior 298
9
NR207 (2.8%)
↓-17.2%prior 250
10
DODGE195 (2.7%)
↑0.5%prior 194

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

1,270 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (6,491 persons with recorded sex)

Male3,837 (59.1%)
↓-23.3%prior 5,001
Female2,654 (40.9%)
↓-29.4%prior 3,760

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · 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: 2020-11-01 through 2020-11-30
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-11-01 through 2020-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4,636
  • Total persons involved: 10,304
  • Total vehicles involved: 7,273

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: November 2020." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/november-2020-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