Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

5,223 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
NOVEMBER 2021

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2020

In November 2021, there were 5,223 total crashes, an increase of 12.7% from the 4,636 crashes recorded in November 2020. This year-over-year rise was accompanied by a 11.6% increase in fatalities, from 26 to 29, and a 6.2% increase in total injuries, from 1,235 to 1,312. The most significant statistical shift was the overall rise in crash volume across the state.

5,223

▲ 12.7%was 4,636

Total Crash Events

29

▲ 11.5%was 26

Persons Killed

1,312

▲ 6.2%was 1,235

Persons Injured

26

▲ 4.0%was 25

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (29) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (26) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic crashes showed a notable upward trend in November 2021 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total collisions increased by 587, from 4,636 to 5,223, representing a 12.7% year-over-year rise. This increase in crash volume corresponded with more people killed (29 vs. 26) and injured (1,312 vs. 1,235).

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 4→0.0%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1→0.0%

24

Motorists Killed

Prior: 21↑14.3%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

22

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 35↓-37.1%

18

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 16↑12.5%

1,268

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,181↑7.4%

4

Other Injured

Prior: 3↑33.3%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year, with the evening commute being the most frequent time for collisions. The peak hour for crashes was 5 p.m. in both November 2021 (607 crashes) and November 2020 (578 crashes). However, the peak day for crashes shifted from Monday (779 crashes) in the prior year to Tuesday (924 crashes) in the current period.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While the total number of fatal crashes increased slightly from 25 to 26, the overall fatal crash rate decreased from 0.54% to 0.50% of all crashes. The proportion of crashes involving any injury also saw a slight decrease, from 23.5% in the prior period to 22.8% in the current period. This was driven by a decrease in the number of serious injury crashes, which fell from 107 to 88, even as minor and possible injury crashes increased in count.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 26 fatal crash events resulted in 29 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal26fatal crashes0.5%
↑4.0%prior 25
Serious Injury88serious injury crashes1.7%
↓-17.8%prior 107
Minor Injury391minor injury crashes7.5%
↑20.7%prior 324
Possible Injury714possible injury crashes13.7%
↑8.7%prior 657
No Injury4,004no injury crashes76.7%
↑13.7%prior 3,523

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors remained consistent, with 'Animal' and 'Followed too close' ranking first and second in both periods. Collisions involving an animal, the top factor, increased in count by 15.7% from 1,399 to 1,619. Crashes attributed to following too closely saw a 28.1% increase in count, rising from 359 to 460. A notable change in rankings was 'Ran off road - left' dropping from the 3rd ranked factor in the prior period (232 crashes) to 6th in the current period (219 crashes).

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal1,619 (31%)↑15.7%prior 1,399
Followed too close460 (8.8%)↑28.1%prior 359
Other (explain in narrative): Other281 (5.4%)↑39.1%prior 202
FTYROW: From stop sign237 (4.5%)↑33.1%prior 178
Lost Control224 (4.3%)↓-3.4%prior 232
Ran off road - left219 (4.2%)↓-5.6%prior 232
FTYROW: Making left turn193 (3.7%)↑20.6%prior 160
Ran off road - straight140 (2.7%)↑3.7%prior 135
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction140 (2.7%)↑35.9%prior 103
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner130 (2.5%)↓-3.7%prior 135

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of environmental conditions was largely stable year-over-year, with no major shifts in lighting or weather patterns. In both periods, clear weather and daylight conditions accounted for the majority of crashes. There was a notable change in road surface conditions, as the proportion of crashes occurring on dry roads increased from 59.9% in November 2020 to 66.4% in November 2021, while the share of crashes on wet, icy, or snow-covered roads decreased.

Weather

Clear2,987 (75.8%)
↑13.8%prior 2,625
Cloudy689 (17.5%)
↑52.4%prior 452
Rain121 (3.1%)
↓-48.3%prior 234
Freezing rain/drizzle65 (1.6%)
↑4.8%prior 62
Snow38 (1.0%)
↓-54.2%prior 83
Severe Winds16 (0.4%)
↑33.3%prior 12
Blowing Snow8 (0.2%)
↓-20.0%prior 10
Other (explain in narrative)8 (0.2%)
↑33.3%prior 6
Fog, smoke, smog6 (0.2%)
↓-45.5%prior 11
Sleet, hail3 (0.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,100 (53.2%)
↑15.8%prior 1,813
Dark - roadway lighted897 (22.7%)
↑11.8%prior 802
Dark - roadway not lighted678 (17.2%)
↑2.9%prior 659
Dusk169 (4.3%)
↑11.9%prior 151
Dawn80 (2.0%)
↑3.9%prior 77
Dark - unknown roadway lighting25 (0.6%)
↑78.6%prior 14

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry3,469 (87.8%)
↑24.9%prior 2,778
Wet293 (7.4%)
↓-35.0%prior 451
Ice/frost87 (2.2%)
↑11.5%prior 78
Gravel86 (2.2%)
↓-3.4%prior 89
Mud, dirt7 (0.2%)
↓-12.5%prior 8
Slush4 (0.1%)
↓-91.1%prior 45
Snow4 (0.1%)
↓-92.5%prior 53
Other (explain in narrative)2 (0.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Chevrolet and Ford leading in both years. The count of vehicles for all top makes, including Toyota and Dodge/Ram, increased in November 2021, reflecting the overall increase in collisions. Analysis of person-level data shows a shift in age demographics; the proportion of persons involved in crashes from the 16-34 age range decreased compared to the prior year, while the share of persons in age groups 35 and older increased.

Top Vehicle Makes (8,233 vehicles)

1
FORD1,357 (16.5%)
↑9.3%prior 1,242
2
CHEV972 (11.8%)
↑1.9%prior 954
3
CHEVROLET588 (7.1%)
↑10.9%prior 530
4
TOYT330 (4%)
↑10.7%prior 298
5
GMC307 (3.7%)
↑23.8%prior 248
6
DODG293 (3.6%)
↑9.7%prior 267
7
JEEP292 (3.5%)
↑2.5%prior 285
8
TOYOTA236 (2.9%)
↑38.0%prior 171
9
HOND235 (2.9%)
↑2.2%prior 230
10
KIA229 (2.8%)
↑17.4%prior 195

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (5,324 persons with recorded sex)

Male2,997 (56.3%)
↓-21.9%prior 3,837
Female2,327 (43.7%)
↓-12.3%prior 2,654

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30 · 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: 2021-11-01 through 2021-11-30
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2021-11-01 through 2021-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 5,223
  • Total persons involved: 8,902
  • Total vehicles involved: 8,233

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 2021." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2021-11-01 to 2021-11-30. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/november-2021-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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