Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

5,268 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
NOVEMBER 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2023

In November 2024, there were 5,268 vehicle crashes statewide, a 4.9% decrease from the 5,538 crashes recorded in November 2023. A notable year-over-year change was the reduction in traffic fatalities, which fell 30% from 30 to 21. Total injuries also saw a decline, dropping 8.9% from 1,486 to 1,353.

5,268

▼ -4.9%was 5,538

Total Crash Events

21

▼ -30.0%was 30

Persons Killed

1,353

▼ -9.0%was 1,486

Persons Injured

20

▼ -31.0%was 29

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (21) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (20) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic crash trends showed a decrease in November 2024 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes fell by 4.9% from 5,538 to 5,268. This downward trend was also observed in crash outcomes, with total injuries decreasing by 8.9% and fatalities dropping by 30.0%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 7↓-57.1%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

18

Motorists Killed

Prior: 21↓-14.3%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

30

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 37↓-18.9%

23

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 18↑27.8%

1,294

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,429↓-9.4%

6

Other Injured

Prior: 2↑200.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted year-over-year. In November 2024, Friday was the day with the most crashes (1,008), a change from November 2023 when Wednesday saw the highest volume (918). The peak hour for crashes remained consistent at 5 p.m. in both periods, though the number of crashes during this hour increased from 654 in the prior year to 702 in the current period.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity decreased in November 2024 compared to the previous year. The number of fatal crashes fell from 29 to 20, and the fatal crash rate dropped from 0.52% to 0.38%. Crashes resulting in serious injuries also saw a notable decline, decreasing from 98 to 68, with their share of total crashes falling from 1.8% to 1.3%. Conversely, the proportion of crashes with no reported injuries slightly increased from 77.0% to 77.8%.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 20 fatal crash events resulted in 21 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal20fatal crashes0.4%
↓-31.0%prior 29
Serious Injury68serious injury crashes1.3%
↓-30.6%prior 98
Minor Injury405minor injury crashes7.7%
↓-8.0%prior 440
Possible Injury677possible injury crashes12.9%
↓-4.2%prior 707
No Injury4,098no injury crashes77.8%
↓-3.9%prior 4,264

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors for crashes remained consistent year-over-year, with collisions involving an 'Animal' being the most common in both November 2024 (1,630 crashes) and November 2023 (1,622 crashes). 'Followed too close' was the second-most cited factor in both periods, with its count decreasing from 461 to 445. Notably, crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions' saw a significant reduction in count, falling from 221 to 160, a 27.6% decrease. Conversely, crashes where a driver failed to yield the right-of-way while making a left turn increased in count from 179 to 205.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal1,630 (30.9%)↑0.5%prior 1,622
Followed too close445 (8.4%)↓-3.5%prior 461
FTYROW: From stop sign240 (4.6%)↓-6.6%prior 257
Ran off road - left236 (4.5%)↓-8.5%prior 258
Other (explain in narrative): Other225 (4.3%)↓-20.5%prior 283
FTYROW: Making left turn205 (3.9%)↑14.5%prior 179
Lost Control178 (3.4%)↓-17.6%prior 216
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction160 (3%)↑0.6%prior 159
Driving too fast for conditions160 (3%)↓-27.6%prior 221
Ran Traffic Signal158 (3%)↑3.3%prior 153

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The conditions under which crashes occurred varied significantly year-over-year, suggesting different weather patterns between the two periods. In November 2024, the proportion of crashes happening on wet roads increased substantially, accounting for 15.8% of all crashes (834 incidents) compared to just 3.4% (187 incidents) in November 2023. Correspondingly, crashes in rainy weather rose from 91 to 524. Conversely, crashes on snowy or icy roads decreased from a combined 403 incidents to 121.

Weather

Clear2,367 (61.7%)
↓-27.9%prior 3,283
Cloudy770 (20.1%)
↑53.4%prior 502
Rain524 (13.7%)
↑475.8%prior 91
Snow72 (1.9%)
↓-73.2%prior 269
Fog, smoke, smog41 (1.1%)
Freezing rain/drizzle28 (0.7%)
↓-17.6%prior 34
Severe Winds15 (0.4%)
Blowing Snow11 (0.3%)
↑10.0%prior 10
Other (explain in narrative)6 (0.2%)
↓-25.0%prior 8
Blowing sand, soil, dirt1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,036 (52.3%)
↓-11.4%prior 2,298
Dark - roadway lighted944 (24.2%)
↑2.8%prior 918
Dark - roadway not lighted598 (15.3%)
↓-16.9%prior 720
Dusk150 (3.9%)
↓-12.8%prior 172
Dawn104 (2.7%)
↓-7.1%prior 112
Dark - unknown roadway lighting64 (1.6%)
→0.0%prior 64

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2,817 (73.3%)
↓-20.1%prior 3,526
Wet834 (21.7%)
↑346.0%prior 187
Ice/frost77 (2.0%)
↓-57.5%prior 181
Gravel60 (1.6%)
↓-17.8%prior 73
Snow44 (1.1%)
↓-80.2%prior 222
Mud, dirt8 (0.2%)
Other (explain in narrative)3 (0.1%)
Oil1 (0.0%)
Slush1 (0.0%)
↓-94.7%prior 19

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained consistent, with Ford and Chevrolet vehicles being the most frequent in both periods. The number of crashes involving Ford vehicles decreased from 1,499 to 1,302 year-over-year. Similarly, crashes involving Chevrolet models (combining 'CHEV' and 'CHEVROLET' entries) fell from 1,707 to 1,578. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes also showed a stable pattern, with the 26-34 and 35-44 age groups each representing approximately 15.3% of individuals in November 2024, similar to their shares in the prior year.

Top Vehicle Makes (8,340 vehicles)

1
FORD1,302 (15.6%)
↓-13.1%prior 1,499
2
CHEV1,155 (13.8%)
↓-8.0%prior 1,256
3
TOYT424 (5.1%)
↑0.7%prior 421
4
CHEVROLET423 (5.1%)
↓-6.2%prior 451
5
JEEP419 (5%)
↑4.5%prior 401
6
HOND377 (4.5%)
↑4.4%prior 361
7
DODG319 (3.8%)
↑3.2%prior 309
8
GMC309 (3.7%)
↓-9.1%prior 340
9
NISS284 (3.4%)
↓-4.7%prior 298
10
KIA235 (2.8%)
↓-4.5%prior 246

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (4,974 persons with recorded sex)

Male2,850 (57.3%)
↓-38.9%prior 4,666
Female2,124 (42.7%)
↓-37.7%prior 3,407

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30 · 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: 2024-11-01 through 2024-11-30
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-11-01 through 2024-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 5,268
  • Total persons involved: 8,633
  • Total vehicles involved: 8,340

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 2024." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-11-01 to 2024-11-30. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/november-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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