ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · OCTOBER 2019
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/october-2019-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
5,442 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
OCTOBER 2019
In October 2019, there were 5,442 total crashes, a 1.4% increase from the 5,369 crashes recorded in October 2018. While total fatalities decreased from 24 to 21, the most notable year-over-year shift was a significant 85.5% increase in crashes attributed to "driving too fast for conditions," which rose from 124 to 230 incidents.
5,442
▲ 1.4%was 5,369
Total Crash Events
21
▼ -12.5%was 24
Persons Killed
1,676
▲ 0.1%was 1,674
Persons Injured
21
▼ -8.7%was 23
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (21) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (21) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crash volume in October 2019 showed a slight increase of 1.4% compared to the same month in the prior year, rising from 5,369 to 5,442 incidents. Despite the rise in total crashes, fatalities saw a 12.5% decrease from 24 to 21 deaths. The number of injuries remained stable, with 1,676 injuries in the current period compared to 1,674 in the prior period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
19
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
35
Pedestrians Injured
34
Cyclists Injured
1,604
Motorists Injured
3
Other Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal pattern of crashes shifted slightly between the two periods. In October 2019, Thursday was the peak day for crashes with 1,086 incidents, a change from October 2018 when Wednesday was the peak day with 933 crashes. However, the peak hour for collisions remained consistent year-over-year, with the 7 a.m. hour seeing the highest volume in both periods, at 455 crashes in 2019 versus 441 in 2018.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The overall severity of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. The fatal crash rate decreased slightly from 0.43% to 0.39%, with 21 fatal crashes in October 2019 compared to 23 in the prior year. The proportion of crashes resulting in any injury (serious, minor, or possible) was nearly unchanged, accounting for 25.8% of all crashes in the current period versus 25.5% in the prior period.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Collisions involving an animal remained the top contributing factor in both periods, though the count decreased from 1,158 to 1,055. A significant year-over-year change was observed in crashes attributed to "driving too fast for conditions," which increased by 85.5% from 124 incidents in October 2018 to 230 in October 2019. Conversely, crashes due to "failure to yield from a stop sign" decreased from 299 to 271. "Ran off road - left" also saw a notable increase, rising from 244 to 314 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a significant shift in crashes related to adverse weather and road conditions. Crashes occurring in snow increased from 20 to 188, and those on icy or frosty surfaces rose from just 4 incidents in October 2018 to 167 in October 2019. Consequently, crashes on wet roads decreased from 961 to 791. The distribution of crashes by lighting conditions remained stable, with most incidents in both periods occurring during daylight hours.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The makes of vehicles involved in crashes were consistent year-over-year, with Ford and Chevrolet models being the most frequently recorded in both October 2019 and October 2018. The number of Fords involved increased from 1,421 to 1,533. There was a substantial increase in the total number of persons involved in crashes, rising from 9,553 to 12,559, with every age group showing a higher count in the current period compared to the prior year.
Top Vehicle Makes (9,252 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · Vehicle unit records
1,480 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (8,432 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31 · 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: 2019-10-01 through 2019-10-31
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2019-10-01 through 2019-10-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 5,442
- Total persons involved: 12,559
- Total vehicles involved: 9,252
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: October 2019." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2019-10-01 to 2019-10-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/october-2019-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: 2019-10-01 – 2019-10-31
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved