Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4,993 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
OCTOBER 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2019

In October 2020, there were 4,993 traffic crashes, an 8.3% decrease from the 5,442 crashes recorded in October 2019. Despite the overall reduction in collisions, the number of fatalities increased from 21 to 25. The most significant year-over-year change was a 50.4% increase in the count of single-vehicle crashes, which rose from 1,344 to 2,021 incidents.

4,993

▼ -8.3%was 5,442

Total Crash Events

25

▲ 19.0%was 21

Persons Killed

1,482

▼ -11.6%was 1,676

Persons Injured

23

▲ 9.5%was 21

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (25) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (23) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic crashes across the state declined by 8.3% from October 2019 to October 2020, falling from 5,442 to 4,993. This downward trend was also reflected in total injuries, which decreased by 11.6% from 1,676 to 1,482. However, fatalities bucked this trend, increasing by 19.0% from 21 to 25 deaths year-over-year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1↑200.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

22

Motorists Killed

Prior: 19↑15.8%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

44

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 35↑25.7%

11

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 34↓-67.6%

1,421

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,604↓-11.4%

6

Other Injured

Prior: 3↑100.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted notably between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Thursday (1,086 incidents) in October 2019 to Friday (943 incidents) in October 2020. The peak hour also changed, shifting from the 7 a.m. morning commute hour (455 crashes) in the prior year to the 3 p.m. afternoon hour (366 crashes) in the current period.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity worsened year-over-year, with the fatal crash rate increasing from 0.39% to 0.46%. While total crashes fell, the number of fatal incidents rose from 21 to 23. The proportion of crashes involving any level of injury (Serious, Minor, or Possible) saw a slight increase, rising from 25.8% in October 2019 to 26.6% in October 2020.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 23 fatal crash events resulted in 25 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal23fatal crashes0.5%
↑9.5%prior 21
Serious Injury91serious injury crashes1.8%
↑2.2%prior 89
Minor Injury484minor injury crashes9.7%
↑4.5%prior 463
Possible Injury754possible injury crashes15.1%
↓-11.3%prior 850
No Injury3,641no injury crashes72.9%
↓-9.4%prior 4,019

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Collisions with animals remained the top contributing factor in both periods, though the count decreased slightly from 1,055 to 1,004 incidents. The second-leading factor, 'Followed too close,' saw a significant 28.1% drop in count, from 597 to 429 crashes. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'Ran Traffic Signal' increased by 28.0% from 125 to 160, and 'Lost Control' incidents rose from 254 to 266, entering the top five factors in October 2020.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal1,004 (20.1%)↓-4.8%prior 1,055
Followed too close429 (8.6%)↓-28.1%prior 597
Ran off road - left286 (5.7%)↓-8.9%prior 314
Other (explain in narrative): Other275 (5.5%)↓-7.1%prior 296
Lost Control266 (5.3%)↑4.7%prior 254
FTYROW: From stop sign231 (4.6%)↓-14.8%prior 271
Driving too fast for conditions220 (4.4%)↓-4.3%prior 230
FTYROW: Making left turn198 (4%)↓-14.3%prior 231
Ran off road - straight184 (3.7%)↑23.5%prior 149
Ran Traffic Signal160 (3.2%)↑28.0%prior 125

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Year-over-year, there was a significant shift in crash conditions. The number of crashes occurring on wet roads dropped from 791 to 504, and collisions in rainy weather fell from 442 to 223. In contrast, crashes in dark, unlit conditions increased in both count, from 607 to 649, and as a proportion of all crashes, from 11.2% to 13.0%. The share of crashes on dry roads and in clear weather saw a slight increase.

Weather

Clear2,831 (67.7%)
↓-0.3%prior 2,839
Cloudy801 (19.2%)
↓-22.2%prior 1,029
Rain223 (5.3%)
↓-49.5%prior 442
Snow216 (5.2%)
↑14.9%prior 188
Freezing rain/drizzle54 (1.3%)
↑54.3%prior 35
Fog, smoke, smog22 (0.5%)
↑4.8%prior 21
Blowing Snow17 (0.4%)
↓-5.6%prior 18
Severe Winds7 (0.2%)
↓-12.5%prior 8
Blowing sand, soil, dirt4 (0.1%)
Sleet, hail3 (0.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,594 (61.9%)
↓-15.2%prior 3,059
Dark - roadway lighted729 (17.4%)
↑5.8%prior 689
Dark - roadway not lighted649 (15.5%)
↑6.9%prior 607
Dawn112 (2.7%)
↓-13.8%prior 130
Dusk89 (2.1%)
↓-8.2%prior 97
Dark - unknown roadway lighting16 (0.4%)
↓-11.1%prior 18

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry3,250 (77.6%)
↓-4.3%prior 3,397
Wet504 (12.0%)
↓-36.3%prior 791
Ice/frost142 (3.4%)
↓-15.0%prior 167
Snow131 (3.1%)
↑3.1%prior 127
Gravel115 (2.7%)
↑43.8%prior 80
Slush38 (0.9%)
↑90.0%prior 20
Mud, dirt5 (0.1%)
↓-37.5%prior 8
Other (explain in narrative)2 (0.0%)
Water (standing or moving)1 (0.0%)
Sand1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The most common vehicle makes involved in crashes, Chevrolet and Ford, maintained their top two rankings, though both saw a decrease in total incidents consistent with the overall trend. Chevrolet-involved vehicles dropped from 1,819 to 1,652, and Ford-involved vehicles fell from 1,533 to 1,300. Analysis of persons involved shows a demographic shift, with the proportion of individuals aged 65 and older decreasing from 10.8% to 9.8% of all persons involved in crashes year-over-year.

Top Vehicle Makes (8,190 vehicles)

1
FORD1,300 (15.9%)
↓-15.2%prior 1,533
2
CHEV915 (11.2%)
↓-24.0%prior 1,204
3
CHEVROLET737 (9%)
↑19.8%prior 615
4
JEEP320 (3.9%)
↓-7.0%prior 344
5
TOYT292 (3.6%)
↓-37.1%prior 464
6
GMC286 (3.5%)
↓-5.0%prior 301
7
DODG269 (3.3%)
↓-22.9%prior 349
8
DODGE258 (3.2%)
↑22.3%prior 211
9
HOND221 (2.7%)
↓-23.3%prior 288
10
NR218 (2.7%)
↓-16.8%prior 262

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · Vehicle unit records

1,404 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (7,364 persons with recorded sex)

Male4,217 (57.3%)
↓-9.2%prior 4,643
Female3,147 (42.7%)
↓-16.9%prior 3,789

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31 · 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: 2020-10-01 through 2020-10-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-10-01 through 2020-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4,993
  • Total persons involved: 11,201
  • Total vehicles involved: 8,190

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 2020." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2020-10-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/october-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

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Iowa (Statewide) Crash Report — October 2020 | ThatCarHitMe.com