Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

892 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In Webster County, total traffic crashes increased by 18.2% from 755 in 2020 to 892 in 2021. While the overall number of injuries remained stable, the number of fatalities rose from 3 to 5 year-over-year. The most notable shift in contributing factors was a 57.9% increase in crashes attributed to following too closely.

892

▲ 18.1%was 755

Total Crash Events

5

▲ 66.7%was 3

Persons Killed

184

▼ -1.6%was 187

Persons Injured

5

▲ 66.7%was 3

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (5) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (5) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data indicates a rising trend in Webster County. Total crashes increased from 755 in 2020 to 892 in 2021. During this period, total fatalities increased from 3 to 5, while the number of injuries slightly decreased from 187 to 184.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1→0.0%

4

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2↑100.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 2↓-50.0%

4

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 3↑33.3%

178

Motorists Injured

Prior: 181↓-1.7%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 1→0.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes showed a shift between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday in 2020 (120 crashes) to Tuesday in 2021 (157 crashes). The peak hour for collisions remained 5 p.m. in both years, but the crash volume during that hour increased from 57 in 2020 to 85 in 2021.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes worsened in terms of fatalities, with the fatal crash rate increasing from 0.4% in 2020 to 0.6% in 2021. The absolute number of fatal crashes rose from 3 to 5. However, the proportion of crashes involving any injury (serious, minor, or possible) decreased from 23.3% of all crashes in 2020 to 19.8% in 2021.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.6%
↑66.7%prior 3
Serious Injury13serious injury crashes1.5%
↓-23.5%prior 17
Minor Injury51minor injury crashes5.7%
↑21.4%prior 42
Possible Injury112possible injury crashes12.6%
↓-3.4%prior 116
No Injury711no injury crashes79.7%
↑23.2%prior 577

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Collisions involving an animal remained the leading contributing factor, with the count increasing by 34.9% from 109 in 2020 to 147 in 2021. The count of crashes due to 'followed too close' grew by 57.9% from 38 to 60, moving it into the top three factors. Incidents where 'driving too fast for conditions' was a factor also increased in count from 47 to 58.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal147 (16.5%)↑34.9%prior 109
Other (explain in narrative): Other86 (9.6%)↑24.6%prior 69
Followed too close60 (6.7%)↑57.9%prior 38
Driving too fast for conditions58 (6.5%)↑23.4%prior 47
FTYROW: From stop sign54 (6.1%)↑58.8%prior 34
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction42 (4.7%)↑31.3%prior 32
Lost Control37 (4.1%)↓-15.9%prior 44
Ran off road - left33 (3.7%)↑10.0%prior 30
FTYROW: Making left turn26 (2.9%)↓-13.3%prior 30
Made improper turn22 (2.5%)↑46.7%prior 15

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of crashes by lighting and weather conditions was largely consistent year-over-year, with most incidents occurring in daylight and clear weather. There was a minor shift in road surface conditions, as the share of crashes on dry roads fell from 67.0% in 2020 to 64.4% in 2021. Concurrently, the proportion of crashes on icy or frosty roads increased from 5.0% to 7.3% of the total.

Weather

Clear559 (72.8%)
↑20.0%prior 466
Cloudy133 (17.3%)
↑3.9%prior 128
Rain29 (3.8%)
↑52.6%prior 19
Snow18 (2.3%)
↓-43.8%prior 32
Freezing rain/drizzle12 (1.6%)
Blowing Snow7 (0.9%)
↑40.0%prior 5
Fog, smoke, smog4 (0.5%)
↓-20.0%prior 5
Severe Winds2 (0.3%)
Sleet, hail2 (0.3%)
Blowing sand, soil, dirt2 (0.3%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight516 (67.4%)
↑16.5%prior 443
Dark - roadway lighted120 (15.7%)
↑15.4%prior 104
Dark - roadway not lighted102 (13.3%)
↑18.6%prior 86
Dusk13 (1.7%)
↓-13.3%prior 15
Dawn12 (1.6%)
↓-29.4%prior 17
Dark - unknown roadway lighting3 (0.4%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry574 (74.5%)
↑13.4%prior 506
Ice/frost65 (8.4%)
↑71.1%prior 38
Wet58 (7.5%)
↑13.7%prior 51
Snow50 (6.5%)
↓-5.7%prior 53
Gravel14 (1.8%)
Slush7 (0.9%)
↓-12.5%prior 8
Mud, dirt2 (0.3%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in crashes, primarily Ford and Chevrolet, remained consistent in ranking between 2020 and 2021, with their numbers increasing alongside the overall rise in crashes. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes showed a notable increase in the 21-25 age group, which grew from 144 individuals in 2020 to 208 in 2021, and the 26-34 age group, which increased from 200 to 254.

Top Vehicle Makes (1,486 vehicles)

1
FORD232 (15.6%)
↑11.5%prior 208
2
CHEV209 (14.1%)
↑8.9%prior 192
3
CHEVROLET113 (7.6%)
↑16.5%prior 97
4
DODG85 (5.7%)
↑73.5%prior 49
5
TOYO70 (4.7%)
↑75.0%prior 40
6
NR65 (4.4%)
↑10.2%prior 59
7
GMC61 (4.1%)
↑32.6%prior 46
8
JEEP53 (3.6%)
↑15.2%prior 46
9
CHRY49 (3.3%)
↑19.5%prior 41
10
DODGE46 (3.1%)
↑12.2%prior 41

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (1,158 persons with recorded sex)

Male634 (54.7%)
↓-0.9%prior 640
Female524 (45.3%)
↑25.1%prior 419

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · 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: 2021-01-01 through 2021-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2021-01-01 through 2021-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 892
  • Total persons involved: 1,793
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,486

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: 2021." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2021-annual-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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