Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

160 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In 2025, Adair County recorded 160 crashes, a decrease of 5.3% compared to 169 crashes in 2024. The most significant year-over-year shift was the increase in total fatalities, rising from 0 in 2024 to 2 in 2025.

160

▼ -5.3%was 169

Total Crash Events

2

Persons Killed

47

▼ -2.1%was 48

Persons Injured

2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, total crashes in Adair County decreased by 5.3%, from 169 in 2024 to 160 in 2025. Despite this reduction in overall crashes, fatalities rose from 0 in 2024 to 2 in 2025, while total injuries saw a slight decrease from 48 to 47.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0→%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

46

Motorists Injured

Prior: 48↓-4.2%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0→%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Tuesday in 2024 (33 crashes) to Saturday in 2025 (34 crashes), marking a notable increase in crashes on Saturdays. The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 2 PM in 2024 (16 crashes) to 8 AM in 2025 (14 crashes), indicating a shift in the timing of peak crash activity.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes increased significantly year-over-year, rising from 0 in 2024 to 2 in 2025. Serious injuries decreased from 5 crashes (3% of total) in 2024 to 4 crashes (2.5% of total) in 2025. Possible injuries also decreased from 19 (11.2% of total) in 2024 to 14 (8.8% of total) in 2025.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes1.3%
Serious Injury4serious injury crashes2.5%
↓-20.0%prior 5
Minor Injury15minor injury crashes9.4%
↓-6.3%prior 16
Possible Injury14possible injury crashes8.8%
↓-26.3%prior 19
No Injury125no injury crashes78.1%
↓-3.1%prior 129

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among contributing factors, 'Lost Control' crashes increased by 8, from 23 in 2024 to 31 in 2025, making it the top factor in 2025. Crashes attributed to 'Ran off road - straight' decreased by 5, from 22 in 2024 to 17 in 2025. 'Swerving/Evasive Action' saw a notable increase from 2 in 2024 to 6 in 2025.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Lost Control31 (19.4%)↑34.8%prior 23
Animal21 (13.1%)↓-4.5%prior 22
Ran off road - straight17 (10.6%)↓-22.7%prior 22
Driving too fast for conditions13 (8.1%)↓-18.8%prior 16
Ran off road - left11 (6.9%)↑37.5%prior 8
Followed too close7 (4.4%)↓-12.5%prior 8
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner6 (3.8%)↑20.0%prior 5
Swerving/Evasive Action6 (3.8%)
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction4 (2.5%)
Ran Stop Sign4 (2.5%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The number of crashes occurring in 'Daylight' conditions decreased from 108 in 2024 to 87 in 2025, while crashes in 'Dark - roadway not lighted' conditions increased from 35 to 42. Crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces saw a significant decrease from 24 in 2024 to 9 in 2025, whereas crashes on 'Gravel' surfaces increased from 5 to 14.

Weather

Clear88 (64.7%)
↑1.1%prior 87
Cloudy21 (15.4%)
↓-19.2%prior 26
Snow10 (7.4%)
↑25.0%prior 8
Blowing Snow7 (5.1%)
↑40.0%prior 5
Rain6 (4.4%)
↓-57.1%prior 14
Severe Winds3 (2.2%)
Freezing rain/drizzle1 (0.7%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight87 (61.3%)
↓-19.4%prior 108
Dark - roadway not lighted42 (29.6%)
↑20.0%prior 35
Dawn5 (3.5%)
Dark - roadway lighted4 (2.8%)
Dusk2 (1.4%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (1.4%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry93 (66.4%)
↓-4.1%prior 97
Snow16 (11.4%)
↑33.3%prior 12
Gravel14 (10.0%)
↑180.0%prior 5
Wet9 (6.4%)
↓-62.5%prior 24
Ice/frost7 (5.0%)
↑40.0%prior 5
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.7%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Ford remained a prominent vehicle make involved in crashes, with its count decreasing from 36 in 2024 to 33 in 2025. Chevrolet (CHEVROLET) vehicles saw a decrease from 28 in 2024 to 11 in 2025, while CHEV vehicles slightly increased from 26 to 27. Toyota saw an increase from 3 vehicles in 2024 to 9 in 2025.

Top Vehicle Makes (226 vehicles)

1
FORD33 (14.6%)
↓-8.3%prior 36
2
CHEV27 (11.9%)
↑3.8%prior 26
3
FREIGHTLINER21 (9.3%)
↓-4.5%prior 22
4
CHEVROLET11 (4.9%)
↓-60.7%prior 28
5
TOYOTA9 (4%)
6
INTERNATIONA9 (4%)
→0.0%prior 9
7
VOLVO8 (3.5%)
↓-11.1%prior 9
8
DODG8 (3.5%)
9
DODGE7 (3.1%)
↓-12.5%prior 8
10
TOYT7 (3.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (153 persons with recorded sex)

Male114 (74.5%)
↓-10.2%prior 127
Female39 (25.5%)
↑5.4%prior 37

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 160
  • Total persons involved: 239
  • Total vehicles involved: 226

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: 2025." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2025-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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