Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

170 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In Allamakee County, total traffic crashes decreased from 202 in 2020 to 170 in 2021, a 15.8% reduction. Despite the overall drop in collisions, the number of fatalities increased from 2 to 3 during the same period. The most significant year-over-year shift was the overall decline in crash volume across most categories.

170

▼ -15.8%was 202

Total Crash Events

3

▲ 50.0%was 2

Persons Killed

58

▼ -7.9%was 63

Persons Injured

3

▲ 50.0%was 2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) 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

The overall trend in traffic collisions shows a notable decrease year-over-year. Total crashes fell by 15.8%, from 202 in 2020 to 170 in 2021. This downward trend was also reflected in the total number of injuries, which declined from 63 to 58.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

3

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2↑50.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 2↓-50.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0→%

56

Motorists Injured

Prior: 61↓-8.2%

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 timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2021, the peak day for crashes was Thursday with 38 incidents, and the peak hour was 3 p.m. with 15 crashes. This contrasts with 2020, when the peak day was Friday (40 crashes) and the peak hour was 5 p.m. (15 crashes), indicating a shift toward earlier in the day and week for the highest crash frequency.

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

While total crashes decreased, the severity of outcomes worsened. Fatal crashes increased from 2 in 2020 to 3 in 2021, and the number of fatalities rose from 2 to 3. Consequently, the fatal crash rate increased from 0.99% to 1.76%. The proportion of serious injury crashes also saw a slight increase from 3.0% to 4.1% of all crashes, while the share of minor and possible injury crashes declined.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes1.8%
↑50.0%prior 2
Serious Injury7serious injury crashes4.1%
↑16.7%prior 6
Minor Injury13minor injury crashes7.6%
↓-31.6%prior 19
Possible Injury19possible injury crashes11.2%
↓-34.5%prior 29
No Injury128no injury crashes75.3%
↓-12.3%prior 146

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

The primary contributing factors remained consistent year-over-year, with 'Animal' and 'Lost Control' ranking as the top two causes in both periods. Crashes involving an animal, the leading factor, decreased in count from 61 in 2020 to 57 in 2021. Similarly, crashes attributed to 'Lost Control' fell from 30 to 26. 'Driving too fast for conditions' also saw a decrease in incidents, from 12 in 2020 to 10 in 2021.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal57 (33.5%)↓-6.6%prior 61
Lost Control26 (15.3%)↓-13.3%prior 30
Driving too fast for conditions10 (5.9%)↓-16.7%prior 12
Driver Distraction: Inattentive/lost in thought7 (4.1%)
Ran off road - left6 (3.5%)↓-14.3%prior 7
Ran off road - straight6 (3.5%)↓-33.3%prior 9
Other (explain in narrative): No improper action5 (2.9%)
Other (explain in narrative): Other5 (2.9%)↓-28.6%prior 7
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction4 (2.4%)↓-33.3%prior 6
Swerving/Evasive Action4 (2.4%)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in both periods predominantly occurred in clear weather and on dry roads. In 2021, 66.5% of crashes happened in clear weather, a slight decrease from the 70.8% share in 2020. The proportion of crashes on dry road surfaces remained stable, accounting for 64.1% of crashes in 2021 compared to 61.4% in 2020. Crashes in daylight also held a consistent share, making up 54.1% of incidents in 2021 versus 52.0% in 2020.

Weather

Clear113 (75.3%)
↓-21.0%prior 143
Cloudy22 (14.7%)
↑46.7%prior 15
Snow8 (5.3%)
→0.0%prior 8
Rain4 (2.7%)
↓-42.9%prior 7
Freezing rain/drizzle1 (0.7%)
Sleet, hail1 (0.7%)
Blowing Snow1 (0.7%)

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

Lighting

Daylight92 (61.3%)
↓-12.4%prior 105
Dark - roadway not lighted38 (25.3%)
↓-2.6%prior 39
Dusk7 (4.7%)
↓-12.5%prior 8
Dark - roadway lighted6 (4.0%)
↓-64.7%prior 17
Dark - unknown roadway lighting4 (2.7%)
Dawn3 (2.0%)

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

Road Surface

Dry109 (72.2%)
↓-12.1%prior 124
Wet13 (8.6%)
↓-13.3%prior 15
Gravel11 (7.3%)
↓-15.4%prior 13
Snow11 (7.3%)
↓-15.4%prior 13
Ice/frost7 (4.6%)
↑40.0%prior 5

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

Vehicles & Demographics

Ford and Chevrolet vehicles were the most frequently involved makes in both years. In 2021, 42 Fords and 54 Chevrolet vehicles (combining 'CHEV' and 'CHEVROLET' entries) were in crashes, down from 48 and 72, respectively, in 2020. Demographically, the 65+ age group was most represented among persons involved in crashes in 2021 with 58 individuals, a slight decrease from 63 in 2020. The 16-20 age group also saw a decrease in involvement from 55 persons in 2020 to 49 in 2021.

Top Vehicle Makes (229 vehicles)

1
FORD42 (18.3%)
↓-12.5%prior 48
2
CHEV29 (12.7%)
↓-32.6%prior 43
3
CHEVROLET25 (10.9%)
↓-13.8%prior 29
4
JEEP13 (5.7%)
↓-13.3%prior 15
5
DODGE11 (4.8%)
↑120.0%prior 5
6
DODG9 (3.9%)
↓-40.0%prior 15
7
CHRY7 (3.1%)
8
CHRYSLER6 (2.6%)
9
GMC6 (2.6%)
↓-14.3%prior 7
10
HONDA6 (2.6%)
→0.0%prior 6

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

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

Sex Distribution (169 persons with recorded sex)

Male101 (59.8%)
↓-35.3%prior 156
Female68 (40.2%)
↓-19.0%prior 84

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: 170
  • Total persons involved: 309
  • Total vehicles involved: 229

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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