ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · 2020
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/2020-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
240 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2020
In 2020, Delaware County recorded 240 total crashes, a 4.3% increase from the 230 crashes reported in 2019. While the total number of people injured in these incidents decreased from 69 to 57, the most significant year-over-year change was the occurrence of two fatal crashes resulting in two deaths in 2020, compared to zero in the prior year.
240
▲ 4.3%was 230
Total Crash Events
2
Persons Killed
57
▼ -17.4%was 69
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 · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash volume in Delaware County saw a slight increase in 2020, rising by 4.3% from 230 incidents in 2019 to 240. Despite this increase in total crashes, the number of people injured decreased by 17.4%, from 69 to 57. However, this was offset by a negative trend in crash severity, as the county recorded two fatalities in 2020 whereas none were reported in 2019.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
2
Motorists Killed
1
Pedestrians Injured
1
Cyclists Injured
55
Motorists Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns for crashes in Delaware County remained largely consistent year-over-year. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both 2020 (51 crashes) and 2019 (43 crashes). Similarly, the 6 p.m. hour was the peak time for incidents in both periods, with 19 crashes in 2020 and 21 in 2019. While the primary peaks were stable, 2020 saw a more pronounced afternoon rush hour spike starting at 3 p.m., whereas 2019 had a secondary late-evening peak at 9 p.m. that was less prominent in 2020.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
In 2020, Delaware County experienced a significant shift in crash severity with the recording of two fatal crashes, which accounted for 0.8% of all incidents, compared to zero fatal crashes in 2019. While the number of serious injury crashes decreased from 7 in 2019 to 4 in 2020, the count of crashes involving lesser injuries increased. Specifically, possible injury crashes rose from 22 to 28, and minor injury crashes increased from 21 to 23. Consequently, the proportion of crashes resulting in no injuries decreased from 78.3% in 2019 to 76.3% in 2020.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Collisions involving an animal remained the leading contributing factor in both periods, with the count of such crashes increasing from 77 in 2019 to 88 in 2020. 'Lost Control' was the second most common factor in both years, rising slightly from 27 to 30 crashes. A notable shift occurred further down the list, as crashes attributed to 'Followed too close' dropped by more than half, from 21 incidents in 2019 to just 9 in 2020. Concurrently, 'Ran off road - straight' became more prominent in 2020 with 14 crashes, compared to 13 in the prior year.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The environmental conditions during crashes were broadly similar year-over-year, with incidents in clear weather and on dry roads being most common in both 2020 and 2019. However, there was a noticeable shift in lighting conditions; the share of crashes occurring in daylight decreased from 48.3% of all crashes in 2019 to 42.1% in 2020. Correspondingly, crashes on unlit dark roadways increased from 43 to 52 incidents. Crashes on adverse road surfaces like wet or icy roads saw a decrease, with a combined total of 18 such incidents in 2020 compared to 32 in 2019.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained consistent, with Chevrolet and Ford being the top two most frequent makes in both 2020 and 2019. An analysis of persons involved in crashes reveals a significant demographic shift, as the number of individuals aged 16-20 involved in crashes increased by 86.7%, from 45 in 2019 to 84 in 2020. Conversely, the involvement of persons in the 26-34 age group decreased from 83 to 56, and those aged 65 and older also saw a reduction in involvement from 65 persons to 56.
Top Vehicle Makes (315 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
30 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (297 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · 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: 2020-01-01 through 2020-12-31
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2020-01-01 through 2020-12-31 (366 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 240
- Total persons involved: 466
- Total vehicles involved: 315
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: 2020." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2020-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS
Period: 2020-01-01 – 2020-12-31
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved