Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

221 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2021

All metrics benchmarked against2020

In 2021, Delaware County recorded 221 total crashes, a 7.9% decrease from the 240 crashes documented in 2020. Despite the overall decline in collisions, the number of fatalities increased from 2 to 3 year-over-year. One of the most significant shifts was in crashes involving impaired driving, which rose from 9 in 2020 to 16 in 2021, a 77.8% increase in count.

221

▼ -7.9%was 240

Total Crash Events

3

▲ 50.0%was 2

Persons Killed

57

Persons Injured

2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (3) 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 · 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic crashes in Delaware County showed a downward trend from 2020 to 2021, with total incidents decreasing by 7.9% from 240 to 221. While the number of people injured remained stable at 57 in both periods, the number of people killed in crashes increased from 2 in 2020 to 3 in 2021.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

3

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2↑50.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1↑200.0%

53

Motorists Injured

Prior: 55↓-3.6%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 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 shifted between the two years. In 2021, the peak day for crashes was Thursday with 36 incidents, a change from 2020 when Friday was the peak day with 51 crashes. The busiest time for collisions also changed, moving from 6 p.m. in 2020 (19 crashes) to a three-way tie at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. in 2021, each with 17 crashes.

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 the number of fatal crashes was unchanged at 2 in both years, the total number of persons killed rose from 2 to 3. The count of serious injury crashes doubled, increasing from 4 in 2020 to 8 in 2021, representing a rise in share from 1.7% to 3.6% of all crashes. Conversely, crashes resulting in possible injuries decreased from 28 in the prior year to 17 in the current year.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 2 fatal crash events resulted in 3 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes0.9%
→0.0%prior 2
Serious Injury8serious injury crashes3.6%
↑100.0%prior 4
Minor Injury25minor injury crashes11.3%
↑8.7%prior 23
Possible Injury17possible injury crashes7.7%
↓-39.3%prior 28
No Injury169no injury crashes76.5%
↓-7.7%prior 183

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 in both periods, though the count of these incidents decreased from 88 in 2020 to 72 in 2021. 'Lost Control' was the second most common factor in both years, with its count also declining from 30 to 25 incidents. Notably, crashes attributed to a driver operating their vehicle in a reckless, erratic, careless, or negligent manner increased from 1 case in 2020 to 7 in 2021.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal72 (32.6%)↓-18.2%prior 88
Lost Control25 (11.3%)↓-16.7%prior 30
Other (explain in narrative): Other12 (5.4%)
Followed too close11 (5%)↑22.2%prior 9
FTYROW: From stop sign10 (4.5%)↑25.0%prior 8
Driving too fast for conditions9 (4.1%)↓-25.0%prior 12
Ran off road - left8 (3.6%)↓-11.1%prior 9
Ran off road - straight7 (3.2%)↓-50.0%prior 14
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner7 (3.2%)
FTYROW: Making left turn6 (2.7%)↑20.0%prior 5

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 on dry roads and in clear weather were the most frequent scenarios in both years, though the counts for both conditions decreased in 2021 in line with the overall trend. A significant shift occurred in lighting conditions, as crashes on dark, unlighted roadways fell from 52 incidents in 2020 to 33 in 2021. Collisions on snow-covered roads saw a slight increase from 12 to 14 incidents year-over-year.

Weather

Clear107 (69.0%)
↓-10.1%prior 119
Cloudy25 (16.1%)
↓-7.4%prior 27
Snow8 (5.2%)
↓-20.0%prior 10
Rain7 (4.5%)
Freezing rain/drizzle4 (2.6%)
↓-33.3%prior 6
Blowing Snow2 (1.3%)
Severe Winds1 (0.6%)
Fog, smoke, smog1 (0.6%)

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

Lighting

Daylight106 (68.4%)
↑5.0%prior 101
Dark - roadway not lighted33 (21.3%)
↓-36.5%prior 52
Dark - roadway lighted11 (7.1%)
↑10.0%prior 10
Dusk3 (1.9%)
↓-40.0%prior 5
Dawn2 (1.3%)

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

Road Surface

Dry116 (74.4%)
↓-7.9%prior 126
Snow14 (9.0%)
↑16.7%prior 12
Wet10 (6.4%)
→0.0%prior 10
Gravel8 (5.1%)
↓-11.1%prior 9
Ice/frost6 (3.8%)
↓-25.0%prior 8
Slush2 (1.3%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The top makes of vehicles involved in crashes were highly consistent across both periods, with Ford and Chevrolet variants being the most common in both 2020 and 2021. An analysis of the age of persons involved in crashes reveals a significant drop in the 16-20 age group, which fell from 84 individuals in 2020 to 57 in 2021. The 35-44 age group also saw a decrease in involvement from 67 to 57 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (302 vehicles)

1
FORD59 (19.5%)
↓-1.7%prior 60
2
CHEV52 (17.2%)
↓-1.9%prior 53
3
CHEVROLET24 (7.9%)
↑14.3%prior 21
4
GMC14 (4.6%)
↑27.3%prior 11
5
JEEP14 (4.6%)
↑75.0%prior 8
6
DODG13 (4.3%)
↑18.2%prior 11
7
CHRY10 (3.3%)
↓-9.1%prior 11
8
BUIC9 (3%)
↓-18.2%prior 11
9
DODGE9 (3%)
→0.0%prior 9
10
TOYO8 (2.6%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (239 persons with recorded sex)

Male147 (61.5%)
↓-14.0%prior 171
Female92 (38.5%)
↓-27.0%prior 126

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: 221
  • Total persons involved: 401
  • Total vehicles involved: 302

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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