Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

279 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2020

All metrics benchmarked against2019

In Henry County, total traffic crashes decreased from 363 in 2019 to 279 in 2020, a 23.1% reduction. This period also saw a significant drop in traffic fatalities, which fell from 8 in 2019 to 1 in 2020. The number of fatal crashes correspondingly decreased from 6 to 1 over the same period.

279

▼ -23.1%was 363

Total Crash Events

1

▼ -87.5%was 8

Persons Killed

92

▼ -14.0%was 107

Persons Injured

1

▼ -83.3%was 6

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) 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, Henry County experienced a downward trend in traffic incidents between 2019 and 2020. Total crashes declined by 23.1%, from 363 to 279. Similarly, the number of people injured in these crashes decreased by 14.0% from 107 to 92, and fatalities saw a substantial reduction from 8 to 1.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 8↓-87.5%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1→0.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0→%

89

Motorists Injured

Prior: 106↓-16.0%

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 of crashes in Henry County showed some shifts between 2019 and 2020. The peak day for crashes moved from Saturday (67 incidents) in 2019 to Friday (46 incidents) in 2020. The peak hour also shifted slightly earlier, from the 6 p.m. hour in 2019 (25 crashes) to the 5 p.m. hour in 2020 (19 crashes).

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, there was a significant decrease in crash severity compared to 2019. The number of fatal crashes dropped from 6 to 1, and the fatality rate per 100 crashes fell from 1.65 to 0.36. While the total number of injury-resulting crashes saw a small decrease from 75 to 71, their proportion of all crashes increased from a 20.7% share in 2019 to a 25.4% share in 2020.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.4%
↓-83.3%prior 6
Serious Injury12serious injury crashes4.3%
↓-7.7%prior 13
Minor Injury31minor injury crashes11.1%
↑3.3%prior 30
Possible Injury28possible injury crashes10%
↓-12.5%prior 32
No Injury207no injury crashes74.2%
↓-26.6%prior 282

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 with animals, while decreasing in count from 158 to 106 incidents, remained the top contributing factor in both 2019 and 2020. Crashes attributed to a driver losing control also decreased from 29 to 23. Incidents involving a vehicle running off a straight road saw a notable drop from 23 in 2019 to 13 in 2020, a 43.5% reduction in count for that factor.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal106 (38%)↓-32.9%prior 158
Lost Control23 (8.2%)↓-20.7%prior 29
FTYROW: From stop sign16 (5.7%)↓-5.9%prior 17
Driving too fast for conditions16 (5.7%)↓-11.1%prior 18
Ran off road - straight13 (4.7%)↓-43.5%prior 23
Followed too close13 (4.7%)↑8.3%prior 12
Other (explain in narrative): No improper action9 (3.2%)↑80.0%prior 5
Ran Stop Sign9 (3.2%)↓-40.0%prior 15
Other (explain in narrative): Other9 (3.2%)↑50.0%prior 6
Ran off road - left8 (2.9%)↓-20.0%prior 10

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in Henry County predominantly occurred in clear weather and on dry roads in both periods. In 2020, 47.0% of crashes happened in clear weather, up from a 37.7% share in 2019, even as the absolute count of such crashes decreased from 137 to 131. Crashes on wet or snowy roads saw a more significant drop, falling from 55 incidents in 2019 to 32 in 2020. Crashes in daylight constituted 42.3% of the total in 2020, a slight increase in proportion from 39.7% in 2019.

Weather

Clear131 (66.8%)
↓-4.4%prior 137
Cloudy35 (17.9%)
↓-36.4%prior 55
Snow11 (5.6%)
↓-42.1%prior 19
Rain9 (4.6%)
↓-35.7%prior 14
Freezing rain/drizzle4 (2.0%)
Blowing Snow3 (1.5%)
Fog, smoke, smog3 (1.5%)
↓-66.7%prior 9

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight118 (60.2%)
↓-18.1%prior 144
Dark - roadway not lighted53 (27.0%)
↓-18.5%prior 65
Dark - roadway lighted10 (5.1%)
↓-28.6%prior 14
Dusk10 (5.1%)
Dawn5 (2.6%)
↓-66.7%prior 15

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry140 (71.4%)
↓-11.4%prior 158
Wet21 (10.7%)
↓-36.4%prior 33
Gravel14 (7.1%)
→0.0%prior 14
Snow11 (5.6%)
↓-50.0%prior 22
Ice/frost5 (2.6%)
↓-58.3%prior 12
Slush4 (2.0%)
Sand1 (0.5%)

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 Ford and Chevrolet models being the most common in both 2019 and 2020. Ford vehicles were involved in 87 crashes in 2019 and 68 in 2020. Analysis of persons involved shows a notable decrease in the 55-64 age group, whose involvement dropped from 114 individuals in 2019 to 60 in 2020, representing a proportional decline from a 15.4% share to a 10.2% share of all persons involved.

Top Vehicle Makes (381 vehicles)

1
FORD68 (17.8%)
↓-21.8%prior 87
2
CHEV47 (12.3%)
↓-39.0%prior 77
3
CHEVROLET27 (7.1%)
↓-3.6%prior 28
4
DODG26 (6.8%)
↓-13.3%prior 30
5
GMC17 (4.5%)
↓-19.0%prior 21
6
TOYT13 (3.4%)
↓-18.8%prior 16
7
CHRY13 (3.4%)
↓-27.8%prior 18
8
JEEP12 (3.1%)
↓-25.0%prior 16
9
KIA11 (2.9%)
→0.0%prior 11
10
DODGE11 (2.9%)
↓-35.3%prior 17

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (351 persons with recorded sex)

Male210 (59.8%)
↓-27.8%prior 291
Female141 (40.2%)
↓-18.0%prior 172

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: 279
  • Total persons involved: 586
  • Total vehicles involved: 381

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

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