Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

80 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In 2025, Ida County recorded 80 total crashes, a 10.1% decrease from the 89 crashes documented in 2024. Despite the overall decline in collisions, the number of people injured rose from 29 to 37. The most significant year-over-year change was a substantial increase in crashes involving a driver under the influence (DUI), which rose from 1 in 2024 to 7 in 2025.

80

▼ -10.1%was 89

Total Crash Events

0

▼ -100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

37

▲ 27.6%was 29

Persons Injured

0

▼ -100.0%was 1

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) 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 traffic crashes in Ida County decreased by 10.1% from 2024 to 2025, with total incidents falling from 89 to 80. While the number of fatal crashes dropped from one to zero, the total number of people injured in collisions increased by 27.6%, from 29 in 2024 to 37 in 2025.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

37

Motorists Injured

Prior: 27↑37.0%

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 temporal patterns of crashes showed some shifts between 2024 and 2025. While Friday remained the day with the most crashes in both years (21 in 2024, 16 in 2025), the peak hour of collisions moved from a three-way tie at 5 a.m., 4 p.m., and 9 p.m. in 2024 to a distinct peak at 6 p.m. in 2025, when 9 crashes occurred. The month with the highest crash volume also shifted from December (13 crashes) in 2024 to November (15 crashes) in 2025.

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

In 2025, there were no fatal crashes, an improvement from the single fatal crash recorded in 2024. However, the overall proportion of crashes resulting in an injury increased from 25.8% in 2024 to 35% in 2025. The number of serious injury crashes doubled from one to two, and minor injury crashes increased from 8 to 14. Consequently, crashes resulting in no injuries decreased from representing 73% of all incidents in 2024 to 65% in 2025.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes2.5%
↑100.0%prior 1
Minor Injury14minor injury crashes17.5%
↑75.0%prior 8
Possible Injury12possible injury crashes15%
↓-14.3%prior 14
No Injury52no injury crashes65%
↓-20.0%prior 65

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

Collisions with an animal remained the leading contributing factor in both periods, though the count of such incidents decreased by 23.3% from 30 in 2024 to 23 in 2025. A significant shift occurred in crashes attributed to "Lost Control," which increased from 2 to 8, becoming the second-most common factor in 2025. Crashes due to "Followed too close" also rose from 1 to 4. Conversely, incidents involving "Driving too fast for conditions" and "Ran off road - straight" both saw a notable decline, falling from 7 crashes each in 2024 to 3 and 2 respectively in 2025.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Animal23 (28.7%)↓-23.3%prior 30
Lost Control8 (10%)
FTYROW: From stop sign5 (6.3%)
Followed too close4 (5%)
FTYROW: Making left turn4 (5%)
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction3 (3.8%)
Driving too fast for conditions3 (3.8%)↓-57.1%prior 7
Other (explain in narrative): Other3 (3.8%)
Improper Backing3 (3.8%)
Exceeded authorized speed2 (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

Crashes occurring on dry road surfaces increased from 37 in 2024 to 43 in 2025, while collisions on adverse surfaces like snow, ice, or wet pavement decreased from 19 to 9. The number of crashes during daylight hours fell from 43 to 33. Conversely, collisions in dark conditions (both lighted and unlighted roadways) rose from 17 in 2024 to 20 in 2025. The distribution of crashes by weather condition remained relatively stable, with clear weather being the predominant condition in both years.

Weather

Clear45 (78.9%)
↑2.3%prior 44
Cloudy8 (14.0%)
↓-27.3%prior 11
Fog, smoke, smog2 (3.5%)
Rain1 (1.8%)
Snow1 (1.8%)

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

Lighting

Daylight33 (57.9%)
↓-23.3%prior 43
Dark - roadway not lighted13 (22.8%)
↑44.4%prior 9
Dark - roadway lighted5 (8.8%)
→0.0%prior 5
Dusk4 (7.0%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (3.5%)

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

Road Surface

Dry43 (75.4%)
↑16.2%prior 37
Gravel5 (8.8%)
→0.0%prior 5
Ice/frost3 (5.3%)
↓-57.1%prior 7
Snow3 (5.3%)
↓-57.1%prior 7
Wet3 (5.3%)
↓-40.0%prior 5

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained consistent year-over-year, with Chevrolet (combining "Chev" and "Chevrolet" entries) and Ford being the most common in both 2024 and 2025. The number of Chevrolet vehicles involved decreased from 36 to 30, and Ford vehicles decreased from 27 to 23. Analysis of persons involved shows a notable increase in the 55-64 age group, which grew from 7 individuals in 2024 to 13 in 2025. The 16-20 age group remained the most represented in both years, with 27 individuals involved in crashes in each period.

Top Vehicle Makes (115 vehicles)

1
FORD23 (20%)
↓-14.8%prior 27
2
CHEV21 (18.3%)
↓-19.2%prior 26
3
CHEVROLET9 (7.8%)
↓-10.0%prior 10
4
JEEP9 (7.8%)
5
DODG6 (5.2%)
→0.0%prior 6
6
GMC6 (5.2%)
↓-45.5%prior 11
7
RAM3 (2.6%)
8
BUIC3 (2.6%)
9
HOND3 (2.6%)
10
HYUNDAI2 (1.7%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (54 persons with recorded sex)

Male33 (61.1%)
↓-26.7%prior 45
Female21 (38.9%)
↑23.5%prior 17

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: 80
  • Total persons involved: 122
  • Total vehicles involved: 115

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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