Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

8,785 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2020

All metrics benchmarked against2019

In Polk County, 2020 saw a total of 8785 crashes, a decrease from 11346 crashes reported in 2019. This represents a significant 22.57% reduction in overall crash incidents year-over-year. The most notable shift was the substantial decrease in total crashes and injuries, while total fatalities saw a slight increase.

8,785

▼ -22.6%was 11,346

Total Crash Events

38

▲ 8.6%was 35

Persons Killed

2,981

▼ -24.4%was 3,945

Persons Injured

30

▼ -14.3%was 35

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (38) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (30) 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 data for Polk County shows a significant downward trend in total crashes and injuries from 2019 to 2020. Total crashes decreased by 22.57%, falling from 11346 to 8785, and total injuries decreased by 24.44%, from 3945 to 2981. Conversely, total fatalities experienced an 8.57% increase, rising from 35 to 38 during the same period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

6

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 7↓-14.3%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

32

Motorists Killed

Prior: 28↑14.3%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

88

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 90↓-2.2%

32

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 64↓-50.0%

2,852

Motorists Injured

Prior: 3,789↓-24.7%

9

Other Injured

Prior: 2↑350.0%

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

Temporal patterns show a shift in peak activity between 2019 and 2020. In 2019, the peak day for crashes was Monday with 1838 incidents, shifting to Friday in 2020 with 1553 crashes. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 4 PM (1109 crashes) in 2019 to 5 PM (806 crashes) in 2020, indicating a later afternoon peak in the current period.

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

While the number of fatal crashes decreased from 35 in 2019 to 30 in 2020, the fatal crash rate (total fatalities per total crashes) increased from 0.31% to 0.34%. Serious Injury (A) crashes decreased from 137 to 125, but their proportion of total crashes rose from 1.2% to 1.4%. Minor Injury (B) and Possible Injury (C) crashes also saw decreases in absolute numbers but slight increases in their share of total crashes, indicating a higher proportion of injury-involved crashes despite the overall reduction in incidents.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 30 fatal crash events resulted in 38 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal30fatal crashes0.3%
↓-14.3%prior 35
Serious Injury125serious injury crashes1.4%
↓-8.8%prior 137
Minor Injury782minor injury crashes8.9%
↓-19.8%prior 975
Possible Injury1,998possible injury crashes22.7%
↓-17.6%prior 2,424
No Injury5,850no injury crashes66.6%
↓-24.8%prior 7,775

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

The leading contributing factor, 'Followed too close,' decreased from 1926 incidents in 2019 to 1177 in 2020, representing a reduction of 749 crashes. 'Driving too fast for conditions' also saw a decrease of 363 crashes, from 900 in 2019 to 537 in 2020. While most top factors experienced a reduction in absolute crash counts, some, like 'Ran off road - left' and 'Ran Traffic Signal,' saw their share of total crashes increase slightly despite fewer incidents.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too close1,177 (13.4%)↓-38.9%prior 1,926
Other (explain in narrative): Other636 (7.2%)↓-20.9%prior 804
Ran off road - left555 (6.3%)↓-19.7%prior 691
Ran Traffic Signal543 (6.2%)↓-10.4%prior 606
Driving too fast for conditions537 (6.1%)↓-40.3%prior 900
FTYROW: Making left turn491 (5.6%)↓-25.2%prior 656
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner449 (5.1%)↑5.4%prior 426
FTYROW: From stop sign315 (3.6%)↓-34.9%prior 484
Improper or erratic lane changing257 (2.9%)↓-27.8%prior 356
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction253 (2.9%)↓-25.4%prior 339

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 under clear weather conditions decreased from 6729 in 2019 to 5692 in 2020, while rain-related crashes also decreased from 739 to 499. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight decreased from 71.60% in 2019 to 66.86% in 2020, with a corresponding increase in the proportion of crashes occurring in 'Dark - roadway lighted' conditions, from 18.56% to 22.47%. Similarly, crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 7782 to 6442, and crashes on wet surfaces decreased from 1711 to 1155.

Weather

Clear5,692 (66.3%)
↓-15.4%prior 6,729
Cloudy1,671 (19.5%)
↓-39.8%prior 2,774
Rain499 (5.8%)
↓-32.5%prior 739
Snow412 (4.8%)
↓-19.7%prior 513
Freezing rain/drizzle182 (2.1%)
↑28.2%prior 142
Blowing Snow52 (0.6%)
↓-58.4%prior 125
Fog, smoke, smog29 (0.3%)
↑7.4%prior 27
Sleet, hail17 (0.2%)
↑70.0%prior 10
Other (explain in narrative)15 (0.2%)
↑50.0%prior 10
Severe Winds14 (0.2%)
↓-44.0%prior 25

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

Lighting

Daylight5,874 (68.2%)
↓-27.7%prior 8,124
Dark - roadway lighted1,974 (22.9%)
↓-6.3%prior 2,106
Dark - roadway not lighted358 (4.2%)
↓-10.5%prior 400
Dusk232 (2.7%)
↓-15.0%prior 273
Dawn160 (1.9%)
↓-26.9%prior 219
Dark - unknown roadway lighting19 (0.2%)
↓-34.5%prior 29

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

Road Surface

Dry6,442 (75.0%)
↓-17.2%prior 7,782
Wet1,155 (13.5%)
↓-32.5%prior 1,711
Ice/frost456 (5.3%)
↓-39.4%prior 753
Snow381 (4.4%)
↓-44.3%prior 684
Slush132 (1.5%)
↓-6.4%prior 141
Gravel7 (0.1%)
→0.0%prior 7
Mud, dirt5 (0.1%)
→0.0%prior 5
Sand4 (0.0%)
Other (explain in narrative)2 (0.0%)
↓-80.0%prior 10
Water (standing or moving)1 (0.0%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 22117 in 2019 to 16674 in 2020. Ford, Chev, and Chevrolet remained the top three vehicle makes involved in crashes, though their individual counts decreased year-over-year. The 26-34 age group continued to represent the largest demographic of persons involved in crashes, with 3637 individuals in 2020, a reduction from 4978 in 2019, reflecting a general decrease across all age groups and both male and female involvement.

Top Vehicle Makes (16,674 vehicles)

1
FORD2,276 (13.6%)
↓-28.4%prior 3,180
2
CHEV2,083 (12.5%)
↓-27.0%prior 2,855
3
CHEVROLET1,002 (6%)
↓-17.5%prior 1,215
4
NR915 (5.5%)
↓-10.6%prior 1,023
5
TOYT725 (4.3%)
↓-35.8%prior 1,130
6
JEEP674 (4%)
↓-23.5%prior 881
7
HOND665 (4%)
↓-22.5%prior 858
8
NISS592 (3.6%)
↓-28.1%prior 823
9
DODG579 (3.5%)
↓-30.6%prior 834
10
KIA427 (2.6%)
↓-28.4%prior 596

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

3,840 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (14,507 persons with recorded sex)

Male8,465 (58.4%)
↓-22.5%prior 10,925
Female6,042 (41.6%)
↓-30.5%prior 8,699

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: 8,785
  • Total persons involved: 21,724
  • Total vehicles involved: 16,674

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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