Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

2,164 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2018

All metrics benchmarked against2017

In Pottawattamie County, the total number of crashes remained stable, with 2,164 incidents in 2018 compared to 2,163 in 2017. While the overall volume was flat, the most notable year-over-year change was a 16.7% decrease in traffic fatalities, which fell from 12 to 10.

2,164

Total Crash Events

10

▼ -16.7%was 12

Persons Killed

755

▲ 3.6%was 729

Persons Injured

10

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (10) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (10) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall crash trend in Pottawattamie County was stable year-over-year. The county recorded 2,164 crashes in 2018, an increase of just one crash from the 2,163 recorded in 2017. Despite the steady number of total collisions, the number of injuries rose by 3.6% from 729 to 755, while fatalities decreased from 12 to 10.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

10

Motorists Killed

Prior: 12↓-16.7%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

16

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 16→0.0%

18

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 16↑12.5%

720

Motorists Injured

Prior: 697↑3.3%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0→%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The primary temporal patterns for crashes showed little change between the two years. Friday remained the most frequent day for crashes, with counts increasing from 366 in 2017 to 392 in 2018. The daily peak for collisions shifted one hour later, moving from the 3 p.m. hour in 2017 (170 crashes) to the 4 p.m. hour in 2018 (180 crashes).

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The number of fatal crashes remained constant at 10 in both 2017 and 2018, though the total number of people killed in those crashes declined from 12 to 10. The share of crashes involving serious injuries decreased from 2.4% to 2.0%, while crashes with possible injuries increased their share from 18.5% to 20.4% of all incidents. Crashes resulting in no injury represented 68.7% of the total in 2018, down slightly from 69.2% in the prior year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal10fatal crashes0.5%
→0.0%prior 10
Serious Injury44serious injury crashes2%
↓-15.4%prior 52
Minor Injury181minor injury crashes8.4%
↓-10.8%prior 203
Possible Injury442possible injury crashes20.4%
↑10.2%prior 401
No Injury1,487no injury crashes68.7%
↓-0.7%prior 1,497

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Following too closely was the top contributing factor in both periods, with a nearly identical count of 308 in 2018 versus 305 in 2017. The count of crashes involving an animal decreased from 202 to 163, while incidents where a driver lost control increased from 145 to 163. Notably, crashes involving running a traffic signal increased in count from 71 to 99, and failure-to-yield incidents from a stop sign grew from 74 to 103.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too close308 (14.2%)↑1.0%prior 305
Animal163 (7.5%)↓-19.3%prior 202
Lost Control163 (7.5%)↑12.4%prior 145
Ran off road - left135 (6.2%)↓-0.7%prior 136
Other (explain in narrative): Other127 (5.9%)↑15.5%prior 110
Ran off road - straight103 (4.8%)↑4.0%prior 99
FTYROW: From stop sign103 (4.8%)↑39.2%prior 74
Ran Traffic Signal99 (4.6%)↑39.4%prior 71
Driving too fast for conditions99 (4.6%)↑26.9%prior 78
Made improper turn83 (3.8%)↑27.7%prior 65

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash data indicates a significant shift towards more incidents occurring in adverse winter weather. The number of crashes in snowy conditions more than doubled, rising from 49 in 2017 to 124 in 2018. Correspondingly, crashes on icy or snowy road surfaces increased from a combined 123 incidents to 225. Crashes during rain also increased from 127 to 155, while crashes on dry surfaces decreased from 1,589 to 1,382.

Weather

Clear1,281 (63.6%)
↓-5.3%prior 1,352
Cloudy366 (18.2%)
↓-2.1%prior 374
Rain155 (7.7%)
↑22.0%prior 127
Snow124 (6.2%)
↑153.1%prior 49
Freezing rain/drizzle47 (2.3%)
↑20.5%prior 39
Blowing Snow18 (0.9%)
↑200.0%prior 6
Severe Winds10 (0.5%)
↑66.7%prior 6
Fog, smoke, smog6 (0.3%)
↓-64.7%prior 17
Other (explain in narrative)3 (0.1%)
Sleet, hail3 (0.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight1,368 (67.7%)
↑5.2%prior 1,300
Dark - roadway lighted346 (17.1%)
↓-5.2%prior 365
Dark - roadway not lighted217 (10.7%)
↓-2.3%prior 222
Dawn42 (2.1%)
↓-19.2%prior 52
Dusk40 (2.0%)
↓-28.6%prior 56
Dark - unknown roadway lighting9 (0.4%)
↑50.0%prior 6

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry1,382 (68.7%)
↓-13.0%prior 1,589
Wet353 (17.5%)
↑50.2%prior 235
Snow118 (5.9%)
↑118.5%prior 54
Ice/frost107 (5.3%)
↑55.1%prior 69
Slush26 (1.3%)
↑420.0%prior 5
Gravel18 (0.9%)
↓-14.3%prior 21
Sand3 (0.1%)
Mud, dirt3 (0.1%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (0.0%)
Water (standing or moving)1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The most common vehicle makes involved in crashes, led by Chevrolet and Ford, remained consistent across both years. An analysis of persons involved indicates a shift in age demographics, with fewer individuals from the 16-20 and 21-25 age groups involved in crashes. Conversely, the number of persons aged 26-34 involved in collisions increased from 617 to 689, and involvement for the 65+ age group rose from 377 to 460.

Top Vehicle Makes (3,733 vehicles)

1
FORD560 (15%)
↓-0.2%prior 561
2
CHEV400 (10.7%)
↑7.8%prior 371
3
CHEVROLET266 (7.1%)
↓-16.6%prior 319
4
NR149 (4%)
↓-7.5%prior 161
5
DODG142 (3.8%)
↑9.2%prior 130
6
KIA137 (3.7%)
↑1.5%prior 135
7
DODGE135 (3.6%)
↑14.4%prior 118
8
JEEP135 (3.6%)
↑23.9%prior 109
9
HYUN109 (2.9%)
↑23.9%prior 88
10
TOYOTA100 (2.7%)
↓-4.8%prior 105

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (2,783 persons with recorded sex)

Male1,600 (57.5%)
↑9.1%prior 1,466
Female1,183 (42.5%)
↑5.7%prior 1,119

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · 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: 2018-01-01 through 2018-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2018-01-01 through 2018-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 2,164
  • Total persons involved: 4,544
  • Total vehicles involved: 3,733

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: 2018." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2018-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