Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4,026 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
APRIL 2019

All metrics benchmarked againstApril 2018

In April 2019, Iowa recorded 4,026 traffic crashes, a 2.6% decrease from the 4,135 crashes reported in April 2018. Fatalities saw a more significant drop of 21.4%, with 22 deaths in April 2019 compared to 28 in the prior year. A notable year-over-year shift occurred in crash conditions, with significantly fewer incidents attributed to snow and ice in the current period, which corresponded with a 57% drop in crashes from 'Driving too fast for conditions'.

4,026

▼ -2.6%was 4,135

Total Crash Events

22

▼ -21.4%was 28

Persons Killed

1,356

▼ -2.1%was 1,385

Persons Injured

21

▼ -16.0%was 25

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (22) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (21) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic safety metrics showed improvement in April 2019 compared to the same month in 2018. Total crashes decreased by 2.6% from 4,135 to 4,026. This downward trend was also reflected in casualties, with total injuries declining by 2.1% and fatalities decreasing by 21.4% year-over-year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 3↓-33.3%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0→%

19

Motorists Killed

Prior: 25↓-24.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

26

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 25↑4.0%

29

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 27↑7.4%

1,300

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,332↓-2.4%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 1→0.0%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The time patterns of crashes showed some shifts between April 2018 and April 2019. The peak hour for crashes remained consistent at 4 p.m. in both periods, though the peak day shifted from Monday (682 crashes) in 2018 to Friday (699 crashes) in 2019. Notably, crashes occurring on Sundays decreased significantly, falling from 645 in April 2018 to 370 in April 2019.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes shifted slightly year-over-year. The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.60 per 100 crashes in April 2018 to 0.52 in April 2019, with the absolute number of fatal crashes dropping from 25 to 21. While the proportion of crashes resulting in possible injury or no injury saw a slight decrease, the share of crashes involving minor injuries increased from 8.9% to 10.6% of all incidents.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 21 fatal crash events resulted in 22 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal21fatal crashes0.5%
↓-16.0%prior 25
Serious Injury80serious injury crashes2%
↑2.6%prior 78
Minor Injury427minor injury crashes10.6%
↑15.4%prior 370
Possible Injury643possible injury crashes16%
↓-9.1%prior 707
No Injury2,855no injury crashes70.9%
↓-3.4%prior 2,955

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The ranking of top contributing factors shifted between the two periods. In April 2019, 'Followed too close' was the leading factor with 511 crashes, a count-based increase from 420 crashes in the prior year. Collisions involving an animal, the top factor in 2018 with 438 incidents, increased to 470 incidents in 2019 but fell to the second position. Notably, crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions' fell by 57% from 285 to 122, and 'Lost Control' incidents decreased by 30% from 284 to 199.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too close511 (12.7%)↑21.7%prior 420
Animal470 (11.7%)↑7.3%prior 438
Other (explain in narrative): Other249 (6.2%)↓-14.1%prior 290
FTYROW: From stop sign221 (5.5%)↓-3.5%prior 229
Ran off road - left219 (5.4%)↓-25.8%prior 295
FTYROW: Making left turn210 (5.2%)↑34.6%prior 156
Lost Control199 (4.9%)↓-29.9%prior 284
Ran Traffic Signal145 (3.6%)↓-5.2%prior 153
Driving too fast for conditions122 (3%)↓-57.2%prior 285
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner121 (3%)↑31.5%prior 92

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Environmental conditions were markedly different between the two periods. April 2019 saw significantly fewer crashes under winter weather, with incidents during snow falling from 284 to 18 and on icy roads from 283 to 48. Conversely, crashes in rainy conditions increased from 117 to 325. Consequently, the proportion of crashes on dry road surfaces was higher in April 2019 (73.3%) compared to April 2018 (66.4%). Lighting conditions remained largely consistent, with approximately 70% of crashes in both years occurring during daylight.

Weather

Clear2,226 (61.2%)
↓-2.9%prior 2,293
Cloudy927 (25.5%)
↑23.9%prior 748
Rain325 (8.9%)
↑177.8%prior 117
Freezing rain/drizzle63 (1.7%)
↓-69.0%prior 203
Fog, smoke, smog38 (1.0%)
Severe Winds24 (0.7%)
↓-7.7%prior 26
Snow18 (0.5%)
↓-93.7%prior 284
Sleet, hail12 (0.3%)
↓-64.7%prior 34
Other (explain in narrative)2 (0.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,832 (77.7%)
↓-0.3%prior 2,841
Dark - roadway lighted364 (10.0%)
↓-11.7%prior 412
Dark - roadway not lighted290 (8.0%)
↓-21.8%prior 371
Dusk76 (2.1%)
↓-9.5%prior 84
Dawn71 (1.9%)
↑9.2%prior 65
Dark - unknown roadway lighting13 (0.4%)
↑44.4%prior 9

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2,950 (81.0%)
↑7.5%prior 2,744
Wet541 (14.8%)
↑43.1%prior 378
Gravel51 (1.4%)
↓-5.6%prior 54
Ice/frost48 (1.3%)
↓-83.0%prior 283
Slush28 (0.8%)
↓-67.8%prior 87
Mud, dirt9 (0.2%)
Snow8 (0.2%)
↓-96.3%prior 218
Sand5 (0.1%)
↓-16.7%prior 6
Other (explain in narrative)3 (0.1%)
Water (standing or moving)1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The composition of vehicles and persons involved in crashes remained largely stable year-over-year. The top vehicle makes involved in collisions were consistent across both periods, with Ford and Chevrolet vehicles accounting for the highest numbers in both April 2018 and April 2019. Similarly, the age distribution of persons involved in crashes showed minimal change, with the 26-34 age group representing the largest cohort in both years.

Top Vehicle Makes (7,104 vehicles)

1
FORD1,122 (15.8%)
↑2.7%prior 1,093
2
CHEV887 (12.5%)
↓-3.1%prior 915
3
CHEVROLET514 (7.2%)
↑21.2%prior 424
4
TOYT342 (4.8%)
↓-8.6%prior 374
5
DODG257 (3.6%)
↓-14.6%prior 301
6
JEEP251 (3.5%)
↓-0.4%prior 252
7
HOND233 (3.3%)
↓-8.3%prior 254
8
GMC229 (3.2%)
↑8.0%prior 212
9
NR200 (2.8%)
↑6.4%prior 188
10
TOYOTA194 (2.7%)
↑43.7%prior 135

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · Vehicle unit records

1,242 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (6,383 persons with recorded sex)

Male3,550 (55.6%)
↑0.2%prior 3,544
Female2,833 (44.4%)
↑4.6%prior 2,709

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30 · 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: 2019-04-01 through 2019-04-30
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2019-04-01 through 2019-04-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4,026
  • Total persons involved: 9,438
  • Total vehicles involved: 7,104

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: April 2019." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2019-04-01 to 2019-04-30. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/april-2019-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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