Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4,089 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
AUGUST 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2023

In August 2024, Iowa recorded 4,089 traffic crashes, a 2.9% decrease from the 4,212 crashes documented in August 2023. This overall decline was accompanied by a 6.4% drop in fatalities and a 5.0% reduction in injuries. The most notable year-over-year shift was in the temporal pattern of collisions, with Friday replacing Thursday as the day with the highest number of crashes.

4,089

▼ -2.9%was 4,212

Total Crash Events

44

▼ -6.4%was 47

Persons Killed

1,517

▼ -5.0%was 1,597

Persons Injured

41

▼ -4.7%was 43

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (44) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (41) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic safety trends showed a slight improvement in August 2024 compared to the same month in the previous year. The total number of crashes fell by 2.9%, from 4,212 to 4,089. Similarly, the number of people killed decreased from 47 to 44, and the total number of injuries declined from 1,597 to 1,517.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1↓-100.0%

41

Motorists Killed

Prior: 44↓-6.8%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 2↓-100.0%

30

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 34↓-11.8%

44

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 49↓-10.2%

1,435

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1,507↓-4.8%

8

Other Injured

Prior: 7↑14.3%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

A distinct shift occurred in the weekly crash pattern compared to the prior year. In August 2024, Friday was the most frequent day for crashes, with 797 incidents, a significant increase from its total of 597 in August 2023. This replaced Thursday, which was the peak day in the prior year with 740 crashes. The peak hour for collisions also shifted slightly earlier, from the 4 p.m. hour in 2023 (367 crashes) to the 3 p.m. hour in 2024 (343 crashes).

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes saw a minor decrease year-over-year. The percentage of crashes resulting in a fatality remained stable at 1.0% for both August 2024 and August 2023. However, the proportion of crashes involving serious injuries declined from 3.4% of all incidents in the prior year (142 crashes) to 2.9% in the current period (120 crashes). Correspondingly, the share of crashes with no reported injuries increased slightly from 66.3% to 67.9%.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 41 fatal crash events resulted in 44 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal41fatal crashes1%
↓-4.7%prior 43
Serious Injury120serious injury crashes2.9%
↓-15.5%prior 142
Minor Injury477minor injury crashes11.7%
↓-9.0%prior 524
Possible Injury675possible injury crashes16.5%
↓-5.1%prior 711
No Injury2,776no injury crashes67.9%
↓-0.6%prior 2,792

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors for crashes remained largely consistent between the two periods. 'Followed too close' was the primary cause in both August 2024 (488 crashes) and August 2023 (499 crashes), followed by collisions involving an 'Animal' (326 vs. 342). While the counts for most top factors decreased in line with the overall trend, their rank order was stable. For instance, 'Failure to yield from a stop sign' was the third-leading factor in 2024 with 232 incidents, down from 253 incidents the previous year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too close488 (11.9%)↓-2.2%prior 499
Animal326 (8%)↓-4.7%prior 342
FTYROW: From stop sign232 (5.7%)↓-8.3%prior 253
Other (explain in narrative): Other217 (5.3%)↓-23.3%prior 283
Ran off road - left212 (5.2%)↓-7.8%prior 230
FTYROW: Making left turn204 (5%)↑1.0%prior 202
Lost Control161 (3.9%)↓-17.4%prior 195
Ran Traffic Signal151 (3.7%)↓-7.9%prior 164
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner149 (3.6%)↓-2.6%prior 153
Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction147 (3.6%)↓-7.5%prior 159

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash conditions were remarkably similar year-over-year, with the vast majority of incidents occurring in favorable environments. In both August 2024 and 2023, approximately 79% of crashes happened in clear weather and roughly 73% occurred during daylight hours. Crashes on dry road surfaces accounted for 86.0% of the total in the current period, a slight increase from 85.0% in the prior year, consistent with a small decrease in rain-related incidents.

Weather

Clear3,215 (84.6%)
↓-2.9%prior 3,310
Cloudy447 (11.8%)
↑2.3%prior 437
Rain110 (2.9%)
↓-26.7%prior 150
Fog, smoke, smog13 (0.3%)
↓-50.0%prior 26
Other (explain in narrative)6 (0.2%)
Freezing rain/drizzle5 (0.1%)
Blowing sand, soil, dirt2 (0.1%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight3,007 (78.5%)
↓-2.4%prior 3,082
Dark - roadway lighted345 (9.0%)
↓-14.2%prior 402
Dark - roadway not lighted295 (7.7%)
↓-2.0%prior 301
Dusk78 (2.0%)
↓-6.0%prior 83
Dawn68 (1.8%)
↑4.6%prior 65
Dark - unknown roadway lighting38 (1.0%)
↑216.7%prior 12

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry3,518 (92.4%)
↓-1.8%prior 3,581
Wet189 (5.0%)
↓-25.9%prior 255
Gravel91 (2.4%)
↓-10.8%prior 102
Other (explain in narrative)3 (0.1%)
Mud, dirt3 (0.1%)
Sand1 (0.0%)
Water (standing or moving)1 (0.0%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The types of vehicles involved in crashes showed little change from the previous year. Ford and Chevrolet models remained the most common makes involved in collisions in both periods. The demographic profile of persons involved in crashes also held steady; the proportional distribution across age groups was consistent, with the 26-34 age bracket representing the largest share in both years. Males continued to be involved in crashes at a higher rate than females, with the ratio of males to females remaining stable.

Top Vehicle Makes (7,309 vehicles)

1
FORD1,107 (15.1%)
↓-5.0%prior 1,165
2
CHEV950 (13%)
↓-1.8%prior 967
3
CHEVROLET408 (5.6%)
↓-3.5%prior 423
4
TOYT375 (5.1%)
↑10.9%prior 338
5
JEEP353 (4.8%)
↑13.1%prior 312
6
HOND308 (4.2%)
↑6.2%prior 290
7
GMC270 (3.7%)
↑5.1%prior 257
8
NISS253 (3.5%)
↓-8.3%prior 276
9
DODG229 (3.1%)
→0.0%prior 229
10
NR215 (2.9%)
↓-8.9%prior 236

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (4,804 persons with recorded sex)

Male2,799 (58.3%)
↓-27.2%prior 3,843
Female2,005 (41.7%)
↓-28.2%prior 2,793

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4,089
  • Total persons involved: 7,642
  • Total vehicles involved: 7,309

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: August 2024." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/august-2024-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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