ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · MAY 2016
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/iowa/statewide/may-2016-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
4,557 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
MAY 2016
In May 2016, there were 4,557 vehicle crashes statewide, a 5.3% increase from the 4,327 crashes recorded in May 2015. This year-over-year rise was accompanied by a notable and significant increase in traffic fatalities. The total number of people killed in crashes rose by 56%, from 25 in the prior year period to 39 in the current period.
4,557
▲ 5.3%was 4,327
Total Crash Events
39
▲ 56.0%was 25
Persons Killed
1,799
▲ 6.5%was 1,689
Persons Injured
35
▲ 52.2%was 23
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (39) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (35) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic safety outcomes worsened in May 2016 compared to the same month in the previous year. Total crashes increased by 5.3% from 4,327 to 4,557. More alarmingly, total injuries rose by 6.5% (from 1,689 to 1,799) and fatalities increased by 56% (from 25 to 39).
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
3
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
36
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
33
Pedestrians Injured
51
Cyclists Injured
1,707
Motorists Injured
8
Other Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both May 2016 (776 crashes) and May 2015 (845 crashes), despite a decrease in the total count for that day. The 3 p.m. hour was the peak time for collisions in both periods. Notably, crashes occurring on Tuesdays increased from 610 to 752 year-over-year.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The severity of crashes increased in May 2016 compared to May 2015. The fatal crash rate rose from 0.53% to 0.77%, with the number of fatal crashes increasing from 23 to 35. The proportion of crashes resulting in any type of injury (Fatal, Serious, Minor, or Possible) increased from 31.1% to 32.6% of all incidents, while the share of no-injury crashes decreased from 68.8% to 67.5%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 35 fatal crash events resulted in 39 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The primary contributing factors to crashes were consistent across both periods, with collisions involving an "Animal" and "Followed too close" ranking as the top two causes. In May 2016, animal-related crashes increased slightly in count from 582 to 595. A more significant shift was observed in crashes attributed to "Lost Control," which saw its count increase by 26.4% from 212 incidents in May 2015 to 268 in May 2016.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a significant shift in the conditions under which crashes occurred. In May 2016, a greater proportion of crashes happened in clear weather (58.6%) and on dry roads (74.9%), up from 44.1% and 66.4% respectively in May 2015. Consequently, the share of crashes in rain decreased from 14.0% to 7.0%, and incidents on wet surfaces fell from 19.6% to 12.0%. Lighting conditions at the time of crashes remained stable, with daylight crashes accounting for approximately 72% in both periods.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top vehicle makes involved in crashes were consistent year-over-year, with Chevrolet, Ford, and Dodge being the most common in both May 2016 and May 2015. In terms of persons involved, there was a demographic shift, with the 26-34 age group seeing its numbers rise from 1,480 to 1,517. Conversely, the number of persons aged 16-20 involved in crashes decreased from 1,395 to 1,320.
Top Vehicle Makes (7,919 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
1,178 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (6,211 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31 · 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: 2016-05-01 through 2016-05-31
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2016-05-01 through 2016-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 4,557
- Total persons involved: 9,579
- Total vehicles involved: 7,919
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: May 2016." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2016-05-01 to 2016-05-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/may-2016-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
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS
Period: 2016-05-01 – 2016-05-31
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved