ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · OCTOBER 2017
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/october-2017-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
5,371 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
OCTOBER 2017
In October 2017, there were 5,371 traffic crashes statewide, a 3.5% increase from the 5,189 crashes recorded in October 2016. Despite the overall rise in collisions, the number of fatalities decreased from 39 to 34, and total injuries fell from 1,735 to 1,659. The most significant shift was a substantial increase in crashes occurring during rainy weather and on wet road surfaces compared to the prior year.
5,371
▲ 3.5%was 5,189
Total Crash Events
34
▼ -12.8%was 39
Persons Killed
1,659
▼ -4.4%was 1,735
Persons Injured
29
▼ -19.4%was 36
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (34) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (29) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, the total number of crashes increased by 3.5% year-over-year, rising from 5,189 in October 2016 to 5,371 in October 2017. However, this increase in crash volume was accompanied by a decrease in severity, as both total fatalities (down 12.8%) and total injuries (down 4.4%) declined compared to the same month in the previous year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
4
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
29
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
41
Pedestrians Injured
33
Cyclists Injured
1,581
Motorists Injured
4
Other Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes saw minor shifts year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Monday (835 crashes) in October 2016 to Tuesday (872 crashes) in October 2017. Similarly, the peak hour shifted slightly earlier, from the 4 p.m. hour (411 crashes) in the prior period to the 3 p.m. hour (428 crashes) in the current period.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While total crashes increased, the severity of incidents decreased from October 2016 to October 2017. The number of fatal crashes fell from 36 to 29, and the associated fatality count dropped from 39 to 34. The proportion of crashes involving serious injuries also decreased, from 2.5% (129 crashes) to 1.9% (103 crashes). Conversely, the share of crashes resulting in no injuries increased from 72.0% to 73.8% of all incidents.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 29 fatal crash events resulted in 34 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Collisions with animals remained the top contributing factor in both periods, with counts increasing from 1,028 to 1,072. 'Followed too close' was the second-leading factor in both years, with a nearly identical count (582 in 2016 vs. 586 in 2017). A notable increase was observed in crashes attributed to 'Lost Control,' which rose from 248 incidents to 290, and 'Driving too fast for conditions,' which increased from 104 to 164 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a significant year-over-year shift in crashes related to environmental conditions. While clear weather and dry roads were still the most common conditions, their prevalence decreased. Crashes occurring in rain more than doubled, increasing from 203 in October 2016 to 583 in October 2017. Correspondingly, crashes on wet road surfaces also saw a substantial rise, from 419 to 987 incidents. Lighting conditions remained proportionally consistent between the two periods.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Ford, Chevrolet, and Toyota representing the three most common makes in both October 2016 and October 2017. An analysis of persons involved shows a notable increase in the 16-20 age group, which grew from 1,178 individuals in the prior period to 1,290 in the current period. Most other age groups saw relatively stable or slightly decreased involvement year-over-year.
Top Vehicle Makes (9,010 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · Vehicle unit records
1,057 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (5,882 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31 · 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: 2017-10-01 through 2017-10-31
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2017-10-01 through 2017-10-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 5,371
- Total persons involved: 9,496
- Total vehicles involved: 9,010
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: October 2017." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2017-10-01 to 2017-10-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/october-2017-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: 2017-10-01 – 2017-10-31
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved