Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

55 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

In 2024, Winnebago County recorded 55 total crashes, a slight decrease from the 56 crashes recorded in 2023. While the overall crash volume remained stable, the most significant year-over-year change was the increase in traffic fatalities, which rose from zero in the prior period to three in the current period.

55

▼ -1.8%was 56

Total Crash Events

3

Persons Killed

24

▲ 26.3%was 19

Persons Injured

3

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic crash volume in Winnebago County remained stable year-over-year, with a slight decrease from 56 incidents in 2023 to 55 in 2024. Despite the stable crash total, the number of resulting injuries increased by 26.3%, from 19 to 24. Most notably, traffic fatalities increased from zero in the prior year to three in the current year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→0.0%

3

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0→%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1→0.0%

23

Motorists Injured

Prior: 18↑27.8%

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes showed some shifts between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday (11 crashes) in 2023 to Thursday (13 crashes) in 2024. While the 3 p.m. hour remained the peak time for collisions in both years, the concentration of crashes during this hour decreased from 12 to 8. Monthly patterns also varied, with the highest crash volume occurring in June (10 crashes) in the prior year and in December (8 crashes) in the current year.

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity increased significantly year-over-year. In 2024, there were 3 fatal crashes, accounting for 5.5% of all incidents, compared to zero fatal crashes in 2023. The proportion of crashes resulting in any type of injury or fatality rose from 30.4% to 38.2%. Specifically, serious injury crashes increased from 1 (1.8% of total) to 3 (5.5% of total), while the share of no-injury crashes decreased from 69.6% to 61.8%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes5.5%
Serious Injury3serious injury crashes5.5%
↑200.0%prior 1
Minor Injury7minor injury crashes12.7%
↓-46.2%prior 13
Possible Injury8possible injury crashes14.5%
↑166.7%prior 3
No Injury34no injury crashes61.8%
↓-12.8%prior 39

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors to crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2024, 'Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction' and 'Lost Control' were the most common factors, each cited in 7 crashes. This represents a significant increase for 'Lost Control', which was a factor in only 3 crashes in the prior year. Conversely, crashes involving an 'Animal' decreased from being the top factor in 2023 with 8 incidents to just 1 incident in 2024. 'Failure to yield from a stop sign' remained a consistent issue, contributing to 6 crashes in both years.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Driver Distraction: Other interior distraction7 (12.7%)↑16.7%prior 6
Lost Control7 (12.7%)
FTYROW: From stop sign6 (10.9%)→0.0%prior 6
Ran off road - left4 (7.3%)
Other (explain in narrative): Other4 (7.3%)
Improper Backing3 (5.5%)
Made improper turn3 (5.5%)
Operating vehicle in an reckless, erratic, careless, negligent manner2 (3.6%)
Failed to keep in proper lane2 (3.6%)
Other (explain in narrative): No improper action2 (3.6%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

While the majority of crashes in both years occurred in clear weather on dry roads during daylight, there were shifts in adverse condition crashes. The number of crashes on roads with snow or ice increased from 4 in 2023 to 10 in 2024. Similarly, incidents in dark, unlit conditions rose from 5 to 10. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight remained relatively stable, accounting for 63.6% of crashes in 2024 compared to 66.1% in 2023.

Weather

Clear35 (66.0%)
↓-2.8%prior 36
Cloudy12 (22.6%)
↑71.4%prior 7
Snow3 (5.7%)
Fog, smoke, smog2 (3.8%)
Other (explain in narrative)1 (1.9%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight35 (64.8%)
↓-5.4%prior 37
Dark - roadway not lighted10 (18.5%)
↑100.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway lighted7 (13.0%)
Dawn1 (1.9%)
Dusk1 (1.9%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry37 (68.5%)
↓-2.6%prior 38
Snow5 (9.3%)
Ice/frost5 (9.3%)
Gravel3 (5.6%)
Wet2 (3.7%)
↓-60.0%prior 5
Slush1 (1.9%)
Mud, dirt1 (1.9%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Ford and Chevrolet remained the top two vehicle makes involved in crashes in both periods, with counts for both increasing in 2024 (Ford from 21 to 27, Chevrolet from 8 to 14). The age demographics of persons involved in crashes saw a notable shift. The 65+ age group, which was the largest cohort in 2023 with 27 individuals, saw its involvement decrease to 10 individuals in 2024. Conversely, the 26-34 age group became the most frequently involved, with its count rising from 17 to 18 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (87 vehicles)

1
FORD27 (31%)
↑28.6%prior 21
2
CHEV14 (16.1%)
↑75.0%prior 8
3
JEEP6 (6.9%)
4
GMC5 (5.7%)
↓-28.6%prior 7
5
CHRY3 (3.4%)
6
BUICK3 (3.4%)
7
CHEVROLET3 (3.4%)
↓-40.0%prior 5
8
FREIGHTLINER2 (2.3%)
9
PETE2 (2.3%)
10
DODG2 (2.3%)

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (49 persons with recorded sex)

Male36 (73.5%)
↓-28.0%prior 50
Female13 (26.5%)
↓-50.0%prior 26

Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
  • Report generated: September 9, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
  • Geographic scope: iowa, IA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 55
  • Total persons involved: 92
  • Total vehicles involved: 87

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: 2024." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2024-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

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