Buena Vista County, Iowa: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Iowa by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 3 deaths in 1 or 2 fatal crashes in Buena Vista County in 2024.

FARS records 20 deaths in 16 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 9.8 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Iowa in the same years is 11.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Buena Vista County was number 59 of 99 counties of Iowa.

Deaths in Buena Vista County fell by 47.4% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (38) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (20).

In the counties of Iowa the deaths fell by 10.1% between the same years.

To qualify as a FARS case, the crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a non-motorist within 30 days of the crash.
The set of first files, known as the Annual Report File (ARF), is released following the crash year. The ARF is replaced about a year later with a final file, which contains additional cases or updates to cases that had become available after the ARF was released.
NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on 2 Oct 2026.

This page rests on the FARS 2024 annual file. NHTSA released it on 1 Apr 2026. NHTSA can revise the counts in the final file. Release dates

Figure 1.Deaths in Buena Vista County by year, 2015 to 2024

1 or 2

Table 1 has the numbers. Go to the table

Since the last update: no figure of this county has a change on record.

Deaths and fatal crashes by year

Table 1.Buena Vista County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	3	1 or 2	0
2023	3	1 or 2	0
2022	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2021	3	1 or 2	0
2020	0	0	0
2019	3	3	0
2018	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2017	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	3	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	20	16	1 or 2

Each year from 1975

Figure 2.Deaths in Buena Vista County by year, 1975 to 2024

Tallest column: 11 (1988)2024: 3

The columns with a stronger shade are the years 2015 to 2024.

Table 2.Buena Vista County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	3	1 or 2
2023	3	1 or 2
2022	1 or 2	1 or 2
2021	3	1 or 2
2020	0	0
2019	3	3
2018	1 or 2	1 or 2
2017	1 or 2	1 or 2
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	3	1 or 2
2014	6	4
2013	1 or 2	1 or 2
2012	1 or 2	1 or 2
2011	3	3
2010	6	4
2009	4	4
2008	4	3
2007	3	1 or 2
2006	4	3
2005	5	1 or 2
2004	1 or 2	1 or 2
2003	1 or 2	1 or 2
2002	1 or 2	1 or 2
2001	4	4
2000	6	6
1999	4	3
1998	3	3
1997	1 or 2	1 or 2
1996	7	7
1995	1 or 2	1 or 2
1994	1 or 2	1 or 2
1993	1 or 2	1 or 2
1992	5	4
1991	4	3
1990	4	4
1989	0	0
1988	11	9
1987	3	3
1986	1 or 2	1 or 2
1985	3	3
1984	8	6
1983	4	4
1982	9	7
1981	1 or 2	1 or 2
1980	5	5
1979	7	5
1978	1 or 2	1 or 2
1977	1 or 2	1 or 2
1976	6	5
1975	3	3

Note: a count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2". A death is in FARS when it occurs in 30 days or less after the crash.

Rate for each 100,000 residents

Table 3.Buena Vista County beside Iowa and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Buena Vista County	Iowa	United States
2024	14.5	11.0	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	9.8	11.0	11.8

Note: the rate divides the deaths in the county by its residents. Persons who do not live in the county are in the deaths, not in the residents.

Population: Census Bureau estimates, vintage 2025. Buena Vista County had 20,655 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Buena Vista County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Iowa
A driver recorded as drinkingof 16 fatal crashes	1 or 2	16 fatal crashes	12.5%	25.4%
A speeding-related driverof 16 fatal crashes	1 or 2	16 fatal crashes	12.5%	20.2%
No restraint usedof 15 occupant deaths with restraint use known	4	15 occupant deathswith restraint use known	26.7%	48.1%
Pedestriansof 20 deaths	0	20 deaths	0.0%	7.1%
Bicyclistsof 20 deaths	0	20 deaths	0.0%	2.0%
Motorcyclistsof 20 deaths	4	20 deaths	20.0%	15.7%
On a rural roadof 16 fatal crashes with the condition reported	15	16 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	93.8%	71.5%
In the darkof 16 fatal crashes with the condition reported	6	16 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	37.5%	39.9%

Note: FARS records a driver as drinking when police reported alcohol involvement or a test of the driver was positive for alcohol. It is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure, which uses a blood alcohol concentration of .08 g/dL or higher. One crash can be in two or more rows. NHTSA's definitions

Note that alcohol data is often missing. For that reason, this data element may under-count the actual number of drinking drivers.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on 2 Oct 2026.

Weekday, time and road class

Table 5.Buena Vista County: fatal crashes by weekday and time of day, 2015 to 2024
Weekday	Midnight to 6 a.m.	6 a.m. to noon	Noon to 6 p.m.	6 p.m. to midnight	All
Sunday	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	0	1 or 2
Monday	0	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2
Tuesday	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Wednesday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	3
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	0	1 or 2
Friday	0	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	4
Saturday	0	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2
All days	1 or 2	5	3	6	16

Note: a cell with a stronger shade has a larger count. The table has the fatal crashes with a known hour and weekday.

Table 6.Buena Vista County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Iowa
Interstate	0	0.0%	11.0%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	0.1%
Other principal arterial	8	50.0%	29.3%
Minor arterial	1 or 2	6.3%	17.4%
Major collector	4	25.0%	20.0%
Minor collector	1 or 2	6.3%	5.7%
Local	1 or 2	12.5%	16.4%
Not reported	0	n/a	n/a

Note: the classes are those of the Federal Highway Administration. The shares are of the crashes with a reported class. Road function classes

Light condition and weather

Table 7.Buena Vista County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	8
Dark, not lighted	5
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Buena Vista County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	7
Cloudy	3
Rain	1 or 2
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	3
Fog, smog or smoke	0
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	1 or 2

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Buena Vista County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Buena Vista	In all of Iowa
State Route 3	State highway	1 or 2	27
US Route 20	US highway	1 or 2	55
US Route 71	US highway	5	32

Note: the table has each route with a page that has a fatal crash in the county, in name order. Local streets and county roads have no page. Their crashes are in the county totals. All routes in Iowa

Adjacent counties

These lists are for navigation. They are in name order.

Figure 3.Buena Vista County on the county map of Iowa

Deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year, 2015 to 2024

Fewer than 1015 counties
10 to 14.941 counties
15 to 19.924 counties
20 to 29.915 counties
30 or more4 counties
Buena Vista County: 9.8

The limits of the classes are the same for every state. A county with few residents can show a high rate from few deaths. A class is not a judgement of a county. The full map and the table of counties of Iowa

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Buena Vista County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Cherokee County	Iowa	0	15	13.1
Clay County	Iowa	1 or 2	17	10.4
Pocahontas County	Iowa	0	11	15.9
Sac County	Iowa	3	21	21.5

Source of the list: Census Bureau county adjacency file, 2026 edition.

Counties of similar population

These counties of Iowa have a population nearest to that of Buena Vista County. The list is for navigation and is in name order. The number is the deaths from 2015 to 2024.

Official channels

NHTSA Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool (FIRST)NHTSA's query tool for FARS counts.
NHTSA FARS EncyclopediaNHTSA's tables of FARS data.
Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety BureauThe highway safety office of Iowa.

These links go to the sites of the agencies. They were checked on 2 Oct 2026.

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Buena Vista County, Iowa: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ia/buena-vista/. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS 2024 annual file. Data to 31 Dec 2024.

The address of this page does not change.

Source of the figures

Counts: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, national files of 1975 to 2024. The factors use the vehicle and person files from 2015. Residents: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, vintage 2025. Map: Census Bureau cartographic boundary file, 2021 edition. Data to 31 Dec 2024. The figures are totals. No page of this site is about one crash or one person.

How the figures are made. Data sources and licences. Corrections.

Questions

How many deaths did FARS record in Buena Vista in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 38 deaths in Buena Vista County from 2005 to 2014. It records 20 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Buena Vista in 2024?

The rate of Buena Vista County in 2024 was 14.5 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Iowa was 11.0. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

How many fatal crashes in Buena Vista had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 1 or 2 of 16 fatal crashes from 2015 to 2024. This count is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure. NHTSA says that alcohol data is often missing, so the count may be too low.

How many fatal crashes did FARS record on signed routes in Buena Vista?

FARS records 1 or 2 fatal crashes on State Route 3 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 1 or 2 fatal crashes on US Route 20 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 5 fatal crashes on US Route 71 in the county from 2015 to 2024.