Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,258 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
AUGUST 2012

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2011

Austin recorded 1,258 vehicle crashes in August 2012, representing a 26.8% increase from the 992 crashes in August 2011. This rise in total incidents was accompanied by a notable increase in severe outcomes, with total fatalities doubling from 2 to 4 year-over-year. The most significant shift was the quadrupling of fatal crashes, which increased from 1 to 4.

1,258

▲ 26.8%was 992

Total Crash Events

4

▲ 100.0%was 2

Persons Killed

1,002

▲ 28.8%was 778

Persons Injured

4

▲ 300.0%was 1

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (4) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (4) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic crashes in Austin saw a significant upward trend in August 2012 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total collisions rose by 26.8%, from 992 to 1,258. This increase was mirrored in crash outcomes, with reported injuries climbing by 28.8% and fatalities increasing from 2 to 4.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2→0.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted year-over-year, with the day recording the most crashes changing from Monday in August 2011 to Friday in August 2012. While the peak hour for collisions remained at 5 p.m. in both periods, the number of crashes during that hour increased from 88 to 102. Notably, crashes during the 2 a.m. hour also saw a substantial increase from 38 to 56 incidents.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes worsened in August 2012 compared to the previous year. The number of fatal crashes increased from 1 to 4, and their proportion of all crashes rose from 0.1% to 0.3%. Similarly, serious injury crashes increased from 30 to 56, with their share rising from 3.0% to 4.5% of all incidents. While the proportion of minor injury crashes decreased slightly from 25.2% to 22.9%, the absolute number of these incidents still grew.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal4fatal crashes0.3%
↑300.0%prior 1
Serious Injury56serious injury crashes4.5%
↑86.7%prior 30
Minor Injury288minor injury crashes22.9%
↑15.2%prior 250
Possible Injury306possible injury crashes24.3%
↑36.0%prior 225
Injury85minor injury crashes6.8%
↑13.3%prior 75
No Injury519no injury crashes41.3%
↑26.3%prior 411

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes increased across all posted speed limit zones in August 2012 compared to the prior year. The largest relative increase occurred in zones with speed limits of 65 mph or higher, which saw a 50% rise in crashes from 74 to 111. In 2011, the single fatal crash occurred in a 65 mph zone. In contrast, the four fatal crashes in 2012 were distributed across various speed zones, including one in a 30 mph zone, two in a 50 mph zone, and one in a 70 mph zone.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 116 (0.862%) · 50 mph: 2 of 71 (2.817%) · 70 mph: 1 of 27 (3.704%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from Austin Crash Reports (https://data.austintexas.gov/d/y2wy-tgr5), accessed programmatically via the Socrata 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: Socrata Open Data API (SoQL queries)
  • Dataset URL: https://data.austintexas.gov/d/y2wy-tgr5
  • Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
  • Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
  • Date filter applied: 2012-08-01 through 2012-08-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2012-08-01 through 2012-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,258

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). "Austin, TX Crash Intelligence Report: August 2012." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2012-08-01 to 2012-08-31. Data source: Austin Crash Reports, Socrata Open Data. Dataset: https://data.austintexas.gov/d/y2wy-tgr5. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/texas/austin/august-2012-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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Austin, TX Crash Report — August 2012 | ThatCarHitMe.com