Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,140 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
AUGUST 2021

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2020

In August 2021, Austin recorded 1,140 total crashes, an 11.9% increase from the 1,019 crashes reported in August 2020. This period also saw a 33.3% rise in fatalities, from 9 to 12, and a 5.3% increase in total injuries, from 739 to 778. The most notable year-over-year shift was the concurrent increase in the total number of crashes and the number of resulting fatalities.

1,140

11.9%was 1,019

Total Crash Events

12

33.3%was 9

Persons Killed

778

5.3%was 739

Persons Injured

12

33.3%was 9

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (12) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (12) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data for August indicates an upward trend in traffic collisions in Austin. Total crashes rose by 11.9%, from 1,019 in August 2020 to 1,140 in August 2021. This increase was accompanied by a 33.3% rise in fatalities, from 9 to 12, and a 5.3% rise in total injuries, from 739 to 778.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 333.3%

5

Motorists Killed

Prior: 366.7%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · 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 between August 2020 and August 2021. The peak day for crashes moved from Saturday (194 crashes) in the prior year to Monday (206 crashes) in the current year. The peak hour also shifted from 6 p.m. (75 crashes) to 5 p.m. (96 crashes), with a higher volume of collisions during the peak.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes increased year-over-year. The proportion of fatal crashes grew from 0.9% (9 crashes) of the total in August 2020 to 1.1% (12 crashes) in August 2021. Similarly, serious injury crashes increased their share from 2.7% (28 crashes) to 3.3% (38 crashes). While the proportion of minor injury crashes decreased, the share of crashes resulting in no injury rose from 43.1% to 46.5%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal12fatal crashes1.1%
33.3%prior 9
Serious Injury38serious injury crashes3.3%
35.7%prior 28
Minor Injury193minor injury crashes16.9%
-11.5%prior 218
Possible Injury286possible injury crashes25.1%
15.3%prior 248
Injury81minor injury crashes7.1%
5.2%prior 77
No Injury530no injury crashes46.5%
20.7%prior 439

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes increased across most speed zones from August 2020 to August 2021, with notable growth in zones of 35 mph and higher. For example, collisions in the 35-45 mph range increased from 329 to 424. The distribution of fatal crashes also changed; in 2020, recorded fatalities were concentrated in the 40-50 mph zones. In 2021, fatalities were more dispersed across a wider range of speed limits, from 35 mph (3 fatalities) to 75 mph (1 fatality).

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 3 of 178 (1.685%) · 40 mph: 3 of 65 (4.615%) · 45 mph: 1 of 181 (0.552%) · 55 mph: 1 of 126 (0.794%) · 65 mph: 1 of 101 (0.99%) · 75 mph: 1 of 2 (50%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · 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: 2021-08-01 through 2021-08-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2021-08-01 through 2021-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,140

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 2021." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31. 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-2021-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 2021 | ThatCarHitMe.com