Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

942 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
AUGUST 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2023

In August 2024, Austin recorded 942 traffic crashes, a 12.3% decrease from the 1,074 crashes reported in August 2023. While the overall number of crashes and injuries (641 current vs. 715 prior) declined, the number of fatalities increased significantly. The most notable year-over-year change was the rise in total fatalities from 4 in the prior period to 12 in the current period.

942

-12.3%was 1,074

Total Crash Events

12

200.0%was 4

Persons Killed

641

-10.3%was 715

Persons Injured

11

120.0%was 5

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (12) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (11) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data for August indicates a downward trend in the total number of traffic incidents in Austin. Total crashes fell by 12.3%, from 1,074 in August 2023 to 942 in August 2024, and total injuries also decreased by 10.3%. However, this trend in crash volume was countered by a sharp increase in crash lethality, with fatalities rising from 4 to 12 over the same period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

6

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 3100.0%

5

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1400.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes in Austin showed some shifts between August 2023 and August 2024. The peak hour for collisions remained the 5 PM hour in both periods, although the number of crashes during this hour decreased from 102 to 64. The most crash-prone day of the week changed from Tuesday (185 crashes) in the prior year to Friday (180 crashes) in the current year.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes decreased, the severity of crashes increased from August 2023 to August 2024. The fatal crash rate more than doubled, rising from 0.47% to 1.17% of all crashes. Correspondingly, the proportion of crashes resulting in no injury decreased from 48.3% to 45.2%, while the share of crashes involving serious injuries increased slightly from 2.9% to 3.1%.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 11 fatal crash events resulted in 12 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal11fatal crashes1.2%
120.0%prior 5
Serious Injury29serious injury crashes3.1%
-6.5%prior 31
Minor Injury224minor injury crashes23.8%
-9.3%prior 247
Possible Injury184possible injury crashes19.5%
-9.8%prior 204
Injury68minor injury crashes7.2%
0.0%prior 68
No Injury426no injury crashes45.2%
-17.9%prior 519

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes by speed limit shifted towards higher-speed roads year-over-year. Crashes in zones of 45 mph or less decreased, while collisions in zones of 50 mph or more increased, with a notable rise in crashes on roads with speed limits of 65 mph or higher (190 vs. 160). The location of fatal crashes also changed; in August 2023, most fatal crashes (3 of 5) occurred in 35 mph zones. In August 2024, fatal crashes were more distributed across higher speed zones, with the largest concentration (3 of 11) occurring in 60 mph zones.

Fatal crashes by zone: 20 mph: 1 of 2 (50%) · 25 mph: 1 of 22 (4.545%) · 35 mph: 1 of 182 (0.549%) · 40 mph: 1 of 62 (1.613%) · 45 mph: 1 of 150 (0.667%) · 55 mph: 2 of 95 (2.105%) · 60 mph: 3 of 70 (4.286%) · 70 mph: 1 of 29 (3.448%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 942

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 2024." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31. 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-2024-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 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com