Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,308 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
DECEMBER 2015

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2014

In December 2015, Austin recorded 1,308 total crashes, a 13.1% increase from the 1,156 crashes reported in December 2014. The most significant year-over-year change was the number of fatalities, which rose 150% from 4 to 10. Total injuries also increased by 21.7% from 692 to 842 during the same period.

1,308

13.1%was 1,156

Total Crash Events

10

150.0%was 4

Persons Killed

842

21.7%was 692

Persons Injured

10

150.0%was 4

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (10) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (10) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year, traffic collisions in Austin showed a notable upward trend in December. Total crashes increased by 13.1%, rising from 1,156 in December 2014 to 1,308 in December 2015. This increase was accompanied by a rise in both total injuries, up 21.7% from 692 to 842, and a 150% increase in fatalities, from 4 to 10.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1200.0%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0%

4

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2100.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes showed some shifts between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Wednesday (192 crashes) in December 2014 to Thursday (265 crashes) in December 2015. However, the peak hour for collisions remained consistent at 6 p.m., with the number of crashes during that hour increasing from 98 to 110.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes worsened year-over-year, with the fatal crash rate more than doubling from 0.35% in December 2014 to 0.76% in December 2015. The total number of fatal crashes increased from 4 to 10. While the proportion of serious injury crashes remained relatively stable (3.1% vs. 3.4%), the share of crashes resulting in 'Possible Injury' grew from 20.1% to 24.1%, and the proportion of non-injury crashes decreased from 52.2% to 48.6%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal10fatal crashes0.8%
150.0%prior 4
Serious Injury41serious injury crashes3.1%
5.1%prior 39
Minor Injury196minor injury crashes15%
-5.8%prior 208
Possible Injury315possible injury crashes24.1%
35.8%prior 232
Injury110minor injury crashes8.4%
57.1%prior 70
No Injury636no injury crashes48.6%
5.5%prior 603

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across different speed zones remained relatively consistent, with the highest number of collisions in both periods occurring in 35 mph zones (196 crashes in 2015 vs. 181 in 2014). However, the distribution of fatal crashes changed significantly. In December 2014, fatalities occurred in 30, 35, and 60 mph zones. In December 2015, the 10 fatalities were more spread out, occurring in zones with posted speeds of 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 122 (0.82%) · 35 mph: 2 of 196 (1.02%) · 40 mph: 2 of 101 (1.98%) · 45 mph: 1 of 159 (0.629%) · 50 mph: 1 of 81 (1.235%) · 55 mph: 2 of 133 (1.504%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31 · 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: 2015-12-01 through 2015-12-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2015-12-01 through 2015-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,308

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: December 2015." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2015-12-01 to 2015-12-31. 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/december-2015-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 — December 2015 | ThatCarHitMe.com