Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,183 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
DECEMBER 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2019

In December 2020, Austin recorded 1,183 total vehicle crashes, an 18.9% decrease from the 1,458 crashes reported in December 2019. Despite the overall reduction in collisions, the number of fatalities increased by 37.5%, from 8 to 11, year-over-year. This contrast between falling crash totals and rising fatalities was the most significant shift in the data.

1,183

▼ -18.9%was 1,458

Total Crash Events

11

▲ 37.5%was 8

Persons Killed

699

▼ -24.4%was 924

Persons Injured

11

▲ 37.5%was 8

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (11) 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 · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data for December shows a notable decrease in overall traffic incidents in Austin. Total crashes fell by 18.9% from 1,458 to 1,183, and the number of people injured declined by 24.4% from 924 to 699. However, this downward trend did not apply to the most severe outcomes, as total fatalities rose from 8 in December 2019 to 11 in December 2020.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

5

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 4↑25.0%

5

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3↑66.7%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between December 2019 and December 2020. The peak day for collisions moved from Friday (262 crashes) in 2019 to Thursday (238 crashes) in 2020. While the 6 p.m. hour remained the peak time for crashes in both periods, the number of incidents during that hour decreased from 122 to 114. The daily distribution of crashes in 2020 was less concentrated on specific days compared to the sharper peaks seen on Monday and Friday in 2019.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While the total number of crashes decreased, the rate of severe crashes increased from December 2019 to December 2020. The proportion of fatal crashes rose from 0.5% to 0.9% of all collisions. In contrast, the share of crashes resulting in serious injury decreased from 2.9% to 2.2%. The percentage of crashes with no reported injuries increased from 49.0% in 2019 to 51.6% in 2020, even as the total volume of crashes fell.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal11fatal crashes0.9%
↑37.5%prior 8
Serious Injury26serious injury crashes2.2%
↓-38.1%prior 42
Minor Injury230minor injury crashes19.4%
↓-21.2%prior 292
Possible Injury226possible injury crashes19.1%
↓-23.4%prior 295
Injury80minor injury crashes6.8%
↓-25.2%prior 107
No Injury610no injury crashes51.6%
↓-14.6%prior 714

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes decreased across all speed categories year-over-year, with the largest raw decline occurring in zones between 40 and 55 mph, which dropped from 452 to 379 incidents. In both periods, this mid-range speed category accounted for the highest number of crashes. The distribution of fatal crashes by speed limit also shifted; in December 2020, two fatal crashes occurred in 65 mph zones, a speed zone that recorded zero fatal crashes in the prior period. In December 2019, fatal crashes were more evenly distributed across various zones, including one in a 70 mph zone, which had no fatalities in December 2020.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 78 (1.282%) · 40 mph: 1 of 59 (1.695%) · 45 mph: 2 of 140 (1.429%) · 50 mph: 1 of 66 (1.515%) · 65 mph: 2 of 88 (2.273%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31 · 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: 2020-12-01 through 2020-12-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-12-01 through 2020-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,183

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 2020." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2020-12-31. 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-2020-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 2020 | ThatCarHitMe.com