Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,135 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
FEBRUARY 2012

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2011

In February 2012, Austin recorded 1,135 total crashes, a 19.5% increase from the 950 crashes reported in February 2011. This rise in collisions was accompanied by a 22% increase in total injuries, from 702 to 856. However, despite the overall increase in crash volume, the number of fatalities decreased from 7 in the prior year to 4 in the current period.

1,135

▲ 19.5%was 950

Total Crash Events

4

▼ -42.9%was 7

Persons Killed

856

▲ 21.9%was 702

Persons Injured

4

▼ -42.9%was 7

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 · 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data shows a notable increase in traffic collisions for February. Total crashes rose by 19.5%, from 950 in February 2011 to 1,135 in February 2012. Similarly, the number of persons injured increased by 22% over the same period, while fatalities saw a decrease from 7 to 4.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 3↓-33.3%

1

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 · 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

Temporal patterns remained broadly consistent year-over-year, with Friday being the peak day for crashes in both February 2012 (202 crashes) and February 2011 (182 crashes). However, the peak hour for collisions shifted slightly earlier, from 5 p.m. in the prior year (80 crashes) to 4 p.m. in the current period (91 crashes). Notably, Wednesday saw a substantial increase in crashes, rising from 117 to 196, making it the second-busiest day for crashes in February 2012.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes increased, the overall severity of crashes decreased year-over-year. The fatal crash rate was more than halved, dropping from 0.74% in February 2011 to 0.35% in February 2012. The proportion of crashes resulting in serious injuries also declined from 3.4% to 2.7%, while the share of no-injury crashes rose from 41.7% to 43.2% of the total.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal4fatal crashes0.4%
↓-42.9%prior 7
Serious Injury31serious injury crashes2.7%
↓-3.1%prior 32
Minor Injury256minor injury crashes22.6%
↑26.7%prior 202
Possible Injury265possible injury crashes23.3%
↑17.8%prior 225
Injury89minor injury crashes7.8%
↑1.1%prior 88
No Injury490no injury crashes43.2%
↑23.7%prior 396

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones shows an increase in collisions on roads with posted limits of 40-45 mph (from 195 to 214 crashes) and on roads with limits of 70 mph or higher (from 9 to 36 crashes). In February 2012, fatal crashes were more distributed across higher speed zones, with one fatality each in the 65 mph and 75 mph zones, which had no fatalities in the prior year. Conversely, the number of fatal crashes in the 30-35 mph zones decreased from 4 in February 2011 to 2 in February 2012.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 126 (0.794%) · 35 mph: 1 of 166 (0.602%) · 65 mph: 1 of 58 (1.724%) · 75 mph: 1 of 1 (100%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29 · 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: 2012-02-01 through 2012-02-29
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2012-02-01 through 2012-02-29 (29 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,135

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: February 2012." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2012-02-01 to 2012-02-29. 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/february-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 — February 2012 | ThatCarHitMe.com