Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,290 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
FEBRUARY 2017

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2016

In February 2017, Austin recorded 1,290 traffic crashes, a 4.4% decrease from the 1,349 crashes reported in February 2016. Total fatalities decreased from six to five, and injuries fell by 10.1% from 842 to 757. A notable year-over-year shift was observed in the profile of those killed, with fatalities involving motor-vehicle occupants increasing from one to four.

1,290

▼ -4.4%was 1,349

Total Crash Events

5

▼ -16.7%was 6

Persons Killed

757

▼ -10.1%was 842

Persons Injured

5

▼ -28.6%was 7

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (5) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (5) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data for February indicates a general downward trend in traffic incidents in Austin. Total crashes fell by 4.4%, from 1,349 to 1,290. This decline was accompanied by a 10.1% reduction in persons injured and one fewer fatality compared to the same month in the prior year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1↑300.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · 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 minor shifts between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (215 incidents) in February 2016 to Saturday (217 incidents) in February 2017. The peak hour also shifted one hour earlier, from 5 p.m. in the prior period to 4 p.m. in the current period, with the number of crashes during that hour decreasing from 117 to 98.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes lessened year-over-year, with fatal crashes dropping from 7 to 5 and serious injury crashes falling from 43 to 30. Consequently, the share of crashes resulting in a serious injury decreased from 3.2% to 2.3%. While the number of minor injury crashes saw a slight increase from 220 to 229, the overall proportion of crashes involving any type of injury declined from 42.7% to 41.7%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.4%
↓-28.6%prior 7
Serious Injury30serious injury crashes2.3%
↓-30.2%prior 43
Minor Injury229minor injury crashes17.8%
↑4.1%prior 220
Possible Injury279possible injury crashes21.6%
↓-10.9%prior 313
Injury96minor injury crashes7.4%
↓-4.0%prior 100
No Injury651no injury crashes50.5%
↓-2.3%prior 666

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across different speed zones remained relatively consistent, with most incidents in both periods occurring in zones posted between 30 and 55 mph. However, the profile of fatal crashes shifted notably toward higher speed zones. In February 2016, four of the five fatal crashes with a recorded speed limit occurred in 30-35 mph zones. In contrast, in February 2017, the two fatal crashes with a recorded speed limit occurred in higher speed zones of 55 mph and 70 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 55 mph: 1 of 128 (0.781%) · 70 mph: 1 of 35 (2.857%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28 · 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: 2017-02-01 through 2017-02-28
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2017-02-01 through 2017-02-28 (28 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,290

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 2017." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2017-02-01 to 2017-02-28. 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-2017-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 2017 | ThatCarHitMe.com