Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,358 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
FEBRUARY 2020

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2019

In February 2020, Austin recorded 1,358 total vehicle crashes, a 1.3% increase from the 1,341 crashes documented in February 2019. While the overall crash volume remained relatively stable, the number of fatalities rose by 50%, from 6 in the prior year to 9 in the current period. Conversely, the total number of injuries decreased from 764 to 729.

1,358

1.3%was 1,341

Total Crash Events

9

50.0%was 6

Persons Killed

729

-4.6%was 764

Persons Injured

8

33.3%was 6

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (9) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (8) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year crash data for February indicates a relatively stable trend in total crash volume, with a 1.3% increase from 1,341 incidents in 2019 to 1,358 in 2020. However, the outcomes of these crashes shifted, showing a 50% increase in fatalities (from 6 to 9) alongside a 4.6% decrease in total injuries (from 764 to 729).

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 250.0%

6

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2200.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · 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 February 2019 and February 2020. The peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday (218 crashes) in the prior year to Thursday (215 crashes) in the current period. The peak hour for collisions remained consistent at 5 p.m., but the volume of crashes during this hour increased from 96 to 121 year-over-year.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes shifted in February 2020 compared to the previous year. The number of fatal crashes increased from 6 to 8, raising the proportion of fatal incidents from 0.4% to 0.6% of all crashes. While the share of serious injury crashes decreased from 2.4% to 2.0%, the percentage of crashes resulting in no injury increased from 51.5% to 54.1%.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 8 fatal crash events resulted in 9 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal8fatal crashes0.6%
33.3%prior 6
Serious Injury27serious injury crashes2%
-15.6%prior 32
Minor Injury254minor injury crashes18.7%
9.0%prior 233
Possible Injury244possible injury crashes18%
-8.6%prior 267
Injury90minor injury crashes6.6%
-19.6%prior 112
No Injury735no injury crashes54.1%
6.4%prior 691

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in lower speed zones saw an increase year-over-year, with collisions in zones of 35 mph or less rising from 291 in February 2019 to 323 in February 2020. Conversely, crashes in zones between 50 and 60 mph decreased from 231 to 218. Based on the crashes with recorded speed limits, fatal collisions shifted from zones of 35-45 mph in 2019 to zones of 40-50 mph in 2020.

Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 1 of 82 (1.22%) · 45 mph: 2 of 152 (1.316%) · 50 mph: 1 of 70 (1.429%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29 · 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: 2020-02-01 through 2020-02-29
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2020-02-01 through 2020-02-29 (29 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,358

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 2020." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2020-02-01 to 2020-02-29. 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-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 — February 2020 | ThatCarHitMe.com