Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,134 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
JANUARY 2015

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2014

In January 2015, Austin recorded 1,134 total vehicle crashes, a 10.3% decrease from the 1,264 crashes reported in January 2014. Despite the overall reduction in collisions, the most notable year-over-year shift was a significant increase in traffic fatalities, which rose from 3 to 11.

1,134

▼ -10.3%was 1,264

Total Crash Events

11

▲ 266.7%was 3

Persons Killed

706

▼ -17.0%was 851

Persons Injured

11

▲ 450.0%was 2

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 · 2015-01-01 to 2015-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic safety trends in Austin for January showed a mix of improvement and concern when compared to the previous year. Total crashes decreased by 10.3% (from 1,264 to 1,134) and total injuries fell by 17.0% (from 851 to 706). However, this positive trend was countered by a substantial rise in fatalities, which increased from 3 to 11 year-over-year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0→%

6

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3↑100.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

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

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted slightly between the two periods. In January 2014, the peak day for crashes was Wednesday with 260 incidents. In January 2015, the peak shifted to Thursday, which saw 222 crashes. The busiest hour also moved earlier, from the 6 p.m. hour in the prior year (108 crashes) to the 5 p.m. hour in the current period (88 crashes).

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes declined, their severity increased in January 2015 compared to the prior year. The proportion of crashes resulting in a fatality grew from 0.2% to 1.0% of all incidents. The share of crashes involving serious injuries remained stable at around 2.4%, but minor injury crashes decreased as a proportion of the total, falling from 22.9% to 19.0%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal11fatal crashes1%
↑450.0%prior 2
Serious Injury27serious injury crashes2.4%
↓-15.6%prior 32
Minor Injury216minor injury crashes19%
↓-25.3%prior 289
Possible Injury231possible injury crashes20.4%
↓-8.3%prior 252
Injury89minor injury crashes7.8%
↑41.3%prior 63
No Injury560no injury crashes49.4%
↓-10.5%prior 626

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes by speed limit changed year-over-year. Crashes in zones posted at 35 mph or less increased from 281 to 308 incidents, while collisions in zones of 60 mph or higher decreased from 240 to 202. In January 2015, fatal crashes were recorded across a wider variety of speed zones, including 30 mph and 35 mph zones, which had no fatalities in the same month of the previous year.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 2 of 104 (1.923%) · 35 mph: 2 of 204 (0.98%) · 45 mph: 3 of 140 (2.143%) · 55 mph: 2 of 133 (1.504%) · 60 mph: 1 of 78 (1.282%) · 70 mph: 1 of 50 (2%)

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2015-01-01 through 2015-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,134

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