Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,257 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
JANUARY 2018

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2017

In January 2018, Austin recorded 1,257 total vehicle crashes, a 7.3% decrease from the 1,356 crashes documented in January 2017. Despite the overall reduction in collisions and a 5.1% drop in injuries, the number of fatalities increased from 5 to 6 year-over-year. The most significant temporal shift was a sharp decline in crashes occurring on Sundays.

1,257

▼ -7.3%was 1,356

Total Crash Events

6

▲ 20.0%was 5

Persons Killed

707

▼ -5.1%was 745

Persons Injured

5

▼ -16.7%was 6

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (6) 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 · 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic safety data for January 2018 indicates a downward trend in overall crash volume compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes fell by 7.3%, from 1,356 to 1,257, and total injuries decreased by 5.1% from 745 to 707. However, this positive trend did not extend to the most severe outcomes, as total fatalities rose from 5 to 6.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

5

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3↑66.7%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes showed both consistency and change year-over-year. Tuesday remained the peak day for crashes in both January 2017 (238 crashes) and January 2018 (233 crashes). However, the peak hour for collisions shifted an hour later, from 5 p.m. (104 crashes) in the prior year to 6 p.m. (92 crashes) in the current period. Crashes on Sundays saw a substantial decrease, falling from 236 incidents in January 2017 to 131 in January 2018.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Year-over-year, the number of fatal crashes decreased from 6 to 5, though the proportion of crashes resulting in a fatality remained stable at 0.4% for both periods. The share of crashes involving a serious injury declined from 2.9% (39 incidents) to 2.5% (31 incidents). Conversely, the proportion of crashes involving a possible injury increased from 19.0% (258 incidents) to 20.9% (263 incidents) of the monthly total.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 5 fatal crash events resulted in 6 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.4%
↓-16.7%prior 6
Serious Injury31serious injury crashes2.5%
↓-20.5%prior 39
Minor Injury217minor injury crashes17.3%
↓-5.7%prior 230
Possible Injury263possible injury crashes20.9%
↑1.9%prior 258
Injury103minor injury crashes8.2%
↓-8.8%prior 113
No Injury638no injury crashes50.8%
↓-10.1%prior 710

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

In January 2018, the highest volume of crashes occurred in 35 mph (155 crashes), 45 mph (137 crashes), and 55 mph (119 crashes) speed zones, consistent with the prior year's distribution but with lower counts in each zone. The period's 5 fatal crashes were recorded in zones with posted speeds of 40, 50, 55, 60, and 65 mph. This contrasts with January 2017, when 6 fatal crashes occurred in zones ranging from 45 mph to 75 mph, including incidents in 70 mph and 75 mph zones that were not repeated in the current period.

Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 1 of 86 (1.163%) · 50 mph: 1 of 51 (1.961%) · 55 mph: 1 of 119 (0.84%) · 60 mph: 1 of 65 (1.538%) · 65 mph: 1 of 91 (1.099%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · 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: 2018-01-01 through 2018-01-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2018-01-01 through 2018-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,257

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 2018." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31. 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-2018-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 2018 | ThatCarHitMe.com