Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,221 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
MAY 2013

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2012

In May 2013, Austin recorded 1,221 vehicle crashes, a figure nearly identical to the 1,222 crashes reported in May 2012. Despite the stable number of total incidents, there was a notable decrease in severe outcomes. Fatalities fell by 40%, from 5 in the prior year period to 3 in the current period, and total injuries saw a slight reduction from 955 to 937.

1,221

▼ -0.1%was 1,222

Total Crash Events

3

▼ -40.0%was 5

Persons Killed

937

▼ -1.9%was 955

Persons Injured

3

▼ -25.0%was 4

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall volume of crashes in Austin remained stable year-over-year, with 1,221 incidents in May 2013 compared to 1,222 in May 2012. While the total number of crashes was nearly unchanged, the severity of outcomes trended downward. The period saw a 40% decrease in fatalities, from 5 to 3, and a 1.9% decrease in total injuries, from 955 to 937.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 2→0.0%

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 · 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31 · 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 some shifts between May 2012 and May 2013. The peak day for incidents moved from Thursday (222 crashes) in the prior year to Friday (254 crashes) in the current year. The peak hour for crashes also shifted slightly, moving from the 5 p.m. hour in 2012 to the 4 p.m. hour in 2013, though the afternoon commute hours remained the most frequent time for collisions in both periods.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The distribution of crash severity showed a decrease in fatal incidents year-over-year, with fatal crashes dropping from 4 to 3, representing 0.2% of all crashes in May 2013 compared to 0.3% in May 2012. The proportion of crashes resulting in serious injuries increased slightly from 3.2% to 3.4% of all incidents. The share of crashes with no reported injuries also grew, rising from 40.2% in the prior period to 41.9% in the current period.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes0.2%
↓-25.0%prior 4
Serious Injury42serious injury crashes3.4%
↑7.7%prior 39
Minor Injury315minor injury crashes25.8%
↑3.3%prior 305
Possible Injury278possible injury crashes22.8%
↓-2.1%prior 284
Injury71minor injury crashes5.8%
↓-28.3%prior 99
No Injury512no injury crashes41.9%
↑4.3%prior 491

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes by posted speed limit remained relatively consistent year-over-year, with the 35 mph zone accounting for the highest number of incidents in both May 2012 (169 crashes) and May 2013 (209 crashes). In May 2013, the two fatal crashes with recorded speed limits occurred in 40 mph and 60 mph zones. This differs from the prior year, when the four fatal crashes occurred across a wider range of zones, including 25, 35, 50, and 55 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 1 of 83 (1.205%) · 60 mph: 1 of 55 (1.818%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31 · 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: 2013-05-01 through 2013-05-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2013-05-01 through 2013-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,221

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: May 2013." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2013-05-01 to 2013-05-31. 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/may-2013-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 — May 2013 | ThatCarHitMe.com