Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,402 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
MAY 2017

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2016

In May 2017, Austin recorded 1,402 total crashes, a slight increase of 0.9% from the 1,390 crashes reported in May 2016. Despite the stable number of total incidents, the most significant year-over-year change was a substantial decrease in traffic fatalities. The number of persons killed in crashes dropped by 71.4%, from 7 in May 2016 to 2 in May 2017.

1,402

0.9%was 1,390

Total Crash Events

2

-71.4%was 7

Persons Killed

846

-7.2%was 912

Persons Injured

3

-57.1%was 7

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (2) 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 · 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash volume in Austin remained relatively stable, with a minor 0.9% increase from 1,390 incidents in May 2016 to 1,402 in May 2017. However, the severity of these crashes decreased notably year-over-year. Total injuries fell by 7.2% from 912 to 846, and total fatalities saw a significant 71.4% reduction from 7 to 2.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3-33.3%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31 · 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 2016 and May 2017. The peak day for crashes moved from Monday, with 222 crashes in the prior year, to Tuesday with 238 crashes in the current period. The evening commute hour of 5 p.m. remained the peak time for crashes in both years, though the number of incidents during this hour increased from 106 to 120.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The overall severity of crashes decreased from May 2016 to May 2017. The proportion of fatal crashes fell from 0.5% to 0.2% of all incidents, and crashes resulting in no injury increased their share from 46.9% to 50.1% of the total. While the proportion of serious injury crashes saw a slight rise from 3.2% to 3.5%, the share of 'Possible Injury' crashes dropped considerably from 25.6% to 18.9%.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 3 fatal crash events resulted in 2 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes0.2%
-57.1%prior 7
Serious Injury49serious injury crashes3.5%
8.9%prior 45
Minor Injury251minor injury crashes17.9%
11.6%prior 225
Possible Injury265possible injury crashes18.9%
-25.6%prior 356
Injury131minor injury crashes9.3%
24.8%prior 105
No Injury703no injury crashes50.1%
7.8%prior 652

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes by speed limit showed a shift towards mid-range speed zones in May 2017 compared to the prior year. Crashes on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less decreased from 401 to 341, while incidents in 40-55 mph zones increased from 457 to 508. Fatal crashes also concentrated in this mid-range, with all 3 fatalities in May 2017 occurring in 40 mph or 45 mph zones, a change from May 2016 when fatalities were recorded in zones ranging from 25 mph to 60 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 1 of 79 (1.266%) · 45 mph: 2 of 210 (0.952%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31 · 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: 2017-05-01 through 2017-05-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2017-05-01 through 2017-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,402

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 2017." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-31. 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-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 — May 2017 | ThatCarHitMe.com