Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,344 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
NOVEMBER 2018

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2017

In November 2018, Austin recorded 1,344 total crashes, a 2.1% increase from the 1,316 crashes reported in November 2017. Despite this slight rise in total collisions, the number of people killed in crashes decreased from 11 to 8 over the same period. The most significant change was a reduction in motorist fatalities, which fell from 7 in the prior year to 3 in the current year.

1,344

2.1%was 1,316

Total Crash Events

8

-27.3%was 11

Persons Killed

763

0.7%was 758

Persons Injured

8

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (8) 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 · 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall number of crashes in Austin increased by 2.1% in November 2018 compared to the previous year, rising from 1,316 to 1,344. Total injuries also saw a marginal increase from 758 to 763. In contrast, total fatalities experienced a notable year-over-year decline, dropping by 27.3% from 11 in November 2017 to 8 in November 2018.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 333.3%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0%

3

Motorists Killed

Prior: 7-57.1%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30 · 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 a distinct shift between the two periods. While the peak hour for crashes remained the 6 p.m. hour in both years, the peak day for collisions moved from Wednesday (246 crashes) in November 2017 to Friday (234 crashes) in November 2018. This indicates a change in the weekly distribution of incidents toward the end of the work week.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The overall distribution of crash severity saw some shifts, though the proportion of fatal crashes remained constant at 0.6% of all incidents in both November 2017 and 2018. The share of crashes resulting in minor injuries increased from 17.6% to 20.8% year-over-year. Conversely, the proportion of crashes involving possible injuries decreased from 19.8% in 2017 to 16.5% in 2018.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal8fatal crashes0.6%
0.0%prior 8
Serious Injury36serious injury crashes2.7%
0.0%prior 36
Minor Injury279minor injury crashes20.8%
20.3%prior 232
Possible Injury222possible injury crashes16.5%
-14.9%prior 261
Injury96minor injury crashes7.1%
-10.3%prior 107
No Injury703no injury crashes52.3%
4.6%prior 672

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

A comparison of crashes by posted speed limit reveals a shift in where collisions occurred. Compared to November 2017, November 2018 saw an increase in crashes in zones both below 40 mph and above 55 mph, alongside a decrease in incidents in mid-range speed zones (40-55 mph). In November 2018, fatal crashes were recorded in zones up to 75 mph, whereas in the prior year, the highest speed zone with a fatal crash was 70 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 1 of 195 (0.513%) · 45 mph: 1 of 137 (0.73%) · 50 mph: 1 of 59 (1.695%) · 60 mph: 1 of 44 (2.273%) · 65 mph: 1 of 117 (0.855%) · 70 mph: 1 of 41 (2.439%) · 75 mph: 1 of 5 (20%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30 · 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: 2018-11-01 through 2018-11-30
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2018-11-01 through 2018-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,344

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: November 2018." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-11-01 to 2018-11-30. 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/november-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 — November 2018 | ThatCarHitMe.com