Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,220 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
OCTOBER 2010

In October 2010, Austin recorded 1,220 motor vehicle crashes, resulting in 6 fatalities and 980 injuries. Analysis of collision types reveals that same-direction crashes, including rear-end incidents, were a dominant pattern, collectively accounting for over a third of all reported collisions.

1,220

Total Crash Events

6

Persons Killed

980

Persons Injured

5

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 · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

5

Motorists Killed

0

Motorists Injured

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

Crash frequency in Austin during this period peaked on Fridays, which saw 252 incidents. The single busiest hour for crashes was the 5 p.m. evening commute hour, with 104 crashes. Hourly data shows elevated crash counts during both morning (7 a.m. to 9 a.m.) and evening (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) commute periods, with the evening peak being more pronounced.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Of the 1,220 crashes, 43.1% resulted in no injuries, categorized as property damage only. Crashes involving some level of injury (possible, minor, or serious) constituted a combined 49.2% of all incidents. There were 5 fatal crashes recorded in this period, which may differ from the total number of fatalities as a single crash can result in multiple deaths.

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%
Serious Injury37serious injury crashes3%
Minor Injury287minor injury crashes23.5%
Possible Injury277possible injury crashes22.7%
Injury88minor injury crashes7.2%
No Injury526no injury crashes43.1%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The highest number of crashes occurred in zones with a posted speed limit of 35 mph, accounting for 198 incidents, followed by 45 mph zones with 182 crashes. Regarding fatality risk, 1.94% of crashes in 65 mph zones were fatal, the highest rate among all speed zones. The single fatal crashes in the 30 mph, 45 mph, and 50 mph zones represented fatality rates of 0.65%, 0.55%, and 1.12% within those respective zones.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 155 (0.645%) · 45 mph: 1 of 182 (0.549%) · 50 mph: 1 of 89 (1.124%) · 65 mph: 2 of 103 (1.942%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location

Serious Injuries by Road User

Among the 45 individuals who sustained suspected serious injuries, 28 were motor-vehicle occupants. Vulnerable road users, including 8 motorcyclists, 6 pedestrians, and 3 bicyclists, collectively accounted for 17 of the serious injuries reported.

Posted Speed Limit

Crashes occurred most frequently on roads with posted speed limits of 30–35 mph, which saw 353 incidents. A significant number of crashes also happened on higher-speed roads; zones with speeds of 50 mph or more accounted for a combined 390 crashes, comprising 283 in 50-60 mph zones and 107 in zones 65 mph or more.

Posted Speed Limit

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Crash-level records

State Highway vs Local Street

The distribution of crashes was nearly even between city-managed streets and the state highway system. City and local streets accounted for 620 crashes, while TxDOT State-System Highways were the location for the remaining 600 incidents, representing 49.2% of all crashes in this period.

State Highway vs Local Street

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Crash-level records

Units / Modes Involved

The most common crash configuration involved a large passenger vehicle and a passenger car, accounting for 459 incidents. Crashes involving only passenger cars (366 incidents) or only large passenger vehicles (209 incidents) were also frequent. Vulnerable road users were involved in several crash types, including 19 crashes between a bicycle and a passenger car, 16 between a motorcycle and a passenger car, and 14 between a large passenger vehicle and a pedestrian.

Units / Modes Involved

1
Large passenger vehicle & Passenger car459 (37.6%)
2
Passenger car366 (30%)
3
Large passenger vehicle209 (17.1%)
4
Large passenger vehicle & Motor vehicle – other26 (2.1%)
5
Motor vehicle – other & Passenger car24 (2%)
6
Bicycle & Passenger car19 (1.6%)
7
Motorcycle & Passenger car16 (1.3%)
8
Large passenger vehicle & Motorcycle14 (1.1%)
9
Large passenger vehicle & Pedestrian14 (1.1%)

Showing top 9 of 26 reported. 17 additional (73 total) not shown: Passenger car & Pedestrian, Motorcycle, Bicycle & Large passenger vehicle, Large passenger vehicle & Other/Unknown & Passenger car, Large passenger vehicle & Other/Unknown, Motor vehicle – other & Other/Unknown & Passenger car, Large passenger vehicle & Motor vehicle – other & Passenger car, Motor vehicle – other & Other/Unknown, Other/Unknown & Passenger car, Large passenger vehicle & Motor vehicle – other & Other/Unknown & Passenger car, Large passenger vehicle & Motorcycle & Passenger car, Large passenger vehicle & Motor vehicle – other & Other/Unknown, Motor vehicle – other, Motor vehicle – other & Pedestrian, Motorcycle & Motor vehicle – other, Bicycle & Motor vehicle – other, Bicycle & Motorcycle.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Crash-level records

Manner of Collision

The most prevalent crash type was single-vehicle incidents where the vehicle was going straight, accounting for 19% of all collisions. Rear-end type collisions were also very common, with crashes involving one moving and one stopped vehicle making up 18.1% of incidents, and those where both vehicles were moving straight comprising another 14.8%.

Manner of Collision

"Other" combines 17 smaller categories (185 records): ANGLE - ONE STRAIGHT-ONE RIGHT TURN (40), ONE MOTOR VEHICLE - TURNING LEFT (39), SAME DIRECTION - BOTH RIGHT TURN (23), SAME DIRECTION - ONE STRAIGHT-ONE RIGHT TURN (18), ONE MOTOR VEHICLE - TURNING RIGHT (17), SAME DIRECTION - ONE STRAIGHT-ONE LEFT TURN (16), OPPOSITE DIRECTION - BOTH GOING STRAIGHT (8), ONE MOTOR VEHICLE - BACKING (6), ANGLE - ONE STRAIGHT-ONE BACKING (3), ONE MOTOR VEHICLE - OTHER (3), ANGLE - ONE LEFT TURN-ONE STOPPED (2), OPPOSITE DIRECTION - ONE RIGHT TURN-ONE LEFT TURN (2), OPPOSITE DIRECTION - ONE STRAIGHT-ONE BACKING (2), ANGLE - ONE RIGHT TURN-ONE STOPPED (2), SAME DIRECTION - BOTH LEFT TURN (2), OPPOSITE DIRECTION - ONE STRAIGHT-ONE STOPPED (1), OPPOSITE DIRECTION - BOTH LEFT TURNS (1).

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31 · Crash-level records

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: 2010-10-01 through 2010-10-31
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2010-10-01 through 2010-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,220

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: October 2010." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2010-10-01 to 2010-10-31. 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/october-2010-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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Austin, TX Crash Report — October 2010 | ThatCarHitMe.com