Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,536 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
OCTOBER 2016

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2015

In October 2016, Austin recorded 1,536 total traffic crashes, a 4.1% increase from the 1,475 crashes reported in October 2015. While total injuries remained relatively stable, rising from 978 to 994, the number of fatalities more than doubled, increasing from 3 to 7 year-over-year. This increase in fatalities represents the most significant change in the city's crash profile compared to the prior year.

1,536

▲ 4.1%was 1,475

Total Crash Events

7

▲ 133.3%was 3

Persons Killed

994

▲ 1.6%was 978

Persons Injured

8

▲ 166.7%was 3

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (7) 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 · 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Austin showed an increase in October 2016 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes rose by 4.1% from 1,475 to 1,536. This upward trend was also reflected in the severity of outcomes, with total injuries increasing by 1.6% and fatalities increasing from 3 to 7.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

7

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1↑600.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. In October 2016, the highest number of crashes occurred on Monday (257), a change from October 2015 when Friday was the peak day (269). The evening commute remained the most dangerous time, with the 5 PM hour being the peak for crashes in both years, although the number of crashes during this hour increased from 103 to 126 year-over-year.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes increased in October 2016 compared to the previous year. The number of fatal crashes more than doubled from 3 to 8, raising the fatal crash rate from 0.2% to 0.5% of all incidents. While the overall proportion of injury-involved crashes remained stable at approximately 45%, there was an increase in serious injury crashes, which rose from 27 to 33, representing 2.1% of all crashes compared to 1.8% in the prior year.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 8 fatal crash events resulted in 7 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal8fatal crashes0.5%
↑166.7%prior 3
Serious Injury33serious injury crashes2.1%
↑22.2%prior 27
Minor Injury307minor injury crashes20%
↑4.8%prior 293
Possible Injury345possible injury crashes22.5%
↓-1.4%prior 350
Injury118minor injury crashes7.7%
↑34.1%prior 88
No Injury725no injury crashes47.2%
↑1.5%prior 714

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

An analysis of crashes by posted speed limit shows a shift in crash locations between periods. Crashes on roads with speed limits of 65 mph or more decreased by 26.5% year-over-year, while crashes in 40-45 mph zones increased by 18.2%. The distribution of fatal crashes also changed; in October 2016, 7 of the 8 fatal crashes occurred across various zones from 30 mph to 65 mph. This contrasts with October 2015, where the 3 fatal crashes with recorded speed limits occurred at 30 mph and 60 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 130 (0.769%) · 35 mph: 2 of 236 (0.847%) · 40 mph: 1 of 119 (0.84%) · 50 mph: 1 of 79 (1.266%) · 65 mph: 2 of 93 (2.151%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31 · 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: 2016-10-01 through 2016-10-31
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2016-10-01 through 2016-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,536

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 2016." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2016-10-01 to 2016-10-31. 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-2016-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 — October 2016 | ThatCarHitMe.com