Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,315 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
SEPTEMBER 2015

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2014

In September 2015, Austin recorded 1,315 total vehicle crashes, a 13.0% increase from the 1,164 crashes reported in September 2014. This rise in collisions was accompanied by an increase in total injuries from 777 to 869. The most significant year-over-year change was the number of fatalities, which tripled from 2 in the prior period to 6 in the current period.

1,315

13.0%was 1,164

Total Crash Events

6

200.0%was 2

Persons Killed

869

11.8%was 777

Persons Injured

6

200.0%was 2

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (6) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (6) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for September 2015 indicates a rising trend in traffic incidents compared to the same month in 2014. Total crashes increased by 151, from 1,164 to 1,315. Similarly, the number of people injured rose from 777 to 869, and fatalities increased from 2 to 6.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

3

Motorists Killed

Prior: 250.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30 · 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 some shifts between September 2014 and September 2015. The peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday (203 incidents) in the prior year to Wednesday (236 incidents) in the current year. However, the peak hour for collisions remained consistent at 5 p.m. in both periods, with the number of crashes during this hour increasing from 89 to 105.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes worsened year-over-year, with the fatal crash rate increasing from 0.17% in September 2014 to 0.46% in September 2015. This corresponds to a rise in fatal crashes from 2 to 6. While the proportion of crashes resulting in serious injury decreased slightly from 3.5% to 3.3%, the share of minor injury crashes grew from 19.4% to 19.8%. The percentage of crashes with no injuries remained stable at 48.8% in both periods.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal6fatal crashes0.5%
200.0%prior 2
Serious Injury43serious injury crashes3.3%
4.9%prior 41
Minor Injury260minor injury crashes19.8%
15.0%prior 226
Possible Injury280possible injury crashes21.3%
8.9%prior 257
Injury84minor injury crashes6.4%
20.0%prior 70
No Injury642no injury crashes48.8%
13.0%prior 568

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

Year-over-year data shows an increase in crashes across all posted speed limit zones, with a notable shift towards higher-speed roadways. Crashes in 50-60 mph zones increased from 245 to 305, while those in zones 65 mph or higher rose from 101 to 134. In September 2014, the two fatal crashes occurred in 55-60 mph zones. By contrast, the six fatal crashes in September 2015 were distributed across a wider range of speed limits, from 25 mph to 70 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 19 (5.263%) · 35 mph: 1 of 211 (0.474%) · 40 mph: 1 of 86 (1.163%) · 50 mph: 1 of 75 (1.333%) · 55 mph: 1 of 151 (0.662%) · 70 mph: 1 of 43 (2.326%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30 · 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: 2015-09-01 through 2015-09-30
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2015-09-01 through 2015-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,315

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: September 2015." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2015-09-01 to 2015-09-30. 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/september-2015-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 — September 2015 | ThatCarHitMe.com