Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,372 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
SEPTEMBER 2016

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2015

In September 2016, Austin recorded 1,372 total traffic crashes, a 4.3% increase from the 1,315 crashes reported in September 2015. While the total number of fatalities remained unchanged at six, crashes involving bicyclists saw a notable rise, increasing 63.2% from 19 to 31 incidents. The distribution of fatalities also shifted, with motorcyclist deaths increasing from zero in the prior period to three in September 2016.

1,372

▲ 4.3%was 1,315

Total Crash Events

6

Persons Killed

901

▲ 3.7%was 869

Persons Injured

6

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 · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Austin showed a slight increase in September 2016 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes rose by 4.3%, from 1,315 to 1,372. Similarly, the number of people injured in these incidents increased by 3.7% to 901, while the number of fatalities held steady at six for both periods.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 3↓-66.7%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3↓-33.3%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between September 2015 and September 2016. The peak day for crashes moved from Wednesday (236 crashes) in the prior year to Friday (269 crashes) in the current period, indicating a shift towards the end of the week. While the evening rush hour at 5 p.m. remained the single busiest hour for crashes in both years, its volume increased from 105 to 121 incidents.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The overall severity of crashes showed a mixed but stable profile year-over-year. The fatal crash rate decreased slightly from 0.46% to 0.44% of all crashes, though the absolute number of fatal incidents remained constant at six. The proportion of crashes resulting in serious injuries also saw a small decline, from 3.3% to 2.9%. Conversely, crashes involving minor or possible injuries increased as a share of the total, rising from a combined 41.1% in September 2015 to 43.2% in September 2016.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal6fatal crashes0.4%
→0.0%prior 6
Serious Injury40serious injury crashes2.9%
↓-7.0%prior 43
Minor Injury279minor injury crashes20.3%
↑7.3%prior 260
Possible Injury314possible injury crashes22.9%
↑12.1%prior 280
Injury114minor injury crashes8.3%
↑35.7%prior 84
No Injury619no injury crashes45.1%
↓-3.6%prior 642

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across different speed zones remained relatively consistent, with most incidents in both periods occurring in zones between 30 mph and 60 mph. There was a slight decrease in crashes reported in zones of 35 mph or less (from 360 to 342) and in zones of 50 mph or more. However, the profile of fatal crashes changed notably; in September 2015, fatalities occurred across a wide range of speed zones, while in September 2016, all four fatal crashes with recorded speed limits happened in zones posted at 45 mph or higher.

Fatal crashes by zone: 45 mph: 1 of 178 (0.562%) · 55 mph: 2 of 141 (1.418%) · 60 mph: 1 of 64 (1.563%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30 · 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: 2016-09-01 through 2016-09-30
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2016-09-01 through 2016-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,372

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 2016." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2016-09-01 to 2016-09-30. 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-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 — September 2016 | ThatCarHitMe.com