Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,362 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
SEPTEMBER 2018

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2017

In September 2018, Austin recorded 1,362 motor vehicle crashes, a slight decrease from the 1,378 crashes reported in September 2017. This represents a 1.2% year-over-year reduction in total collisions. While overall crashes and fatalities declined, the number of pedestrians killed doubled from two in the prior period to four in the current period.

1,362

▼ -1.2%was 1,378

Total Crash Events

5

▼ -28.6%was 7

Persons Killed

848

Persons Injured

6

▼ -14.3%was 7

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (5) 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 · 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for September indicates a relatively stable trend year-over-year. Total crashes decreased slightly by 1.2%, from 1,378 in September 2017 to 1,362 in September 2018. The number of people injured remained unchanged at 848 in both periods, while total fatalities fell from seven to five.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 2↑100.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 4↓-75.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes showed some shifts between September 2017 and September 2018. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (255 crashes) in the prior year to Thursday (217 crashes) in the current year. Similarly, the peak hour for collisions shifted slightly earlier, from 5 PM (107 crashes) in 2017 to 4 PM (100 crashes) in 2018.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The overall severity of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. The proportion of crashes resulting in an injury (Serious, Minor, or Possible) was stable, at 43.8% in September 2018 compared to 43.0% in September 2017. Fatal crashes decreased from 7 to 6, and the fatal crash rate saw a corresponding drop from 0.51% to 0.44% of all collisions.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 6 fatal crash events resulted in 5 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal6fatal crashes0.4%
↓-14.3%prior 7
Serious Injury33serious injury crashes2.4%
↓-5.7%prior 35
Minor Injury293minor injury crashes21.5%
↑4.6%prior 280
Possible Injury270possible injury crashes19.8%
↓-2.9%prior 278
Injury95minor injury crashes7%
↓-2.1%prior 97
No Injury665no injury crashes48.8%
↓-2.3%prior 681

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across different speed zones shows a minor shift from higher to lower speed areas. In September 2018, there were more crashes in zones posted at 35 mph or less (341) compared to the prior year (326). Conversely, crashes in zones 60 mph or higher decreased from 212 to 191. All four fatal crashes with a recorded speed limit in September 2018 occurred in zones between 45 and 55 mph, whereas the six fatal crashes in the prior period were distributed across zones from 30 mph to 60 mph.

Fatal crashes by zone: 45 mph: 1 of 156 (0.641%) · 50 mph: 1 of 68 (1.471%) · 55 mph: 2 of 118 (1.695%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · 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: 2018-09-01 through 2018-09-30
  • Report generated: July 5, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2018-09-01 through 2018-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,362

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 2018." Published July 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30. 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-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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Austin, TX Crash Report — September 2018 | ThatCarHitMe.com