Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

1,056 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
SEPTEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2022

In September 2023, Austin recorded 1,056 total traffic crashes, a 12.1% decrease from the 1,201 crashes reported in September 2022. This downward trend was also reflected in crash outcomes, with total fatalities dropping from 11 to 7 year-over-year. The most significant change was the reduction in pedestrian fatalities, which fell from 5 in the prior period to 1 in the current period.

1,056

▼ -12.1%was 1,201

Total Crash Events

7

▼ -36.4%was 11

Persons Killed

723

▼ -18.1%was 883

Persons Injured

9

▼ -10.0%was 10

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (7) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (9) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Data for September 2023 indicates a notable year-over-year decrease in traffic collisions and their severity in Austin. Total crashes fell by 145 incidents, from 1,201 to 1,056, compared to September 2022. This trend extended to crash outcomes, with total injuries decreasing from 883 to 723 and fatalities declining from 11 to 7.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 5↓-80.0%

5

Motorists Killed

Prior: 5→0.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0→0.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes remained consistent between September 2022 and September 2023. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both periods, with 221 incidents in 2023 and 225 in 2022. Similarly, the 5 p.m. hour continued to be the single hour with the most crashes, recording 90 in 2023 and 95 in the prior year, indicating no significant shift in peak collision times.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While the absolute number of fatal crashes decreased from 10 to 9 year-over-year, their proportion of all crashes increased slightly from 0.8% to 0.9%. The share of crashes resulting in serious injuries saw a small decline from 3.2% to 3.0%. Conversely, the proportion of crashes with no reported injuries rose from 45.1% in September 2022 to 46.0% in September 2023.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 9 fatal crash events resulted in 7 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal9fatal crashes0.9%
↓-10.0%prior 10
Serious Injury32serious injury crashes3%
↓-17.9%prior 39
Minor Injury236minor injury crashes22.3%
↓-9.6%prior 261
Possible Injury227possible injury crashes21.5%
↓-16.2%prior 271
Injury66minor injury crashes6.3%
↓-15.4%prior 78
No Injury486no injury crashes46%
↓-10.3%prior 542

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

In September 2023, the distribution of crashes shifted across different speed zones compared to the previous year. There was an increase in crashes in 45 mph zones (186 vs. 161) and 65 mph zones (140 vs. 122), while crashes in 70 mph zones decreased from 64 to 35. Fatal crashes in 2023 were spread across zones of 35 mph or higher, with two fatal crashes each in 45, 65, and 70 mph zones. This contrasts with the prior period, where the speed limit data shows a concentration of four fatal crashes in the 55 mph zone, a zone which had zero fatal crashes in September 2023.

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 1 of 183 (0.546%) · 40 mph: 1 of 84 (1.19%) · 45 mph: 2 of 186 (1.075%) · 60 mph: 1 of 72 (1.389%) · 65 mph: 2 of 140 (1.429%) · 70 mph: 2 of 35 (5.714%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · 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: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 1,056

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 2023." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30. 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-2023-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 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com