Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

999 CRASHES IN
AUSTIN, TX
SEPTEMBER 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2023

In September 2024, Austin recorded 999 traffic crashes, a 5.4% decrease from the 1,056 crashes recorded in September 2023. Despite the overall reduction in collisions, the number of traffic fatalities increased from 7 to 9 during the same period. This increase was driven by a rise in pedestrian fatalities, which grew from 1 in the prior period to 4 in the current period.

999

-5.4%was 1,056

Total Crash Events

9

28.6%was 7

Persons Killed

701

-3.0%was 723

Persons Injured

10

11.1%was 9

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (9) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (10) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data for September indicates a downward trend in the total number of crashes and injuries in Austin. Total crashes decreased by 5.4%, from 1,056 in September 2023 to 999 in September 2024, while total injuries fell by 3.0% from 723 to 701. However, traffic fatalities increased by 28.6%, rising from 7 to 9 over the same period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

4

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1300.0%

2

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 5-80.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Injured

Prior: 00.0%

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30 · 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 a notable shift between September 2023 and September 2024. The day with the highest number of collisions moved from Friday in the prior year, with 221 crashes, to Monday in the current year, with 168 crashes. The peak time for crashes remained in the afternoon commute, shifting slightly from the 5 p.m. hour (90 crashes) in 2023 to the 4 p.m. hour (88 crashes) in 2024.

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes increased slightly year-over-year. The number of fatal crashes rose from 9 to 10, with their share of all crashes increasing from 0.9% to 1.0%. Similarly, crashes resulting in serious injuries increased from 32 to 35, and their proportion of all collisions grew from 3.0% to 3.5%. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injury was nearly unchanged, accounting for 46.0% in the prior period and 46.3% in the current period.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 10 fatal crash events resulted in 9 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal10fatal crashes1%
11.1%prior 9
Serious Injury35serious injury crashes3.5%
9.4%prior 32
Minor Injury226minor injury crashes22.6%
-4.2%prior 236
Possible Injury204possible injury crashes20.4%
-10.1%prior 227
Injury61minor injury crashes6.1%
-7.6%prior 66
No Injury463no injury crashes46.3%
-4.7%prior 486

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Speed Limit Zones

A comparison of crash locations by speed limit shows a decrease in collisions on roads with posted speeds between 30 mph and 45 mph, which fell from 546 in September 2023 to 503 in September 2024. Conversely, crashes in zones of 25 mph or less increased from 35 to 44. In the current period, roads with a 35 mph speed limit accounted for the highest number of fatal crashes, with 3 of the 10 total fatalities. This contrasts with the prior year, where higher speed zones of 65 mph and 70 mph each saw 2 of the 9 fatal crashes.

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 3 of 170 (1.765%) · 40 mph: 2 of 89 (2.247%) · 45 mph: 1 of 163 (0.613%) · 55 mph: 2 of 81 (2.469%) · 60 mph: 1 of 62 (1.613%) · 70 mph: 1 of 34 (2.941%)

Source: Austin Crash Reports · Socrata Open Data · 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30 · 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: 2024-09-01 through 2024-09-30
  • Report generated: July 6, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-09-01 through 2024-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: Austin, TX
  • Total crash records analyzed: 999

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 2024." Published July 6, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-09-01 to 2024-09-30. 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-2024-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 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com