Car Accidents in Austin: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System records every fatal crash on public roads. For 2023, crashes coded to Austin account for 94 deaths in 90 fatal crashes, fifth in Texas behind Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Fort Worth and ahead of El Paso. Travis County outside the city, and the fast-growing suburbs in Williamson and Hays Counties, add more.

Austin's pattern is pedestrians and the interstate. Forty-six of 90 fatal crashes, 51 percent, involved at least one person not in a vehicle, a share exceeded only by Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Albuquerque among the top 25 cities. The most common first harmful event, 69 crashes, was something other than hitting another moving vehicle. Only 18 fatal crashes, 20 percent, were intersection-related, the lowest share of any city in the top 25; Austin's fatal crashes happen on and beside I-35 and on the highways, not at city intersections.

Darkness was a factor in 58 of 90 fatal crashes, 64 percent, and 39 were on a weekend. FARS counts fatal crashes only; injury crashes in Travis County, reported through TxDOT, are many times more numerous, and Austin's own Vision Zero program publishes crash data by location.

FARS roadway coding, as reported by Texas, identifies where fatal crashes concentrated in 2023. I-35 and its frontage roads dominate.

• I-35: 6 fatal crashes on the main lanes through the city.
• I-35 frontage roads: 6 fatal crashes on the feeder roads beside the interstate, many involving pedestrians.
• SR-71 (Ben White Boulevard and the airport corridor): 4 fatal crashes.
• US-183 (Research Boulevard and Ed Bluestein Boulevard): 4 fatal crashes.
• FM 969 (Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard east of US-183): 3 fatal crashes.
• 7th Street: 3 fatal crashes in the central east side.

A pedestrian struck on an I-35 frontage road at night has an injury claim against the driver's liability insurer, and the defenses are predictable: the person was not at a crossing, was in dark clothing, was impaired, stepped into the road. On the frontage roads, where traffic exits the interstate at speed and crossings are rare, the fault argument turns on the driver's speed and attention and on the lighting at the location.

Texas's 51 percent bar makes that argument decisive. A pedestrian assigned 51 percent of the fault recovers nothing; at 50 percent, half. The physical evidence, the vehicle's event data recorder for speed, camera footage from businesses and CapMetro buses, and witnesses, is what moves the percentage, and it is gone within days if no one preserves it.

Pedestrians and cyclists often have coverage on their own household auto policies. Texas uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage applies to a named insured or household member struck by a vehicle on foot or on a bike, and with the at-fault driver frequently carrying the $30,000 minimum, that coverage is often the larger source. Hit-and-run crashes are uninsured motorist claims if reported to police promptly.

Suppose you were cycling on the I-35 frontage road at night, with lights, when a driver exiting the interstate at speed struck you from behind. You suffered a fractured pelvis, a broken collarbone and a concussion, with $125,000 in medical bills and five months off work. The driver's insurer argued you should not have been on the frontage road and assigned you 50 percent of the fault.

Cyclists have the same right to the frontage road as drivers under Texas law, and the rear driver is presumed at fault for following too closely or failing to see traffic ahead. The driver's event data recorder, preserved by a letter in the first week, showed a speed 15 miles over the limit with no braking. The fault assignment was renegotiated to 10 percent. The driver carried Texas's $30,000 minimum, which was paid; your household auto policy's underinsured motorist coverage of $100,000 paid the balance after the reduction, and your bike and gear were recovered as property damage.

A question was raised about the lighting on that stretch of frontage road, which would be a claim against TxDOT or the City of Austin under the Texas Tort Claims Act with a six-month notice requirement. The claim against the driver and the underinsured carrier settled at month sixteen, inside the two-year deadline. All figures are hypothetical.

Austin's crashes are pedestrian, cyclist and frontage road crashes at night, and the evidence that decides fault disappears quickly.

• Get the Austin Police Department or Travis County Sheriff's Office report number; Texas crash reports are available through TxDOT's online system.
• Identify every camera facing the location, including businesses and CapMetro buses, and have preservation letters sent within days.
• Ask that the vehicle not be scrapped before its event data recorder is downloaded.
• Photograph the lighting, the distance to the nearest crossing, and the position of the vehicle and the person or bike.
• Keep the bike, helmet and clothing as they are; they are evidence of the force and direction of impact.
• Check your own and your household members' auto policies for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage and personal injury protection, even if you were on foot or a bike.
• If lighting, road design or a missing crossing contributed, note the six-month Texas Tort Claims Act notice period and any shorter city charter requirement.

Texas is a fault state. The at-fault driver's liability insurer is the primary source of recovery. Texas insurers must offer personal injury protection of at least $2,500, which pays your own medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault unless rejected in writing, and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which can also be rejected. The minimum liability coverage is $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $25,000 for property damage.

Fault follows modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar under Texas's proportionate responsibility statute: you recover if your share is 50 percent or less, reduced by that share. The injury deadline is two years from the crash under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003. Claims against the City of Austin, Travis County, CapMetro or TxDOT fall under the Texas Tort Claims Act, with damage caps and a six-month notice requirement that city charters can shorten.

Crashes in Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, San Marcos and the rest of the metro follow the same Texas rules. Workers' compensation for a crash on the job runs through the Texas Division of Workers' Compensation with a one-year claim deadline, and Texas employers who have opted out of the system can be sued directly.

An Austin claim is often a pedestrian or cyclist claim on or beside I-35 where the fault percentage decides everything under Texas's 51 percent rule, the at-fault driver carries the minimum, and the injured person's own household coverage is the real source. The questions to answer early are what the recorders and cameras show, what coverage exists on both sides, and whether a public entity shares responsibility on a six-month clock. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Texas, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt in a crash in Austin or Travis County, as a driver, passenger, pedestrian or cyclist, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit

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