Although Austin has fewer overall automobile crashes than other major Texas cities, the percentage of crashes involving serious injury or death of a pedestrian is still at the same rate — 27.9 percent– as other large Texas cities. That is one conclusion of the special report from the Austin City Auditor’s Office. Council members Zo Qadri and Paige Ellis requested the report to try to understand how Austin police officers respond to crashes, especially those involving pedestrians and enforcement of the Lisa Torry Smith Act.
The law was passed in response to the death of Smith, who was killed while walking her child to school in a crosswalk in 2017. Under the law, officers in Texas are required to file a special report within 10 days for crashes that involve injury, death or $1000 or more in property damage.
Between September 2021 and July 2025, auditors reported that there were more than 52,000 crash reports in Austin. Although pedestrians were involved in only about 3 percent of those crashes, about 28 percent of those that involved pedestrians resulted in serious injury or death.
Members of the audit report team compared data involving pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries. They found that Austin had the highest percentage of crashes that involved a pedestrian at 3.2 percent. Transportation and Public Works staff told auditors that they thought one reason for the higher level of pedestrian involvement in crashes may be because Austin has more pedestrian activity than the other Texas cities.
According to a recent study released by Vision Zero, “Austin continues to have the lowest per capita serious injury and fatality rate” among large Texas cities. But that study also found that Austin still has too many pedestrian deaths.
Auditors looked at convictions under Lisa Torry Smith Act for Travis, Dallas, El Paso, Tarrant, Harris, and Bexar counties. Travis County has seen one conviction and one case is pending. Bexar County reported one conviction, one dismissal and one case still pending.
According to the report, only Dallas County has reported a significant number of formal charges under the act. Dallas County has nine cases pending, with two convictions, one dismissal and two cases rejected by prosecutors or a grand jury. Harris County has one case pending, one rejected by the grand jury and one dismissed. Both Tarrant County and El Paso County showed no convictions or pending cases.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office said their officers investigate all crosswalk crashes they respond to and in some instances the District Attorney’s Office may also help collect evidence at the scene. Auditors said, “More training and coordination between police and prosecutors in Dallas may explain why they have filed more charges under the Act” compared to peer cities.
Based on 911 call data, auditors said. APD responded to more than 85,000 calls related to traffic crashes between September 2021 and July 2025. They noted that officers did not file a crash report in more than half of those cases.
Auditors noted that prosecutors can file criminal charges under a number of statutes and let a jury decide which are the most appropriate based on evidence. Staff from APD and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office told members of the audit team it can be difficult to prove because of the way the law is written. “It states that the driver must have acted ‘with criminal negligence.’ Witness testimony or video footage that shows the driver was speeding or on their phone, for example, can help prove criminal negligence,” the report says, but they noted that such evidence is not always available.
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