Less traffic enforcement could mean more traffic deaths in Austin, city audit finds

Austin police officer Maris Hayward gives a warning to a motorist who failed to move over a lane or low down to 20 mph under the speed limit on MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) in 2019.  Texas law says vehicles must do so if the pass an emergency vehicle with its lights activated.
Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman File

Austin American-Statesman
Skye Seipp, Austin American-Statesman
December 4, 2023

Less traffic enforcement by law officers might have caused the number of fatal traffic incidents to increase in Austin in recent years, according to an audit released by the city last week.

In addition to looking at Austin, auditors checked the resources of Dallas, San Antonio and Seattle and found that each city has seen a reduction in the number of traffic citations over the past few years and an increase in the number of traffic deaths.

"It appears citations play a significant role in traffic safety enforcement since they may prevent drivers from adopting dangerous driving behaviors," the report states.

These findings come as Austin and the three other cities continue to face staffing shortages in their police departments. Auditors also noted that there were fewer crashes and deaths during the deployment of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers in Austin earlier this year.

Connection between traffic deaths, enforcement

Auditors came to the conclusion that more traffic enforcement correlates with fewer traffic deaths after analyzing 17 other studies done in cities, states or on a national level. Those studies included one that found traffic stops did not share a correlation with traffic deaths.

While traffic enforcement can help improve safety on roads, the audit states that simply increasing enforcement will not help, as it has to be strategic.

Austin, other cities have seen police officer shortages

The audit noted that traffic enforcement in Austin is handled by the Police Department's Highway Enforcement Command, which has seen a reduction in its force by 100 officers. Reductions started in 2019 but increased severely in 2021. The number of citations issued by Austin police has dropped 70% since 2019, according to the audit, and the peer cities stated that they've also reduced the number of citations.

"According to APD staff, police staffing challenges are a national trend and very few jurisdictions have enough resources for a separate, specialized traffic force," the audit states.

The Austin Police Department started seeing a number of people retire or leave in 2020, echoing a national trend, after high-profile police killings of people of color spurred calls for more police accountability. Efforts to replace officers who left were further hampered when the city canceled three of its cadet classes starting in 2020.

Auditors also noted that the city has tried increasing traffic enforcement by supplying a large sum of cash for officers to get overtime to perform traffic patrols. The initiative has been unsuccessful, though. The Transportation and Public Works Department slashed the funding it was originally allocating because not enough officers were signing up to work the overtime shifts.

Auditors found that Seattle, facing similar staffing issues as Austin police, moved away from traditional traffic enforcement and instead uses automated speed cameras for traffic enforcement, something that is not permitted under state law in Texas.

Rate of traffic injuries, locations of deaths

Other findings in the report show that while traffic deaths increased 63%, the number of crashes resulting in serious injuries stayed consistent.

Additionally, deaths on state-owned roads were found to account for the majority of traffic deaths in the city. For the four years auditors looked at traffic deaths, those numbers increased 80% on state-owned roads. Of the 117 fatal crashes last year, 88 happened on state-owned roads.

Other recommendations by former Austin police chief

Many of the findings in this audit echo a memo sent by former Police Chief Joe Chacon last December about the rising number of traffic deaths in the city. Chacon's memo highlighted actions that could be taken to help reduce the number of traffic deaths amid the department's ongoing staffing shortages, such as by reprioritizing traffic stops to focus on those that directly affect public safety.

Other recommendations made by Chacon included having speed cameras and red light cameras, both of which are banned by state law. He also suggested increasing punishment with higher fines or other types of consequences such as driver education programs like those found in New York.