102 people killed in Austin traffic incidents this year
On Thursday morning, Austin Police got the type of call that's become all too familiar to them in 2015: a traffic fatality.
"When officers arrived, they found a subject laying next to the motorcycle deceased," said Corporal Chad Martinka.
According to EMS, the man was in his 30's.
Corporal Martinka says they believe he lost control and hit a curb while heading south on Hunter's Chase.
Someone saw his body in the median around noon and called 911.
"It's unknown when this happened, possibly sometime early this morning," Martinka said.
APD says any witnesses to the accident are encouraged to call police.
Last year, the number of traffic fatalities was 63.
This traffic fatality makes 102 in Austin this year.
"The number is obviously astounding to be that high," Martinka said.
And it's the highest it's been since APD started keeping track in 1985.
"The amount of people that are coming in everyday and the fact that you know our infrastructure hasn't changed. They're working on it but it's not able to keep up with the amount of people coming in," he said.
The number is also shocking to Sara Levine with ATX Safer Streets.
"It makes us very sad. It makes us worried because it's clear that we have a lot more work to do and it's also clear that with the influx of people coming into town, people that live here have a lot of work to do," she said.
According to numbers from APD, intoxicated pedestrians and intoxicated drivers accounted for 64% of this year's fatal crashes.
Levine says not only should people not drive drunk, they should encourage their friends not to as well.
"We have a culture of drinking and driving in this town. We also have very bad traffic. People speed...leave 5 minutes earlier so that you're not rushing to get to work. There are so many small simple things that everybody that lives here can do to make everybody safer," Levine said.