Last month we reported on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's early estimates for road accident deaths in the first quarter of 2022. The organization claimed that a monumental 9,560 people had lost their lives in traffic accidents during this period, which is a seven percent increase over the same period last year. This comes after records were broken in 2020 and 2021. Even more worrying is the fact that the results for 2022 are the worst first quarter results since 2002. Now the NHTSA has come up with some new numbers, and the figures paint a mixed picture.

The NHTSA has officially posted its early estimates for road deaths in the first half of 2022. According to the report, an estimated 20,175 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, an increase of around 0.5 percent compared to the same period last year. This isn't great news by any means, but there is some light at the end of the blood-stained tunnel: the NHTSA also estimates that the second quarter of 2022, from April to June, saw the first decrease in road fatalities after seven consecutive quarters.

"Traffic deaths appear to be declining for the first time since 2020, but they are still at high levels that call for urgent and sustained action," said U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg. "These deaths are preventable, not inevitable, and we should act accordingly. Safety is our guiding mission at the Department of Transportation, and we will redouble our efforts to reduce the tragic number of deaths on our nation's roads."

The news of the decline comes after Buttigieg unveiled the National Roadway Safety Strategy, which aims to significantly reduce road accident deaths by upgrading its New Car Assessment Program and has been passing new rules on safety systems such as rear impact guards for trailers and semi-trailers.

The latest figures are backed up by numbers from the USDOT's FHWA, which shows that Americans traveled 2.8 percent further in this period, or about 43.2 billion miles, while fatalities decreased to 1.27 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). That's down from the 1.30 fatalities per 100 million VMT in the first half of 2021.

"Although it is heartening to see a projected decline in roadway deaths in recent months, the number of people dying on roads in this country remains a crisis," declared Ann Carlson, the NHTSA's acting administrator. "Now is the time for all stakeholders, including states, local transportation entities, industry, nonprofits, and others, to leverage the significant funding and tools provided under the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and join with USDOT in implementing the National Roadway Safety Strategy's safe system approach, so we can turn the tide on years of increasing deaths."

Despite the increase in driver assistance systems, people still seem to drive like idiots, and it would seem that even if the government bought everyone a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, death rates would still read like a low-level war.