NHTSA Reports Increase in Traffic Deaths For the First Time in 5 Years, Baffles Experts

U.S. traffic deaths increased by nine percent in the first six months of the year, to 16,290 people, the most since 2009, according to a preliminary report by the National Highway Safety Administration.

The latest findings interrupt a 5-year continuous downward trend, which resulted in what the administration called a “historic” 60-year low in 2011. The NHTSA report does not examine causes, and a full report of analyzed data could take more than a year.

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German Gov. Mulling Subsidizing EVs, Which So Far, Haven’t Made a Blip on the Sales Radar

In the first eight months of the year, new passenger car registrations in Germany were more than 2.108 million units. According to a study from the Center of Automotive Research (CAR) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, electric cars registrations in the country, were just 2.272, which accounts for a negligible 0.1 percent market share.

The thing is that Chancellor Angela Merkel has set a target of having one million fossil-free, i.e. electric- and fuel-cell powered vehicles, on German roads by 2020 – a goal which Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of CAR, finds “unworldly and naive” to continue pursuing.

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2011 World Auto Production Sets New Records, Global “Fleet” Could Top 1 Billion by Year’s End

The Worldwatch Institute reports that global production of passenger vehicles, i.e. cars and light commercial trucks, set a new record in 2011 with 76.8 million units compared to 74.4 million in 2010.

This means that at the end of 2011 a total of 691 million passenger cars were on roads all over the world, rising to 979 million if we include light- and heavy-duty trucks.

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