The number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities for the first half of 2012 increased 9 percent from the previous year, U.S. traffic officials said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated 16,290 people died in car crashes from January through June this year, up from 14,950 in the first six months of 2011. \"This news is very disturbing,\" said Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. \"We have worked decades to reduce fatalities in America ... but this is a serious shot across the bow, a warning that as we drive more, our roads may not be as safe as we thought they were.\" The 9 percent increase in deaths from 2011 is the largest jump from the previous year since the administration began collecting data in 1975, CNN reported Friday. \"While it is too soon to speculate on the contributing factors or potential implications of any increase on our roadways, it should be noted that the historic downward trend in traffic fatalities in the past several years... means any comparison will be to an unprecedented low baseline figure,\" the administration said in a statement. The report said car crash deaths during the first half of the year have declined about 27 percent from a recent high in 2006 of 20,500 deaths.