I don't understand how your conclusion follows from the graph. That data would appear to indicate the opposite: that regulation had no effect. The graph shows

I don't understand how your conclusion follows from the graph. That data would appear to indicate the opposite: that regulation had no effect. The graph shows that vehicle safety improved steadily throughout the entire 20th century, without any sharp discontinuities. The key line is deaths per billion VMT. That is the figure which is invariant to how much driving people do, and which thus accurately measures how safe driving as an activity is. You appear to be looking at "deaths per million people" but that figure is confounded by big changes driven by the economy, which is why the 1970s energy crisis is highlighted on the graph. All you're seeing there is economic change, not change driven by regulation. If regulation would have actually made a difference then it'd show up in the red line, but it doesn't. Conclusion: the regulation is useless. Private companies were doing fine at improving safety and always have been. And as regulations have costs, that in turn suggests they should be scrapped (zero impact + non-zero costs = repeal).