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At a time when good news in the trucking industry is hard to come by, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration served up a generous helping of it last week when it said that truck-related highway fatalities plummeted 12% last year.

Trucking continues to search for irrefutable proof that the worst of the recession is behind us. While that proof has proved elusive, we are seeing some hints that things are improving.

We need to be leery of the battle involving the Obama administration, the Senate and the House of Representatives over the direction of federal transportation policy out of concern that political bickering could delay necessary decisions and infrastructure projects.

The use of diesel fuel has fallen sharply as freight levels have nose-dived during the global recession. The home-heating oil season has ended, so there is no competition for the distillate both heating oil and diesel are made from.

An emphasis on driver behavior runs through an 18-point plan developed by American Trucking Associations to reduce crashes involving cars and trucks. Chilling statistics illuminate why this kind of focus is essential.

Retail diesel prices in the United States hit their highest mark since December, as increasing crude oil costs work deeper into the fuel supply.

Freight levels continue to dive, even as there are increasing signs that the recession’s bottom has been touched and most economists are predicting that U.S. economic growth will resume in the year’s last quarter.

Some 10,000 enforcement officers plan to mix a little fiscal accountability with their safety inspections during next week’s Roadcheck campaign, and we hope that is not a bad idea.

Ever so slowly, less-bad economic news — and even some good news — is beginning to pop up among the seemingly never-ending crop of troubling news that you have been seeing in this newspaper every week for about a year.

If you have any doubts about the future direction of fuel prices, pay attention to what’s happening today.