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When Amtrak’s City of New Orleans slammed into a steel-laden flatbed trailer rolling over a track in Bourbonnais, Ill., in March, it did more than take the lives of 11 train passengers. The crash spotlighted some of the deficiencies that undercut the commercial driver licensing system.

A large part of the federal government’s safety enforcement effort is directed by the Safety Status Measurement System (a.k.a. SafeStat), which computes much of the information collected on motor carriers to come up with a single number — or score — that indicates how safe a trucking company is compared with all others.

Are highway travelers safe from big trucks? It all depends on what numbers are used to quantify safety.

Congress and the federal government have squabbled for more than 30 years over the placement of motor carrier safety programs and the best mix of enforcement and outreach efforts.

When it comes to delivering new safety rules for the trucking industry, regulators — who are required to navigate a treacherous course of legal obstacles — haven’t exactly provided just-in-time service.

Signaling the start of the fall debate over motor carrier safety, the group representing tank truck companies is pushing Congress to penalize shippers and others who urge carriers or drivers to deliver loads in violation of safety regulations, especially hours of service.

Before a restructuring in January brought into being the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety, Julie Cirillo, who heads the new agency, said the responsibility for safety among trucks, buses, roadside construction zones and pedestrians was “sprinkled throughout the Federal Highway Administration.

Those who insist that “black boxes” are the best way to track driver hours of service are trying to avoid a collision with trucking people who fear that onboard computers will be used to collect too much information.

Truckers are concerned about an enforcement memorandum issued to regional branches of the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety that they say greatly expands federal jurisdiction over the hours of service for primarily in-state carriers.