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We were all disappointed to see the rise in fatalities in truck-related crashes on our nation’s roads during 2010, as reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

After three years of notable declines in highway fatalities, the new and preliminary data show that 3,675 people were killed in crashes involving heavy trucks last year.

And while we’d wish otherwise, most of us had understood that declines in the death toll were unlikely to continue indefinitely.

What we hope will not be lost in the clamor that some interest groups are sure to try and stir up in the wake of this latest report is that the results still rank among the best in history.

In fact, over the past 10 years, fatal crashes involving heavy trucks have declined by 35%, even as the number of heavy trucks on the road has increased by 41%.

We won’t know what the fatality rate for 2010 was until the Federal Highway Administration finishes calculating just how many miles the nation’s trucking fleets traveled during the year. But we’re sure that a good portion of the rise in deaths can be attributed to a marked increase in total miles traveled by heavy trucks.

After the mileage total is released — which probably will be next month — we’ll all have a better picture of exactly what happened last year.

As we’ve always said, we all have a long way to go to making our roads safer for all. And the trucking industry remains committed to doing just that, and to reducing deaths and injuries.

But we continue to wholeheartedly support the current hours-of-service rule as a major element in what has been a historic decline in the carnage on our roadways, and we urge the Department of Transportation to retain its major provisions.

As American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said last week, “Every fatality on our highways is a tragedy, and the uptick in the 2010 preliminary report concerns us deeply.”

He said the association was looking forward to “seeing further analysis from DOT on crash types as well as how many miles American motorists and truck drivers traveled last year.”

Graves said, “I’m confident that we will be able to continue the marked declines in the number of truck-involved crashes and fatalities on our highways that we have seen over the past decade.”