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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.

Truck finance executives said recent credit activity indicates financial improvement in trucking, although they saw no signs of a truck sales recovery, while separately, market researcher R.L. Polk & Co. said new truck registrations are likely to hit bottom this year.

The European Union last week imposed tariffs on biodiesel imported from the United States to counter low prices it said were caused by subsidies, but a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative denied subsidies were the main reason for the growth of U.S. sales in Europe and that the United States would review the tariffs “closely.”

Freightliner Trucks introduced its first natural gas-powered tractor this month, and it will offer natural gas-powered vehicles in 90% of its truck applications by 2010.

WASHINGTON — Debbie Hersman, President Obama’s choice to lead the National Transportation Safety Board, told a Senate committee that other transportation agencies should voluntarily adopt the board’s recommendations, and if they don’t, Congress should order them to.

Truck-related highway fatalities plummeted 12% in 2008 to 4,229, the lowest total since the federal government began keeping records, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

Trucking fleets continued to shed jobs for the 14th consecutive month in June as total U.S. unemployment rose, but experts said economic and freight indicators finally appear to be heading in the right direction.

A steep and prolonged economic downturn forced many for-hire carriers to cut hauling capacity, but the stage may also be set for what one analyst called “the mother of all bull freight markets.”

Diesel prices dipped slightly for the second week in a row but, according to truckers and analysts, have yet to reflect the full effect of falling crude oil prices, record diesel surpluses and one of the worst freight recessions in trucking history.

YRC Worldwide said it has reached a new cost-cutting agreement with the Teamsters union and hired a financial adviser to work with key lenders as part of a broad effort to boost the carrier’s cash position.