WASHINGTON — The hours-of-service debate in the U.S. just got a little more intense.

Yesterday, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a preliminary report showing an 8.7 percent jump in the number of people killed in crashes involving large trucks.

While overall highway deaths dropped to their lowest level since 1949, the 2010 uptick in large truck-related fatalities reverses a long-running trend.

NHTSA reported 3,675 people killed in large truck crashes — a figure that includes truck drivers as well as drivers and passengers of other vehicles.

The American Trucking Association (ATA) asked for more analysis of the data.

“Every fatality on our highways is a tragedy, and the uptick in the 2010 preliminary report concerns us deeply," said Bill Graves, president and CEO of the ATA. "Without more information and analysis, though, it is difficult to draw conclusions about what this preliminary data means."

Naturally, safety groups called for tougher rules based on the data. “This distressing news that there are more truck crash fatalities in 2010 is a clear and compelling call for stronger regulations, tougher oversight, and sustained enforcement of motor carriers across the country,” said Jacqueline Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

While safety advocacy groups say that the decline in truck-related fatalities from 2008 to 2009 was due to lower economic activity, the ATA referred to longer-term data showing a 35 percent decrease in truck-related fatalities from 1999 to 2007 when the number of registered trucks grew by more than 3 million.

The ATA also referred to data released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association last month that showed decreases in truck-related fatalities from 2007 to 2009. That study also points to the role of passenger vehicles in crashes, something that the ATA says must be addressed.

"By remaining vigilant and focused on the true causes of crashes, 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 in over the past decade, " Graves said in a statement.