WASHINGTON — The trucking industry has made great strides in truck safety over the past decade, but numerous challenges remain as motor carriers and truck drivers cope with an increasingly tough regulatory environment, industry executives told the National Transportation Safety Board Tuesday.

Seat belt use among drivers of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles rose to 78% last year, from 74% in 2009, the fourth straight annual increase, according to a new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration study.

Federal regulators have issued a proposed rule that would extend a ban on the use of handheld cellphones to include intrastate hazardous materials motor carriers.

The number of injuries in U.S. truck related accidents declined by 18% in 2009, according to new statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Members of a key House panel began hearing proposals Tuesday from members of Congress about ways to fund a six-year highway reauthorization bill without exceeding Highway Trust Fund revenues that are mostly derived from federal gas and diesel taxes.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, told a group of shippers attending a Washington legislative policy forum Tuesday that he plans to get a long-term transportation reauthorization bill on the House floor sometime in May.

American Trucking Associations is “poised” to file a lawsuit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration if the agency adopts a proposed rule that would cut driver time to 10 hours a day, ATA Chairman Barbara Windsor said.

A bipartisan group of Senators has introduced a bill that would create a national infrastructure bank to issue loans and loan guarantees for transportation and other infrastructure projects of regional and national significance.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has introduced a bill that would require the Department of Transportation to study and establish a maximum number of hours that drivers may be detained at loading docks without being compensated.