WASHINGTON — Hawai'i has one of the lowest rates for fatal truck crashes, while Wyoming and Arkansas are the deadliest states, according to a safety group that yesterday called for tougher federal regulation.

The safest states for truck crashes were Rhode Island and Massachusetts, based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 residents in 2005, the most recent year with complete figures. Hawai'i had the fifth lowest rate, 0.71 deaths for every 100,000.

Seven years since its creation by Congress to improve the safety of trucks, the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration "is still putting cargo over people," said Joan Claybrook, chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. "This federal agency has failed miserably."

In 1999, when the agency was created, 5,380 people died in crashes with big trucks, Claybrook told a news conference by the Truck Safety Coalition. "That figure has barely budged." It was 5,212 in 2005, about 100 a week.