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BELLEVUE, Wash. — Examining whether creating a better crash-accountability process would be worth the cost to taxpayers will be part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s study of ways to assess and assign fault in truck-related crashes, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said in an interview.

Intermec said its first-quarter loss widened on higher costs and that CEO Patrick Byrne has left the company.

Truck fleet failures continued to decline early this year, despite high diesel prices that stubbornly remained above $4 per gallon, according to a new report.

Truck producers received 17,200 new orders in April for Class 8 vehicles, a 55% drop from 38,094 in April 2011, ACT Research Co. reported.

Supply chain technology company Intermec said its first-quarter loss widened from a year ago and announced the departure of its CEO, Patrick Byrne.

U.S. workers’ productivity declined at a 0.5% annual rate in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Xata Corp. reported a fiscal second quarter loss of $2.1 million, or 20 cents per share, compared to a loss of $800,000, or seven cents, a year ago.

Logistics firm Expeditors International of Washington said its first-quarter profit declined from a year ago as air freight volumes fell.

Initial jobless claims fell last week to the lowest level in a month, the Labor Department said Thursday.