WASHINGTON — A New Jersey highway crash that severely injured Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian is drawing attention to the dangers of tired truckers just as the industry and its allies in Congress are poised to roll back safety rules on drivers’ work schedules.

A proposed change to federal regulations backed by the trucking industry and opposed by safety advocates and the Obama administration would effectively let drivers put in as many as 82 hours a week behind the wheel. The current limit is either 60 hours or 70 hours a week, depending on the kind of company employing the driver.

The change was added to a transportation spending bill by a Senate committee last week.

Nearly 4,000 people die in large truck crashes each year, and driver fatigue is a leading factor, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety administration. The rate of fatal crashes involving large trucks rose from 1.03 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2009 to 1.29 in 2012.

The trucking industry has been sparring with safety advocates and unions over driver hours for two decades, including several trips to federal court. Safety advocates, while extending their sympathies to Morgan and the family of comedian James “Jimmy Mack” McNair, who was killed in the crash, said they hope that because a celebrity was involved in the accident it will boost their cause.