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Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved Information Collection: Truck and Bus Maintenance Requirements and Their Impact on Safety Publication: Federal Register Agency: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Byline: Thomas P. Keane Date: 24 August 2023 Subjects: American Government  , Buses, Safety, Trucking
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 163 (Thursday, August 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58057-58059]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18236]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0153]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved
Information Collection: Truck and Bus Maintenance Requirements and
Their Impact on Safety
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR)
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its
review and approval and invites public comment. FMCSA requests approval
to renew an ICR titled, ``Truck and Bus Maintenance Requirements and
Their Impact on Safety'' will allow for a study that focuses on vehicle
maintenance and aims to determine the impact of vehicle maintenance
requirements on overall motor carrier safety. This information
collection supports the DOT Strategic Goal of Safety.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before September
1, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Docket Number FMCSA-
2023-0153 using any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Dockets Operations; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Dockets Operations, U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building,
Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
[[Page 58058]]
To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 366-9317 or
(202) 366-9826 before visiting Dockets Operations.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four methods.
See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion of
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for instructions on submitting
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Lukuc, Program Manager,
Technology Division, DOT, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001; (202) 385-238;
mike.lukuc@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Instructions
All submissions must include the Agency name and docket number. For
detailed instructions on submitting comments, see the Public
Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading
below.
Public Participation and Request for Comments
If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this
notice (FMCSA-2023-0153), indicate the specific section of this
document to which your comment applies, and provide a reason for each
suggestion or recommendation. You may submit your comments and material
online or by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only one of
these means. FMCSA recommends that you include your name and a mailing
address, an email address, or a phone number in the body of your
document so FMCSA can contact you if there are questions regarding your
submission. If you want us to notify you that we received your
comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or
postcard, or print the acknowledgement page that appears after
submitting comments online.
To submit your comment online, go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FMCSA-2023-0153/document, click on this notice, click
``Comment,'' and type your comment into the text box on the following
screen.
If you submit your comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them
in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for
copying and electronic filing.
Comments received after the comment closing date will be included
in the docket and will be considered to the extent practicable.
Privacy Act
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the
public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT posts these
comments, without edit, including any personal information the
commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the system
of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at
www.dot.gov/privacy.
Background
FMCSA's core mission is to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities
involving large trucks and buses. To aid in accomplishing this, the
Agency uses the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) enforcement
program to prioritize and target interventions of those motor carriers
who are most likely to be involved in a future crash. As part of the
CSA program, the Agency deploys the Safety Measurement System (SMS).
SMS uses inspection, crash, and investigation data captured in the
Motor Carrier Management Information System to calculate a percentile
for each motor carrier. A motor carrier's SMS percentile is based on
its past compliance with a complete range of safety-based regulations
(such as driver safety, hours of service, driver fitness, and vehicle
maintenance, among others). The survey described in this notice focuses
on the vehicle maintenance component of those safety regulations. The
study goal is to determine what improvements, ranging from better
compliance interventions to better vehicle maintenance requirements,
would enhance motor carrier safety.
In 2014, the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of SMS in identifying the
highest risk motor carriers to be targeted for interventions. One
finding from the study was that motor carriers targeted for
intervention due to ``vehicle maintenance'' issues (i.e., violations)
had a 65 percent higher crash rate compared to the national average.
These violations are based on Federal and state inspections of
components critical to the safe operation of the vehicle. It is
important to recognize that proper and regular preventative maintenance
(i.e., systematic maintenance programs) among carriers--rather than
Federal and State inspections, which are by nature limited to the most
visible or obvious safety-related components--should be the primary
activity applied to ensure safe equipment operation. While these
initial findings are important, they raise additional questions. One
such question is prompted by the stipulation in 49 CFR 396.3(a), which
states that every carrier must have a program to ``systematically
inspect, repair, and maintain, or cause to be systematically inspected,
repaired, and maintained, all motor vehicles and intermodal equipment
subject to its control.'' Though this regulation provides some
direction, there is no supporting definition of the word systematic,
and because this term is subjective, it is likely to vary from one
carrier to another. The lack of specificity regarding standard
intervals for preventative maintenance makes it difficult for Federal
and State personnel to evaluate the effectiveness of and compliance
with a carrier's maintenance program. Furthermore, the lack of
specificity may make it difficult for carriers to ascertain and
therefore comply with the regulation's intent.
The current research effort, augmented by the proposed survey, is
necessary to improve FMCSA's understanding of the safety impact of
preventative vehicle maintenance and to clarify the requirements of
Sec. 396.3(a). The study objectives are as follows:
1. Develop an operational definition of systematic maintenance.
2. Evaluate whether current regulations and the intervention
process could be modified to improve compliance with vehicle
maintenance requirements. Examples of such requirements are as follows:
(i) Preventative maintenance intervals, (ii) preventative maintenance
inspections with adequately trained/equipped mechanics, and (iii)
adequacy of motor carriers' maintenance facilities. [However, the
results of the survey will be used only to explore what areas of
rulemaking and/or other areas, such as policy guidance and training,
might be useful in the future; the results of the survey will not be
used for rulemaking, per se.]
3. Gather information to assist in establishing minimum standards
for inspection intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and
certification of maintenance facilities.
FMCSA is authorized to conduct this research under 49 U.S.C. 31108,
Motor Carrier Research and Technology Programs. Under section
31108(a)(3)(C), FMCSA may fund research, development, and technology
projects that improve the safety and efficiency of commercial motor
vehicle operations through technological innovation and improvement.
This information collection supports the DOT strategic goal of Safety.
[[Page 58059]]
Under contract to FMCSA, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
(VTTI) at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will
use online surveys to obtain the data required to address the study
objectives. The information collection will be administered in two
phases:
Phase I: Online Recruitment Survey. This voluntary, seven-question
survey will screen carriers and verify their eligibility for Phase II
participation. To be eligible for Phase II participation, carriers must
fall into one of two groups: (a) The Recommended Practices (RP) Group,
which includes carriers with the lowest Vehicle Maintenance and Crash
Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASIC)
percentiles (i.e., less than or equal to the 33rd percentile); or (b)
the Intervention Effects (IE) Group, which includes carriers that have
experienced Federal or State interventions in the last 24 months due to
vehicle maintenance violations. The BASICs are Unsafe Driving, Crash
Indicator, Hours-of-Service (HOS) compliance, Vehicle Maintenance,
Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance, and
Driver Fitness. More information on the SMS methodology can be found at
https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/SMSMethodology.pdf.
Phase II: Carrier Maintenance Management Survey. This voluntary,
108-question survey will include questions about demographics;
maintenance practices, intervals, personnel, and facilities; and State
and Federal inspections, among other things. The Phase II survey will
employ branch logic; as such, carriers will be prompted to complete
different sections based on their survey group (and for one section,
carrier size). Consequently, no participating carrier will be asked to
complete all 108 questions.
In the Phase II survey, carriers (of all sizes) in the RP Group
will be asked to provide additional information about maintenance
personnel and facilities (e.g., mechanic training levels, tools
required for adequate inspection, and certification of facilities) and
vehicle maintenance issues that may impact safety. Information from the
RP Group will seek to address Objective 1, relating to development of
an operational definition of systematic maintenance, Objective 2, and
Objective 3, relating to establishment of minimum standards for
inspection intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and
certification of maintenance facilities.
Carriers in the IE Group will be asked to complete the section on
intervention effects, which includes questions about the status of
active interventions or investigations; results of closed interventions
or investigations; interactions with State versus Federal agencies;
intervention activities experienced; the accuracy of violations leading
to interventions; actions taken in response to interventions; changes
in carrier vehicle maintenance practices as a result of an
intervention; significant benefits of interventions; and ways the
intervention process could be improved. Information provided by the IE
Group will address the portion of Objective 2 regarding sufficiency of
regulations and where interventions need to be improved to facilitate
complying with these regulations.
Survey responses will be summarized and reported using plots,
tables, content analysis, and calculated summary statistics. Plots and
tables will provide a visual comparison of multiple choice and checkbox
survey responses for successful carriers (i.e., carriers in the RP
Group) and those receiving interventions in the last 24 months (i.e.,
carriers in the IE Group). These methods will also allow researchers to
summarize responses by carrier operation type (i.e., truck or bus) and
size. Bar charts will be used to plot responses to many survey
questions. Some survey responses may be summarized with tables with
rows for each of the carrier operation types (truck or bus) and each
carrier-size subgroup. To explore and summarize responses to open-ended
survey questions, researchers will use content analysis methods. An
illustration of an open-ended question in the survey is ``List examples
of critical safety-related maintenance activities for trailer vehicle
milestones.'' The goal of content analysis of open-ended questions will
be to identify common answers.
The results of this information collection will be documented in a
technical report to be delivered to and published by FMCSA. In
addition, the results will be used to create a ``recommended best
practices'' report that will outline minimum standards for inspection
intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and certification of
maintenance facilities. Finally, VTTI is required under the contract
with FMCSA to compile and analyze the collected information and develop
a public-use data set.
If this data collection does not take place, the truck and bus
industry would continue to operate with the uncertainty of what a
``systematic maintenance'' program, as currently worded in Sec.
396.3(a), consists of. This term's ambiguous definition makes it
difficult for Federal and State inspectors to evaluate the
effectiveness of a carrier's maintenance program or its compliance with
this provision. Furthermore, this uncertainty may make it difficult for
carriers to ascertain and therefore comply with the regulation's
intent.
Title: Truck and Bus Maintenance Requirements and Their Impact on
Safety.
OMB Control Number: 2126-0069.
Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved ICR.
Respondents: Freight motor carriers and passenger carriers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 578 respondents [578 respondents
will complete the Online Recruitment Survey. Of those 578 respondents,
289 will also complete the Carrier Maintenance Manager Survey].
Estimated Time per Response: Varies [Online Recruitment Survey: 5
minutes. Carrier Maintenance Manager Survey: 45 minutes.]
Expiration Date: November 30, 2023.
Frequency of Response: Annually.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 265 hours [Online Recruitment
Survey: 578 respondents x (5 minutes / 60 minutes) = 48 hours; Carrier
Maintenance Manager Survey: 289 respondents x (45 minutes / 60 minutes)
= 217 hours].
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of
this information collection, including: (1) whether the proposed
collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2)
the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for FMCSA to enhance the
quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4)
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of
the collected information. The Agency will summarize or include your
comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this ICR.
Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2023-18236 Filed 8-23-23; 8:45 am]
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