Information Collection Activities: Submission for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Request for Comment

Jeff Michael
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
August 4, 2014

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 149 (Monday, August 4, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45231-45232]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-18317]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration


Information Collection Activities: Submission for the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Request for Comment

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of the OMB review of information collection and 
solicitation of public comment.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35), this notice announces that the Information 
Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below will be submitted to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The ICR describes the 
nature of the information collection and its expected burden. A Federal 
Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting public comments 
on the following information collection was published on April 30, 2014 
(Federal Register/Vol. 79, No. 83/pp. 24494-24495).

DATES: Submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on 
or before September 3, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Kathy Sifrit at the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Behavioral Safety 
Research (NTI-132), W46-472, Department of Transportation, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Dr. Sifrit's phone number is 
202-366-0868 and her email address is kathy.sifrit@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    OMB Control Number: 2127--New.
    Title: Older Drivers and Navigation Devices.
    Form No.: NHTSA Form 1260.
    Type of Review: Regular.
    Respondents: Drivers age 60 and older who have responded to a 
solicitation for participation in a study of older drivers and 
navigation devices and provided a phone number or email for contact.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: A maximum of 320 phone 
conversations with respondents to a solicitation who have provided 
contact information, to yield 160 participants.
    Estimated Time per Response: The average amount of time to respond 
to the questions is estimated at 10 minutes for each telephone 
conversation with a respondent.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 53.33 hours.
    Frequency of Collection: The questions will be presented a single 
time.
    Abstract: Some older drivers have difficulty navigating to 
unfamiliar places. As a result, they may restrict their driving thereby 
decreasing their quality of life or attempt to drive and potentially 
encounter difficulties including becoming lost and risking injury or 
death. A number of electronic devices have been advanced as means to 
prolong older adults' driving careers. These include electronic 
navigation systems (ENSs), which could aid older drivers through 
freeing cognitive resources otherwise needed for wayfinding. It is 
possible, however, that these systems may increase driver workload 
because they cause a distraction or select a route that is different 
than the driver expects. The purpose of the study is to document 
differences in older adults' driving performance while they drive to 
familiar destinations, unfamiliar destinations using paper directions, 
and unfamiliar

[[Page 45232]]

destinations using an ENS. The project will include participants who 
are experienced in using navigation devices to explore the effects of 
familiarity using an ENS on driving performance, and will then assess 
the benefits of providing training in using an ENS to older adults. 
Each driver who meets study inclusion criteria based on responses to 
the proposed questions will be asked if he or she wishes to 
participate. Volunteer participants will complete an evaluation session 
conducted by a driver rehabilitation specialist (DRS) to determine 
their fitness to drive. In the first segment of the study, participants 
will complete multiple on-the-road drives using no directional aid, 
turn-by-turn directions on paper, or an ENS. After participants have 
finished the driving tasks, they will complete an ENS destination entry 
task. In the next segment of the study, participants will receive 
training in ENS use before completing the drives, with a DRS assessing 
driver performance on each drive. The proposed questions are needed to 
allow research staff to ensure that prospective participants meet study 
inclusion criteria and facilitate their study participation. NHTSA will 
use findings from this study to develop recommendations to health care 
providers and to the public regarding safety consequences of older 
drivers' use of ENSs, with the ultimate goal of reducing injuries and 
loss of life on the highway.

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, including 
suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street 
NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for Department of 
Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or by 
email at oira_submission@omb.eop.gov, or fax: 202-395-5806.
    Comments Are Invited on: Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Department of Transportation, including whether the information 
will have practical utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance 
the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; 
and ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology. A comment to OMB is most 
effective if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication of this 
notice.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on July 30, 2014.
Jeff Michael,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2014-18317 Filed 8-1-14; 8:45 am]
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