Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service Supporting Documents; Evaluating the Potential Safety Benefits of Electronic Hours-of-Service Recorders

Larry W. Minor
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
May 12, 2014

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 91 (Monday, May 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27040-27041]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-10813]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2010-0167]
RIN 2126-AB20


Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service Supporting 
Documents; Evaluating the Potential Safety Benefits of Electronic 
Hours-of-Service Recorders

ACTION: Notice of availability of research report.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) 
announces the availability of a new final report, ``Evaluating the 
Potential Safety Benefits of Electronic Hours-of-Service Recorders.'' 
The study quantitatively evaluated whether trucks equipped with 
Electronic Hours-of-Service Recorders (EHSRs) have a lower (or higher) 
crash and hours-of-service (HOS) violation rate than those without 
EHSRs. The safety benefits of EHSRs were quantitatively evaluated by 
comparing the crash risk for two exposure groups (i.e., EHSRs were 
considered to improve safety if the trucks with EHSRs showed a lower 
crash risk than trucks without EHSRs). For this project, EHSRs were 
defined as any device that electronically records drivers' HOS. The 
study is an effort to further quantify the safety benefits of 
electronic logging devices (ELDs) and provides results that are 
consistent with the Agency's estimates of safety benefits of an ELD 
mandate, as proposed on March 28, 2014. A copy of the report has been 
placed in the docket referenced at the beginning of this notice.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket ID FMCSA-2010-0167 using any of the 
following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 
5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
    Each submission must include the Agency name and the docket number 
for this notice. Note that DOT posts all comments received without 
change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments, go to www.regulations.gov at any time or visit Room W12-140 
on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. The on-line Federal document management system 
is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. If you want 
acknowledgment that we received your comments, please include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope or postcard or print the acknowledgement 
page that appears after submitting comments on-line.
    Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if 
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review DOT's Privacy Act Statement for the Federal Docket 
Management System published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2008 
(73 FR 3316), or you may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-785.pdf.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning this study, 
please contact Mr. Albert Alvarez, Research Division of the Office of 
Analysis, Research, and Technology, Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001 
or by telephone at 202-385-2377.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation and Request for Comments

    FMCSA encourages you to participate by submitting comments and 
related materials.

Submitting Comments

    If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this 
notice (FMCSA-2010-0167), indicate the specific section of this 
document to which each 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 the Agency can contact you if it has questions regarding 
your submission.
    To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
put the docket number, ``FMCSA-2010-0167'' in the ``Keyword'' box, and 
click ``Search.'' When the new screen appears, click on ``Comment 
Now!'' button and type your comment into the text box in the following 
screen. Choose whether you are submitting your comment as an individual 
or on behalf of a third party and then submit. 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. If you submit comments by mail and would like to know that they 
reached the facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard 
or envelope.
    FMCSA will consider all comments and material received during the 
comment period and may change this notice based on your comments.

Viewing Comments and Documents

    To view comments, as well as other documents available in the 
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, 
``FMCSA-2010-0167'' in the ``Keyword'' box and click ``Search.'' Next, 
click the ``Open Docket Folder'' button and choose the document listed 
to review. If you do not have access to the Internet, you may view the 
docket online by visiting the Docket Management Facility in Room W12-
140 on the ground floor of the DOT West Building, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Privacy Act

    All comments received will be posted without change to http://

[[Page 27041]]

www.regulations.gov and will include any personal information you have 
provided. Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if 
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on January 17, 2008 (73 FR 3316), or you may visit 
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-785.pdf.

II. The Study

    The purpose of the study was to assess the benefits of installed 
EHSRs on safety and HOS violations related to Class 7 and 8 trucks as 
they operated during normal revenue-producing deliveries. Data were 
obtained through a third-party vendor that compiled previously-
generated compliance data regarding participating motor carriers. 
Although the final data sets included data from 11 carriers 
representing small, medium, and large carriers (including a total of 
82,943 crashes, 970 HOS violations, and 224,034 truck-years that drove 
a total of 15.6 billion miles), the data set in the study was skewed 
toward larger, for-hire carriers and may not represent the overall U.S. 
trucking population. After controlling for year, carriers in the data 
set, onboard safety system (OBSS) status, and long-haul/regional 
indicator, EHSR-equipped trucks had a significantly lower total crash 
rate (11.7 percent reduction) and a significantly lower preventable 
crash rate (5.1 percent reduction) than trucks not equipped with an 
EHSR. Small sample sizes limited the power to detect a significant 
difference between the EHSR cohort and the non-EHSR cohort for U.S. 
Department of Transportation (USDOT)-recordable and fatigue-related 
crashes. This result is primarily attributed to the lack of sufficient 
data (in terms of the number of these types of crashes) to be able to 
detect safety benefits with statistical significance at the observed 
level.
    After controlling for year, carrier index, OBSS status, and long-
haul/regional indicator, EHSR-equipped trucks had a 53 percent lower 
driving-related HOS violation rate and a 49 percent lower non-driving-
related HOS violation rate than trucks not equipped with EHSRs. The 
results show a clear safety benefit, in terms of crash and HOS 
violation reductions, for trucks equipped with EHSRs.
    The Center for Truck and Bus Safety at the Virginia Tech 
Transportation Institute conducted the study on behalf of FMCSA. This 
study was mentioned in the Friday, March 28, 2014 Supplemental Notice 
of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) (79 FR 17656, 17665), and the findings 
of this study are consistent with the estimate of safety benefits 
presented in the ELD SNPRM.
    FMCSA makes the ``Evaluating the Potential Safety Benefits of 
Electronic Hours-of-Service Recorders'' available to the public and 
places this study in the docket for the ELD rulemaking, because FMCSA 
seeks comments from the public on this study as it relates to the 
SNPRM. The docket for this rulemaking closes on May 27, 2014.

    Issued on: April 29, 2014.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2014-10813 Filed 5-9-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P