Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Drivers' Use of Camera-Based Rear Visibility Systems Versus Traditional Mirrors |
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Tim J. Johnson
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
28 August 2019
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45209-45212]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18487]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0082]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; Drivers' Use of Camera-Based Rear Visibility Systems Versus
Traditional Mirrors
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a proposed collection of
information.
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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
announces our intention to request the Office of Management and
Budget's (OMB) approval of a proposed collection of certain information
by the Agency. Before a Federal agency can collect certain information
from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Procedures
established under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA) require
Federal agencies to publish a notice in the Federal Register concerning
each proposed collection of
[[Page 45210]]
information and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the
notice. The proposed collection of information supports research
addressing safety-related aspects of drivers' use of camera-based rear
visibility systems intended to serve as a replacement for traditional
outside rearview mirrors.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 28, 2019.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the docket number in
the heading of this document or by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on
the electronic docket site by clicking on ``Help'' or ``FAQ''.
Mail: Docket Management Facility. M-30, U.S Department of
Transportation. 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery: U.S Department of Transportation, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday
through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
Fax: 202-493-2251.
Instructions: Each submission must include the Agency name and the
Docket number for this Notice. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided. Please see the Privacy heading below.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or 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
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html .
Docket: For access to the docket to read comments received, go to
http://www.regulations.gov, or the street address listed above. Follow
the online instructions for accessing the dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Mazzae, Applied Crash
Avoidance Research Division, Vehicle Research and Test Center, NHTSA,
10820 State Route 347--Bldg. 60, East Liberty, Ohio 43319; Telephone
(937) 666-4511; Facsimile: (937) 666-3590; email address:
elizabeth.mazzae@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), before an agency submits a proposed collection
of information to OMB for approval, it must first publish a document in
the Federal Register providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise
consult with members of the public and affected agencies concerning
each proposed collection of information. The OMB has promulgated
regulations describing what must be included in such a document. Under
OMB's regulation (at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must ask for public
comment on the following:
(i) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have practical utility;
(ii) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
(iii) how to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected;
(iv) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic
submission of responses.
In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks for public
comments on the following proposed collection of information:
Title: Drivers' Use of Camera-Based Rear Visibility Systems Versus
Traditional Mirrors.
Type of Request: New collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
OMB Clearance Number: New Collection.
Form Number: None.
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information:
NHTSA proposes to perform research involving the collection of
information from the public as part of a multi-year effort to learn
about drivers' use of camera-based systems designed to replace
traditional outside rearview mirrors. Initial research will focus on
light vehicles and be followed by research examining camera-based
visibility systems on heavy trucks.
For the light vehicle research, all camera-based visibility systems
to be tested will be foreign production or prototype systems fitted
onto U.S. or European specification vehicles. At least two test
vehicles will be equipped with both camera and mirror technologies,
while the other test vehicles will be equipped with camera-based
visibility systems and no outside mirrors. Systems to be tested with
heavy trucks have yet to be finalized.
Research participants will be members of the public who are
licensed car drivers and/or truck drivers. Participants will drive a
test vehicle equipped with a camera-based system in place of outside
rearview mirrors, an original equipment outside rearview mirror system,
or a combination of both. The research will involve track-based and on-
road, semi-naturalistic driving in which participants will drive
vehicles in multi-lane traffic scenarios while using the outside
rearview mirrors or alternative system during lane changes and other
typical driving situations. A portion of testing will take place in
dark (i.e., nighttime or early morning) driving conditions to permit
examination of system performance and drivers' use of systems in those
conditions. Vehicles will be fitted with instrumentation for recording
driver eye glance behavior, as well as vehicle speed, position,
steering angle, and turn signal status. Separate, but similar data
collections will be conducted for passenger cars and heavy trucks.
Questions will be asked during the course of the research to assess
individuals' suitability for study participation, to obtain feedback
regarding participants' use of the camera-based rear visibility
systems, and to gauge individuals' level of comfort with and confidence
in the technologies' performance and safety.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA)
mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce healthcare and
other economic costs associated with motor vehicle crashes. As new
vehicle technologies are developed, it is prudent to ensure that they
do not create any unintended decrease in safety. The safety of passive
visibility-related technologies depends on both the performance of the
systems and on drivers' ability to effectively and comfortably use the
systems. This work seeks to examine and compare drivers' eye glance
behavior and aspects of driving behavior and lane change maneuver
execution for traditional mirrors and camera-based systems intended to
replace outside rearview mirrors.
The collection of information will consist of: (1) Question Set 1,
Driving Research Study Interest Response Form, (2) Question Set 2,
Screening Questions,
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(3) passive observation of driving behavior, and (4) Question Set 3,
Post-Drive Questionnaire.
The information to be collected will be used for the following
purposes:
Question Set 1, Driving Research Study Interest Response
Form will be used to determine individuals' willingness to participate
in the study and whether an individual qualifies for participation in
this study based on certain information. For example, participants
must:
[cir] Be at least 25 years of age
[cir] For drivers of passenger cars: Hold a valid U.S. or Canadian
driver's license
[cir] For drivers of heavy trucks: Hold a valid U.S. commercial
driver's license
[cir] Drive at least 11,000 miles annually
[cir] Provide their contact information for the purposes of
coordinating participation.
Question Set 2, Screening Questions will be primarily used
to ensure that participants meet certain minimum health qualifications,
are free of recent criminal convictions, and have reasonable
availability to participate in the study. The objective of the health
screening questions is to identify candidate participants whose
physical and health conditions may be deemed ``average'' and are
compatible with being able to drive continuously for up to 3 hours a
vehicle equipped with only original equipment components.
Question Set 3, Post-Drive Questionnaire will be used to
get information about the participants' experiences during the
experimental drive, including their degree of comfort in using the
camera-based system. There will be different versions of the
questionnaire for light vehicle and truck drivers, but both will be
designed to require not more than 15 minutes to complete all questions.
Participants will complete the Question Set 3 post-drive questionnaire
one time for mirrors and one time for the camera-based rear visibility
system.
Affected Public (Respondents): Research participants will be
licensed drivers aged 25 years or greater who drive at least 11,000
miles annually, are in good health, and do not require assistive
devices to safely operate a vehicle and drive continuously for a period
of 3 hours.
Estimated Number of Respondents: Information will be collected in
an incremental fashion to permit the determination of which individuals
have the necessary characteristics for study participation. All
interested candidates will complete Question Set 1, Driving Research
Study Interest Response Form. A subset of individuals meeting the
criteria for Question Set 1 will be asked to complete Question Set 2,
Screening Questions. From the individuals found to meet the criteria
for both Questions Sets 1 and 2, a subset will be chosen with the goal
of achieving a sample providing a balance of age and sex to be
scheduled for study participation. A summary of the estimated numbers
of individuals that will complete the noted question sets is provided
in the following table.
Estimated Number of Respondents
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Questions Total N
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Question Set 1, Driving Research Study Interest Response 750
Form...................................................
Question Set 2, Screening Questions..................... 300
Question Set 3, Post-Drive Questionnaire................ 160
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Estimated Time per Response: Completion of Question Set 1, Driving
Research Study Interest Response Form is estimated to take
approximately 5 minutes and completion is estimated to take
approximately 7 minutes for Question Set 2, Screening Questions.
Completion of Question Set 3, Post-Drive Questionnaire is estimated to
take 15 minutes per participant and each participant will compete the
questionnaire two times. The estimated annual time and cost burdens are
summarized in the table below. The number of respondents and time to
complete each question set are estimated as shown in the table. The
time per question set is calculated by multiplying the number of
respondents by the time per respondent and then converting from minutes
to hours. The hour value for each question set is multiplied by the
latest average hour earning estimate from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics to obtain an estimated burden cost per question set.\1\
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\1\ Bureau of Labor Statistics Feb. 2019 Average Hourly Earnings
data for ``Total Private,'' $27.66 (Accessed 3/8/2019 at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm.) The Bureau of Labor
Statistics estimates that for private industry workers, wages
represent 70.1% of total compensation. Employer Costs for Employee
Compensation-March 2019, (Assessed 7/31/2019 at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf).
Estimated Time per Response and Total Time
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Time per
Question Set Topic Participants response Total time Total time Total cost
(minutes) (minutes) (hours)
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1.................................... Driving Research Study Interest 750 5 3,750 62.5 $2,466.12
Response Form.
2.................................... Screening Questions.............. 300 7 2,100 35.0 1,381.03
3a................................... Post-Drive Questionnaire, 80 30 2,400 40.0 1,578.32
Passenger Vehicle.
3b................................... Post-Drive Questionnaire, Heavy 80 30 2,400 40.0 1,578.32
Truck.
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Total Estimated Burden.............................................................. .............. .............. 177.5 7,003.78
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Total Estimated Annual Burden: 177.5 hours.
Frequency of Collection: The data collection described will be
performed once to obtain the target number of valid test participants.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.95.
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Issued in Washington, DC.
Tim J. Johnson,
Acting Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 2019-18487 Filed 8-27-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P