Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved Information Collection: Accident Recordkeeping Requirements

Kenneth Riddle
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
30 April 2020

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 82 (Tuesday, April 28, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23594-23595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09006]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2019-0271]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved 
Information Collection: Accident Recordkeeping Requirements

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 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 the ICR titled ``Accident Recordkeeping Requirements.'' This 
ICR relates to Agency requirements that motor carriers maintain a 
record of accidents involving their commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). 
Motor carriers are not required to report this data to FMCSA, but must 
produce it upon inquiry by authorized Federal, State or local 
officials.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before June 29, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0271 using any of the 
following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Operations; 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: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    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 http://www.regulations.gov, including 
any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading 
below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the 
online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street 
address listed above.
    Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 53(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.
    Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available 
24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic 
submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the ``help'' section 
of the Federal eRulemaking Portal website. 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. Comments received after the 
comment closing date will be included in the docket and will be 
considered to the extent practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Pearlie Robinson, Driver and 
Carrier Operations Division, DOT, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-4325. 
Email: MCPSD@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 
390.15(b), requires motor carriers to make certain specified records 
and information pertaining to CMV accidents available to an authorized 
representative or special agent of FMCSA upon request or as part of an 
inquiry. Motor carriers are required to maintain an ``accident 
register'' consisting of information concerning all ``accidents'' 
involving their CMVs (49 CFR 390.15(b) (see ``Definition: Accident'' 
below). The following information must be recorded for each accident: 
date, location, driver name, number of injuries, number of fatalities, 
and whether certain dangerous hazardous materials were released. In 
addition, the motor carrier must maintain copies of all accident 
reports required by insurers or governmental entities. Motor carriers 
must maintain this information for three years after the date of the 
accident. Section 390.15 does not require motor carriers to submit any 
information or records to FMCSA or any other party.
    This ICR supports the DOT strategic goal of safety. By requiring 
motor carriers to gather and record information concerning CMV 
accidents, FMCSA is strengthening its ability to assess the safety 
performance of motor carriers. This information is a valuable resource 
in Agency initiatives to prevent, and reduce the severity of, CMV 
crashes.
    The Agency has modified several of its estimates for this ICR. The 
estimated number of annual respondents has decreased substantially, 
while the numbers of responses, burden hours, and annual costs to 
respondents have increased. Explanations for these changes are 
summarized below.
    The previously-approved number of annual respondents is 866,122. 
This estimate was based on records of all interstate and intrastate 
motor carriers with ``recent activity'' in the Motor Carrier Management 
Information System (MCMIS) for calendar year 2015. However, not all of 
these motor carriers experience a DOT-reportable crash every calendar 
year. To more accurately estimate the annual number of respondents, we 
looked at the carriers associated with crashes reported in MCMIS for 
calendar years 2016 through 2018 and calculated the annual average. 
This gave us a significantly reduced estimate of 89,270 respondents per 
year.
    The previously-approved burden is 36,157 burden hours. The Agency 
increases its estimate to 55,425 burden hours. The text of section 
390.15(b) is unchanged; the increase in burden hours does not reflect 
changes in the requirements for accident

[[Page 23595]]

recordkeeping. The adjustment in annual burden hours is due to a 
revised estimate of the number of reportable accidents from 120,522 to 
184,749 per year, using interstate and intrastate DOT-reportable motor 
carrier crash records in MCMIS for calendar years 2016 through 2018. In 
the previous iteration of this ICR, only crash records for calendar 
year 2015 were considered, and only crashes for carriers with a DOT 
number and ``recent activity'' in MCMIS were included. In the current 
iteration of this ICR, we include recorded crashes in which there is 
not a recorded DOT number, but the CRASH_CARRIER_INTERSTATE field in 
MCMIS is coded as ``Interstate'' or ``Intrastate'' (thus suggesting 
that they are commercial carriers). This change in approach has 
resulted in an increased estimate of annual crashes subject to the 
Accident Register reporting requirements, and thus an increase in the 
number of responses, as each crash is associated with one response.
    The revised version of this ICR includes estimated labor costs 
associated with maintaining the Accident Register. The previous 
iteration of this ICR did not include such an estimate; it only 
reported the estimated annual burden hours. The estimated annual labor 
cost for industry resulting from the Accident Register reporting 
requirements is $1,860,617.
    Finally, the estimated annual cost associated with accident 
recordkeeping (outside of labor costs) is increased from $8,437 to 
$106,785. In the previous iteration of this ICR, it was assumed that 
all motor carriers were storing hard copy records offsite, which is 
less costly than storing hard copy records onsite due to reduced space 
requirements. In the current iteration of this ICR, FMCSA is assuming 
that (1) approximately 15 percent of motor carriers are storing their 
Accident Registers electronically, at no extra cost, and (2) 
approximately 85 percent of motor carriers are storing hard copy 
versions of their Accident Registers. FMCSA is further assuming that 
motor carriers that maintain paper records are storing their Accident 
Registers at their primary place of business, so that they have easy 
access to such records during an FMCSA investigation. This change in 
storage location increases the cost of storage, from $0.07 to $0.68 per 
accident recorded. While FMCSA is now assuming that some motor carriers 
are storing documents electronically at no extra cost, the overall 
number of responses has increased over prior years, overtaking the 
reduction in number of carriers storing hard copy records.
    Title: Accident Recordkeeping Requirements.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0009.
    Type of Request: Renewal of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Motor carriers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 89,270.
    Estimated Number of Responses: 184,749.
    Estimated Time per Response: 18 minutes.
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2020.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 55,425 burden hours (184,749 
accidents x 18 minutes per response/60 minutes in an hour = 55,425 
hours).
    Definitions: ``Accident'' is an occurrence involving a CMV 
operating on a public road which results in: (1) A fatality, (2) bodily 
injury to a person who, as a result of the injury, immediately receives 
medical treatment away from the scene of the accident, or (3) one or 
more motor vehicles incurring disabling damage as a result of the 
accident, requiring the motor vehicle(s) to be transported away from 
the scene by a tow truck or other motor vehicle (49 CFR 390.5).
    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 information 
collection.
    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.

Kenneth Riddle,
Acting Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2020-09006 Filed 4-27-20; 8:45 am]
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