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

Kenneth Riddle
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
18 August 2020

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 160 (Tuesday, August 18, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50874-50875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-18013]


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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), 
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. 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: Please send your comments by September 17, 2020. OMB must 
receive your comments by this date in order to act quickly on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

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: 
    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 highway in interstate or intrastate commerce that 
results in (1) a fatality; (2) bodily injury to a person who, as a 
result of the injury, 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. The term accident does not include (i) an occurrence involving 
only boarding or alighting from a stationary motor vehicle, or (ii) an 
occurrence involving only the loading or unloading of cargo (49 CFR 
390.5).

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 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

[[Page 50875]]

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 principal 
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.
    On April 28, 2020, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice 
allowing for a 60-day comment period on this ICR. Two comments were 
received in response to this notice. The first respondent, Denise 
Quinehan, reported that she was involved in a level 4 motorcycle 
accident in 2016 and the driver that hit her had no insurance or 
registration. Four years after the accident she found that the 
reporting officer altered the crash report and that report was being 
used in other claims that resulted in identity fraud. She wrote that 
some limits of reports should not be released until the involved party 
has access to it. Second, the National Motor Freight Traffic 
Association, Inc. concluded that ``FMCSA will benefit from greater use 
of accident information, such as police accident reports, that support 
greater accuracy and fairer portrayal of a carrier's safety practices. 
FMCSA could more effectively use its enforcement resources if it can 
better identify motor carriers who bore responsibility for commercial 
motor vehicle accidents.'' Neither of the respondents addressed whether 
the proposed collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's 
functions; the accuracy of the estimated burden; nor the ways the 
burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected 
information.
    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. 2020-18013 Filed 8-17-20; 8:45 am]
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