Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses |
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Nanda Narayanan Srinivasan
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
8 January 2021
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1577-1579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-00136]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2020-0018]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Reducing the
Illegal Passing of School Buses
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a new information
collection.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR)
abstracted below is being submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of
the information collection and its expected burden. This new
information collection seeks to assess the knowledge of drivers
nationwide about the laws governing passing a school bus. A Federal
Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting public comments
on the following information collection was published on July 17, 2020.
By the close of the comment period, NHTSA received six comments.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 8, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden,
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment''
or use the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Kristin Rosenthal, Highway Safety
Specialist, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, W44-245, Washington, DC 20590.
Ms. Rosenthal's phone number is 202-366-8995, and her email address is
kristin.rosenthal@dot.gov. Please identify the relevant collection of
information by referring to its OMB Control Number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces
that the following information collection request has been submitted to
OMB. A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting
public comments on the following information collection was published
on July 17, 2020 (85 FR 43645). NHTSA received six comments by the
close of the comment period. The National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB), the National School Transportation Association (NSTA), and
David DeVeau provided comments supportive of the proposed information
collection. Gardian Angel, LLC (which submitted the same comment twice)
also provided comments regarding the proposed collection but expressed
concerns about not including the recent NTSB recommendations adopted on
March 31, 2020. Gardian Angel, LLC raised the concern that the data
collection should address the NTSB recommendation, which includes
evaluating various technologies as well as the inclusion of Gardian
Angel, LLC products. To the comment regarding the inclusion of Gardian
Angel, LLC products, NHTSA does not endorse specific products. This
study is focused
[[Page 1578]]
on assessing a high-visibility enforcement approach that includes the
use of automated cameras on the school bus. NHTSA will take under
consideration the suggestion to evaluate other technologies at another
time. One anonymous post asked NHTSA to include pedestrian and
bicyclist safety; however, this data collection is specific to school
buses. We appreciate the comments from NTSB, NSTA, Gardian Angel, LLC,
and the individual who provided comment and thank them for thoughtfully
considering the described program.
Title: Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses.
OMB Control Number: New.
Form Number: 1559.
Type of Request: Request for approval of a new information
collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Length of Approval Requested: Three years from date of approval.
Affected Public: Drivers in the AmeriSpeak panel run by National
Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago and driver
volunteers in two selected communities.
Summary of the Collection of Information: The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was established by the Highway
Safety Act of 1970 to reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses due
to road traffic crashes on the Nation's highways. Even though every
State has a law requiring drivers to stop for a stopped school bus
displaying flashing red lights, illegal passing of stopped school buses
is a frequent occurrence across the country. Title 23, Section 403 of
the United States Code gives the Secretary authorization to use funds
appropriated to conduct research and development activities, including
demonstration projects and the collection and analysis of highway and
motor vehicle safety data and related information needed to carry out
that section. NHTSA seeks to assess the knowledge and attitudes of
drivers nationwide about the laws governing passing a school bus (under
the specific State laws where the driver lives) as a function of
varying roadway configurations, flashing yellow and red light
deployment on the school bus, and activation of the stop swing arm on
the bus.
To make this assessment, NHTSA will conduct a study that consists
of two new voluntary surveys of drivers in the general public. The
first survey will collect data from current drivers of motor vehicles
in the AmeriSpeak panel who volunteer to participate. AmeriSpeak is
funded and operated by National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the
University of Chicago and is a probability-based panel designed to be
representative of the U.S. household population to take part in online
and telephone surveys. Screening and data collection for this national
survey will take place in the respondents' homes or wherever
respondents choose to operate their own computer, laptop, or mobile
device. The second will evaluate the effectiveness of a high visibility
enforcement (HVE) program, including the use of automated cameras on
the school bus in two communities, aimed at reducing violations of the
school bus passing laws. A survey in each community before and after
the HVE application will be part of the evaluation. Screening and data
collection for the community survey will take place on a computer or
tablet provided by the study at a public venue frequented by drivers
across the socioeconomic and demographic spectra, such as a mall or
motor vehicle department office. All collection of data will be
anonymous.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: NHTSA's mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and
reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education,
research, safety standards and enforcement activity. The agency
develops, promotes, and implements educational, enforcement,
engineering, and emergency response programs with the goal of ending
preventable tragedies and reducing economic costs associated with
vehicle use and highway travel. One highway safety problem NHTSA has
been following closely involves school children struck by passing
motorists while entering or exiting a stopped school bus with its red
lights flashing and its stop arm extended. Even though there have been
some highly-publicized child fatalities of this type and the annual
national stop-arm violation count by the National Association of State
Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) continues to show
a surprisingly high incidence of these illegal passes, to date, no
national survey has assessed the levels of driver knowledge and
understanding of the laws regarding passing of school buses. The
findings from this proposed collection of information will assist NHTSA
in designing, targeting, and implementing programs intended to mitigate
illegal passing of school buses on the roadways and to provide data to
States, localities, and law enforcement agencies that will aid in their
efforts to reduce crashes and injuries due to illegal school bus
passing.
Estimated Number of Respondents: The study anticipates collecting
3,000 responses to the national survey from members of the AmeriSpeak
panel. It is estimated that up to 3,400 AmeriSpeak panelists will have
to be screened to obtain 3,100 qualified volunteers who take the
national survey (100 of these volunteers are estimated not to complete
the entire survey). For the community surveys, NHTSA estimates that 400
volunteers will have to be screened for each wave (400 for the before-
program implementation and 400 for the after-program implementation)
for each of the two communities. Therefore, a total of 1,600 volunteers
will have to be screened for the estimated yield of 300 completed
surveys for each wave for the two communities, or 1,200 total responses
in the two waves of community surveys at the two selected sites.
Frequency of Collection: Respondents will only respond to the
national survey request a single time during the study period. The
community survey will be conducted twice at the same locations in each
of the two selected communities over a period of approximately 10
months. Therefore, an extremely small possibility exists that an
individual might be invited to participate more than once for the
community survey. If an individual is asked to participate a second
time, they will be prompted to decline.
Estimated Time per Participant: Both the national and community
surveys will be administered via an internet-hosted survey on a tablet
or other small computer. The national and community surveys will have
the same core items related to knowledge of and attitudes towards
school bus passing laws. The community survey will have additional
items about awareness of countermeasure program activities and basic
respondent demographic information. Demographic information for the
panelists in the national survey is part of their AmeriSpeak profile.
The intent is for each participant to complete a survey only once.
However, no identifying information will be collected for the community
survey, so a slight possibility exists that an individual will
participate more than once. The estimated average time to complete the
survey per participant in either the national or community sample is 15
minutes. The screening involving (1) reading a recruitment
communication, such as an email or listening to a researcher describe
the study, and (2) determining an individual's eligibility (e.g., 18+
years old, current driver, lives in the community being studied) can
take up
[[Page 1579]]
to three minutes for the community surveys and two minutes for the
national survey.
Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1,268 hours for the total
study.
NHTSA estimates that for the 3,400 AmeriSpeak panelists that will
have to be screened, the estimated total burden is 113 hours (3,400 x 2
min./60). For the 3,100 qualified volunteers who take the national
survey, the estimated total burden hours are 775 hours (3,100 x 15
min./60), yielding at least 3,000 fully completed surveys. Likewise,
the total estimated burden for the maximum of 1,600 potential
participants to be screened for the community survey (400 per wave x 2
communities x 2 waves) is 80 hours (1,600 x 3 min./60). The estimated
total burden hours for the 1,200 fully completed surveys (300 per wave
x 2 communities x 2 waves) is 300 hours (1,200 x 15 min./60). Table 1
provides a summary of the burden hours per survey.
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Estimate
Number of burden per Number of Total burden
Participant group Form name responses per response participants hours
participant (min.)
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National Survey............... Screening....... 1 2 3,400 113
National Survey............... Online Survey... 1 15 3,100 775
Community Survey.............. Screening....... 1 3 1,600 80
Community Survey.............. Online Survey... 1 15 1,200 300
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Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 1,268
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: The only cost to participants
will be time spent responding to the screening and the subsequent
survey if they volunteer. Participants who volunteer and begin the
survey will receive compensation for this time.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of
this information collection, including (a) 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; (b) 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; (c) ways for the
department to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on respondents, 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 without reducing the
quality of the collected information.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.
Issued in Washington, DC.
Nanda Narayanan Srinivasan,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2021-00136 Filed 1-7-21; 8:45 am]
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