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Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; First Responder Incident Advanced Reporting Program Publication: Federal Register Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Jeffrey Lee Quandt Date: 12 June 2023 Subjects: American Government  , Safety
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 112 (Monday, June 12, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38124-38126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12420]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2023-0024]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; First Responder Incident Advanced Reporting Program
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a new information
collection.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA invites public comments about our intention to request
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new
information collection. Before a federal agency can collect certain
information from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Under
procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before
seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on
proposed collections of information, including extensions and
reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document
describes a collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek
OMB approval on the First Responder Incident Advanced Reporting Program
(FRIAR) in which first responders (e.g., law enforcement, fire
department, and emergency medical services) may submit information
about fatalities, injuries, or crashes that may have been caused due to
a motor vehicle or equipment defect.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 11, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
2023-0024 through any of the following methods:
Electronic submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments.
Fax: (202) 493-2251.
Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help
you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number for this notice. 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.
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 https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the
dockets via internet.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Tanya Topka, Office of Defects
Investigation (NEF-100), (202) 366-9590, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, W48-336, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), 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
[[Page 38125]]
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: (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) how to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (d) 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 for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
Title: First Responder Incident Advanced Reporting (FRIAR)
Information Collection.
OMB Control Number: New.
Form Number(s): N/A.
Type of Request: Approval of a new collection of information.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: The purpose of this
collection is to provide first responders with a distinct mechanism to
report to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) regarding
fatalities, injuries, or crashes that may have been caused due to an
alleged defect. Currently, ODI collects Vehicle Owner Questionnaires
(VOQ) to gather information from the public about alleged or suspected
safety defects. The FRIAR collection is a separate method to collect
safety and defect related information from the first responder
community that will expedite and prioritize ODI's review of such
reports.
The FRIAR program will differ from the agency VOQ review process
because first responders, based on their experience, may identify an
incident(s) or crash that involves a potential safety-related problem
that warrants swift review by ODI. An ODI safety defect analyst or
investigator will follow-up with the first responder within 24 business
hours (or 3 business days) upon receipt of a report. Reports submitted
to ODI, in combination with other information obtained by ODI, are
analyzed to determine if a potential defect exists that may require
further investigation or the initiation of a recall. FRIAR was designed
and created in the wake and review of the General Motors (GM) ignition
switch recall and the 2015 Workforce Assessment document,\1\ and the
program will provide first responders a direct reporting mechanism to
NHTSA for alleged safety defects that they may see in the field.
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\1\ Workforce Assessment: The Future of NHTSA's Defect
Investigations, https://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/communications/pdf/workforce-assessment-june2015.pdf, last accessed July 13, 2022.
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A first responder may submit a report(s) through NHTSA's Vehicle
Safety Hotline, or NHTSA's www.nhtsa.gov website, which will have a
section specified for first responders. The reports may contain an
allegation of a safety defect that the first responder encountered that
may be related to a vehicle, equipment, tire(s), child restraints,
injuries, a crash, property damage, or fatality. This information
collection is not expected to be burdensome to first responders since
submitting the FRIAR form is voluntary and will require less than 5
minutes to complete.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: First responders have not had a direct or public method of
reporting alleged safety defects to ODI, and the FRIAR program will
address this reporting disparity.
Affected Public: State and Local First Responders (e.g., law
enforcement, fire department, and emergency medical services).
Estimated Number of Respondents: approximately 100 respondents a
year.
Respondents include a combination of State or local agencies that
respond to car crashes, investigate crashes, and complete crash
reports. NHTSA estimates that FRIAR will receive approximately 100
reports each year. Currently, even without a mechanism or prompt for
collecting this information, NHTSA receives unsolicited tips and
information from first responders regarding suspected vehicle defects
(approximately 1 report a month) via telephone or email correspondence
with NHTSA staff that work with first responders in other official
capacities and duties. We anticipate that FRIAR will collect about 10
reports a month. NHTSA will conduct outreach to first responder
communities to raise awareness about the FRIAR program that may
increase the number of reports received over time. Therefore, it is
estimated that the FRIAR project will generate, on average, 100 reports
a year in the first year and the number of reports will increase over
time.
Frequency: Ongoing.
The data will be collected on an ongoing basis (e.g., whenever a
first responder decides to voluntarily submit information about a
crash, fatality, or injury occurs that they suspect could be related to
a safety-related motor vehicle or equipment defect, which is expected
to be infrequent) and is voluntary. It is anticipated that each
response will be unique and will not be from the same agency, station,
jurisdiction, etc., and there is no limit to how many reports a single
agency or entity can submit to the FRIAR program during a given year.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 25 hours.
NHTSA estimates that the total burden hours for this information
collection will be 25 hours per year. This is based on NHTSA's
estimates that there will be 100 FRIAR reports submitted each year and
that each report will take first responders approximately 15 minutes to
complete (completion of the form will take 5 minutes and the follow-up
phone call will take 10 minutes).
NHTSA estimates the cost associated with the burden hours by
looking at average wages for different categories of first responders.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the mean hourly
wage is $34.02 an hour for police and sheriff's patrol officers (BLS
Code 33-3051),\2\ $26.58 an hour for firefighters (BLS Code 33-
2011),\3\ $17.64 per hour for emergency medical technicians (EMT) (BLS
Code 29-2042).\4\ First responders may have to utilize overtime to
submit reports to FRIAR, and the standard overtime calculation is: 1
hour overtime = 1.5 x hourly rate (e.g., time + 1 half). Therefore,
NHTSA estimates the hourly labor costs for FRIAR respondents for 15
minutes using the overtime rate to be: $12.76 for police and sheriff's
patrol officers, $9.97 for firefighters, and $6.62 for emergency
medical technicians (EMT). NHTSA estimates that between all categories
of respondents, we will receive approximately 100 reports each year
with each report taking 15 minutes
[[Page 38126]]
to complete. NHTSA estimates that the total of 25 burden hours will be
distributed equally among the respondent categories and the average
total labor costs associated with these burden hours will be $244.58 a
year ([sum of all three 15 min average overtime rates hourly wage
rates/3] x 25 hours).
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\2\ Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2021, 33-5051Police
and Sheriff's Patrol Officers, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes333051.htm, last accessed June 28, 2022.
\3\ Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2021, 33-2011
Firefighters, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes332011.htm, last
accessed June 28, 2022.
\4\ Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2021, Emergency
Medical Technicians, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes292042.htm,
last accessed June 28, 2022.
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: This collection is not expected
to result in any costs to respondents other than the cost associated
with the burden hours.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways 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 automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.
Jeffrey Lee Quandt,
Deputy Director, Office of Defect Investigation.
[FR Doc. 2023-12420 Filed 6-9-23; 8:45 am]
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