Agency Request for Information; State Electronic Data Collection Grant Program

Agency Request for Information; State Electronic Data Collection Grant Program

Publication: Federal Register
Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Byline: Chou-Lin Chen
Date: 29 April 2022
Subjects: American Government

, Safety

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 83 (Friday, April 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25565-25567]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09152]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0030]

Agency Request for Information; State Electronic Data Collection
Grant Program

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Request for information.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice requests information from interested parties to
assist the agency to develop and implement a new discretionary grant
program to increase the number of States, U.S. territories, and Indian
tribes electronically transferring their motor vehicle crash data to
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), enacted as the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), establishes a new program called the
State electronic data collection program. Specifically, section
24108(d)(2) mandates that NHTSA provide grants to States to upgrade and
standardize their State crash data systems to enable electronic data
collection, intrastate data sharing, and electronic data transfers to
NHTSA to increase the accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility of the
data including data relating to fatalities involving vulnerable road
users. Ultimately, the grants will support an increased capacity of the
NHTSA data systems, including the Fatality Analysis Reporting System
(FARS), the Crash Reporting Sampling System (CRSS), and the Crash
Investigation Sampling System (CISS), and make State crash data
accessible to the public. NHTSA seeks comments from all interested
parties, including State crash data owners, highway safety offices, law
enforcement, and other stakeholders to help inform NHTSA's development
of a grant program. This grant program is to modernize State data
collection systems and to enable full electronic data transfer. All
comments should be submitted via docket number NHTSA-2022-0030.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 31, 2022.

[[Page 25566]]

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted using any one of the
following methods:
(1) Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
(2) Fax: Written comments may be faxed to (202) 493-2251.
(3) Internet: To submit comments electronically, go to the Federal
regulations website at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
(4) Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to
help you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
(5) Instructions: All comments submitted in relation to this notice
must include the agency name and docket number. Please note that all
comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. You
may also call the Docket at 202-366-9324.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barbara Rhea, State Data Reporting
Systems Division Chief, NHTSA (phone: 202-366-2714) or you may send an
email to Ms. Rhea at Barbara.rhea@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 24108(d) of BIL directs NHTSA to
establish a new State electronic data collection program that requires
NHTSA to develop and implement a new discretionary grant program. The
new grant program is to provide support to States to upgrade and
standardize their State crash data systems to enable electronic data
collection, intrastate data sharing, and electronic data transfers to
NHTSA to increase the accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility of the
data including data relating to fatalities involving vulnerable road
users. See Public Law 117-58, 24108(d)(3). Eligible States \1\ may use
these grants for the costs of equipment to upgrade a statewide crash
data repository; adoption of electronic crash reporting by law
enforcement agencies and increasing alignment of State crash data with
the latest Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria.\2\ This notice
requests information from interested parties, including State crash
data owners, highway safety offices, law enforcement, and other
stakeholders to assist NHTSA in the development of a new State
electronic data collection program that supports State crash data
system improvements, enhances NHTSA's National Center for Statistics
and Analysis (NCSA) data infrastructure where these data will be
stored, and shares a subset of the resulting data with the public.
NHTSA plans to utilize the information provided under this Request for
Information to enhance and support the development of the State
electronic data collection discretionary grant program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\1\ Under BIL, ``State'' is defined as each of the 50 States,
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S.
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern
Mariana Islands and the Secretary of the Interior, acting on behalf
of an Indian Tribe. See Public Law 117-58, 24108(d)(1)(A).
\2\ Sec. 24108(d)(3)(C).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Background

The Highway Safety Act of 1966, 23 U.S.C. 401, et seq., as amended,
and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 49 U.S.C. 30101
et seq. as amended, both authorize NHTSA to collect and analyze motor
vehicle crash data to, among other things, improve all aspects of
traffic safety systems and conditions, determine the relationship
between motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment performance
characteristics, crashes involving motor vehicles; and deaths or
personal injuries resulting from those crashes. NHTSA has several data
collections that support its traffic safety mission. Several of these
data collections are housed within NHTSA's NCSA. As part of NHTSA's
ongoing effort to obtain crash data in a more timely, accurate and
efficient manner, the agency has successfully implemented a streamlined
process for collecting crash data in an electronic format, known as
Electronic Data Transfer (EDT).
The existing EDT protocol obtains crash data using police accident
reports (PAR), supplemental crash reports, and crash images from
participating State crash systems through electronic data transfer
processes, services, and functions. Generally, this transfer occurs on
a nightly basis once the data are accepted by each State's centralized
database following quality control checks. NCSA uses these data to
develop a census of the participating State's crashes. This dataset
supports real-time decision making; reduces the burden of data
collection; and improves data quality. NCSA uses these data to identify
existing and emerging highway safety trends, assess the effectiveness
of motor vehicle safety standards, and evaluate new and emerging
technologies.
However, only 19 States participate in the existing EDT protocol
and data obtained through these processes vary in completeness from
State-to-State. The BIL State electronic data collection program
intends to increase the number of participating States and enhance the
robustness of the data through standardization and the modernization of
its systems. BIL Section 24108(d) establishes a State electronic data
collection program that consists of two components. The first
component, and the subject of this request for information, is a new
discretionary grant program that provides grants to States for the
modernization of State data collection systems to enable full
electronic data transfer. Public Law 117-58, 24108(d)(2)(A). The second
component is for NHTSA to update its data collection systems to manage
and support State electronic data transfers. Public Law 117-58,
24108(d)(2)(B). The purpose of the grants under the State electronic
data collection program is to upgrade and standardize State crash data
systems to enable electronic data collection, improve intrastate data
sharing and electronic data transfers to NHTSA to increase the
accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility of the data, including data
relating to fatalities involving vulnerable road users. Public Law 117-
58, 24108(d)(3)(A). To be eligible for a grant, a State must submit a
plan to implement full electronic data transfer to NHTSA and provide
any other information as NHTSA may require Public Law 117-58,
24108(d)(3)(B). A State may use grant funds to: (i) Acquire or upgrade
equipment for the statewide crash data repository; (ii) adopt
electronic crash reporting by law enforcement agencies; and (iii)
increase alignment of State crash data with the latest Model Minimum
Uniform Crash Criteria. Public Law 117-58, 24108(d)(3)(C).
NHTSA's vision of the BIL State electronic data collection program
is to support States that create centralized crash data systems to
transfer uniform crash data to NHTSA. The uniformity of the crash data
will align to the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC)
Guideline. States currently submitting electronic data to NHTSA will be
eligible for the State electronic data collection grants to modernize
their systems and standardize their data consistent with this new
program. NHTSA further envisions that States participating in the State
electronic data collection program will have crash data collected
electronically in the field by all law enforcement agencies and
jurisdictions using a uniform, efficient

[[Page 25567]]

approach (e.g., question or scenario-based software) that is consistent
with the MMUCC Guideline and the statewide database's validation rules.
The program will require that crash data is validated at the point
records are added to the central State crash repository.
The State electronic data collection program requires that NHTSA
make electronic State crash data publicly available. See Public Law
117-58, 24108(d)(4)(B). Consistent with Federal Privacy Law, 23 U.S.C.
403(e), 49 U.S.C. 30183, and U.S. Department of Transportation policy,
NHTSA will withhold from public disclosure any information in the State
motor vehicle crash data that would lead to the identification of
individuals involved in a motor vehicle crash.

Request for Information

The agency is interested in information that would help develop and
implement a successful State electronic data collection program. This
includes information about States' existing capacity to collect, store,
and transfer crash data from the State level to NHTSA; interest in
moving to an electronic data collection framework; making State crash
data accessible to the public; identifying potential barriers;
describing the infrastructural needs to transition to an electronic
data transfer protocol; and adoption of electronic crash reporting by
law enforcement agencies. The information will support the development
and implementation of the State electronic data collection program by
taking into consideration the States' experiences and operational
capacity. NHTSA has a general understanding of how data collection and
information technology protocols work based on NHTSA's assessment of
State traffic records systems, current State electronic data transfer,
and FARS operations. However, NHTSA hereby seeks further information
based on the below questions. This list is not exhaustive, and we
encourage commenters to provide any further information that they
believe is relevant to inform the agency as it seeks to implement a
successful State electronic data collection grant program.

Data Standardization and Modernization of Information Technology

(1) What are the State's current methodologies for collecting and
standardizing statewide crash data electronically in a central
repository?
(2) NHTSA relies on MMUCC to establish a standardized data set.
What steps are required for the State to meet this standardization?
(a) Please provide an estimated timeline to implement MMUCC
standardization.
(b) What would it cost the State to move toward this data
standardization?
(3) If the State does not have a centralized statewide crash data
repository, describe what the State will need to establish the
infrastructure; processes and procedures; information technology
requirement; and training, to support this data modernization effort?
(4) Explain what the State will need to establish the
infrastructure; processes and procedures; information technology
requirement; and training to implement an electronic data transfer
protocol.
(5) How long would it take for the State to establish a centralized
statewide crash data repository and to implement an electronic data
transfer protocol?
(6) What are the State's estimated costs associated with
establishing a centralized statewide crash repository to support an
electronic data transfer protocol?
(7) Explain the challenges associated with establishing a
centralized statewide crash repository that supports an electronic data
transfer protocol. Elaborate on the State's needs to overcome those
challenges.

Law Enforcement Electronic Crash Reporting

(8) What percentage or number of the State's law enforcement
agencies collect motor vehicle traffic crash information using an
electronic crash report/records management system?
(a) Are all law enforcement agencies in the State collecting motor
vehicle traffic crash information via an electronic crash report/
records management system using the same application?
(b) For law enforcement agencies collecting motor vehicle traffic
crash information using an electronic crash report/records management
system, what application is used?
(9) What percentage or number of law enforcement agencies solely
use paper crash reports in the crash reporting process?
(a) If so, are these paper reports coded into the centralized
statewide crash repository?
(b) Describe any law enforcement's reservations for participating
in electronic crash reporting to document motor vehicle traffic crash
information?
(c) Specify the needs and costs for law enforcement agencies to
adopt electronic-crash reporting to document motor vehicle traffic
crash information?

Data Management

(10) Does the State have a conceptual or notional design of how the
data would flow into a centralized statewide crash data repository? If
so, please elaborate.
(11) If the State currently participates in NHTSA EDT protocol,
does the State have written operating procedures for managing the data
flow? If so, please submit the data flow or the operational structure.
(12) Does the State, in its crash data, distinguish between crash
types between self-reported and police reported crashes?
(13) Does the State include variables to identify State-reportable
vs. non-reportable crashes?

Data Accessibility to the Public

(14) Please provide recommendations on the format types for
publicly available State crash data.
(15) What State products and services that include State crash data
does the State find are most helpful to the public?
(16) Please advise if the State is interested in modernizing and
standardizing its State crash system?
This notice is for information purposes only. The agency will
review and consider information provided in response to this notice as
it implements the State electronic data collection grant program, but
will not respond to comments.
Authority: S. 24108, Public Law 117-58, 135 Stat 429.

Chou-Lin Chen,
Associate Administrator, National Center for Statistics and Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2022-09152 Filed 4-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P