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Uniform Procedures for State Highway Safety Grant Programs Publication: Federal Register Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Barbara Sauers Date: 21 April 2022 Subjects: American Government  , Roads & Highways, Safety
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 77 (Thursday, April 21, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 23780-23783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08484]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
23 CFR Part 1300
[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0036]
RIN 2127-AM45
Uniform Procedures for State Highway Safety Grant Programs
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
[[Page 23781]]
ACTION: Notification of public meetings; request for comments (RFC).
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SUMMARY: NHTSA is initiating a rulemaking process to implement changes
to the Highway Safety Grant Program (the annual formula grants to
States) in accordance with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
In order to ensure that the broadest possible cross-section of
stakeholders is engaged from the onset of the process, NHTSA is
publishing this RFC and announcing three public meetings to be held
prior to issuing the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).
DATES: NHTSA will hold public meetings on May 2, May 4, and May 5,
2022, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) each
day. The meetings will be held virtually and provide an avenue for
submission of comments. For planning purposes, NHTSA will allot time
within each meeting for the topical areas outlined in this RFC, and to
accommodate other issues a presenter may wish to raise. Upon
registration, participants will identify whether they choose to provide
verbal comments at the meeting and which topical areas they wish to
address. Based on the results of that registration process, NHTSA will
schedule time for each presenter, ensuring to the maximum extent
practicable that all interested applicants have an opportunity for an
oral presentation. However, the schedule will be on a first come first
served basis. The public will also have the opportunity to submit
written comments to the Docket concerning matters addressed in this
notification. Written comments should be submitted no later than May
23, 2022.
ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be held virtually via Zoom for
Government. The meetings' online links and a detailed agenda will be
provided upon registration. You may send written comments, identified
by the docket number listed at the beginning of this document or by the
Regulatory Information Number (RIN), by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for sending comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery/Courier: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. To be sure
someone is there to help you, please call 202-366-9826 before coming.
Instructions: All written submissions must include the agency name
and docket number or RIN for this rulemaking. All comments received
will be posted without change at https://www.regulations.gov/ including
any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on sending
comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the
``Public Participation'' heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section of this document.
Docket: For access to the docket go to https://www.regulations.gov
at any time or to 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. Telephone: 202-366-
9826. If going in person, please call ahead to be sure someone is there
to help you.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information, contact Amy
Schick, Acting Director, Office of Grants Management and Operations,
Regional Operations and Program Delivery, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, Telephone number: (202) 366-2764. You may also
contact NHTSA's Grants Management and Operations Office at
nhtsaropdprogramquestions@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The ``Highway Safety Grant Program,'' as used in this
notification, refers to the annual formula grants to States, the
District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories to carry out highway safety
programs within their jurisdictions. NHTSA implements the Highway
Safety Grant Program, in part, through regulations published at 23 CFR
part 1300. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58)
(hereinafter the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) requires NHTSA to
undertake a rulemaking to implement changes to the Highway Safety Grant
Program consistent with statute. The statutory and regulatory changes
will take effect for grants starting in Fiscal Year 2024. In order to
ensure that the broadest possible cross-section of stakeholders is
involved from the onset of the rulemaking process, NHTSA is publishing
this RFC and will hold public meetings prior to issuing a NPRM. In
addition, NHTSA seeks comments related to non-regulatory aspects of
implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. All interested parties
are invited to participate in this opportunity.
Public Participation
Registration: Registration is required for all attendees. There is
no cost to register. Attendees should register online at the links
below by April 28, 2022. Please provide your name, affiliation, email
address, and indicate whether you wish to speak during the public
meeting. Register at:
May 2, 2022: https://usdot.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItfuqhrz0pGqTf_q-7HL9klOdBTQKR99s
May 4, 2022: https://usdot.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsc-ihrTgtEwg9GuV_2WG4KOAmTrdmkiQ
May 5, 2022: https://usdot.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItdemprDIjEy9ev-zPEJUQ0ht1zBeTLIA
Each public meeting will be five hours long, with a 30-minute break
at the halfway point of the meeting. Speaker registration will be on a
first-come, first-served basis. As described later in this
notification, NHTSA is interested in hearing presentations concerning
the following topics: The National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS);
Reducing Disparities and Increasing Community Participation; Triennial
Highway Safety Plans; Annual Grant Applications; and Performance
Measures. Presenters may also convey their views on other matters
related to the upcoming implementation of the highway safety grants
under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Through the registration link, speakers will be asked to select
which of the specified topic(s) they want to address, as well as issues
they may wish to raise. It is anticipated that each speaker will have
five minutes to offer verbal comments per topic, but not to exceed 15
minutes total, in order to ensure that all interested presenters are
given the opportunity to present their views during the day of the
meeting. During this allotted time, speakers may ask clarifying
questions of NHTSA and NHTSA may ask clarifying questions of speakers.
When called upon to provide comments, speakers will be asked to turn on
their camera and state their name and organizations/affiliation. NHTSA
may adjust time allotments on a running basis during the meeting if the
meeting is running ahead of schedule, to provide additional
opportunities for discussion.
NHTSA is committed to providing equal access to this meeting for
all participants. Persons with disabilities in need of accommodation
should contact NHTSA's Grants Management Office at
nhtsaropdprogramquestions@dot.gov or
[[Page 23782]]
call (202) 366-2764 and ask for Amy Schick for help with your request
by April 28, 2022. Closed captioning services will be available for
this meeting through the Zoom platform.
Should it become necessary to cancel or reschedule the meeting due
to an unforeseen circumstance, NHTSA will take all available measures
to notify registered participants as soon as possible.
The public sessions will be recorded and transcribed. Both the
recording and transcription will be made available after the event on
the NHTSA website, listed under the title of the public meetings.
Written Comments: Comments may be submitted electronically or in
hard copy during the 30-day comment period. Please submit all comments
no later than 30 days after the publication of this public
notification, by any of the methods listed earlier in this document.
Written comments should refer to the docket number above and be
submitted by one of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. To be sure someone
is there to help you, please call 202-366-9826 before coming.
Instructions: All written comment submissions must include the
agency name and docket number. All comments received will be posted
without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act discussion below.
Docket: For access to the Docket, go to https://www.regulations.gov
at any time or to 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. Telephone: 202-366-
9826. If going in person, please call ahead to be sure someone is there
to help you.
Privacy Act: Anyone can 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 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78), or visit https://www.regulations.gov/privacy.html.
Confidential Business Information: If you wish to submit any
information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three
copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim
to be confidential business information to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. In addition, you
should submit two copies, from which you have deleted the claimed
confidential business information, to Docket Management at the address
given above. When you send a comment containing information claimed to
be confidential business information, you should submit a cover letter
setting forth the information specified in our confidential business
information regulation (49 CFR part 512). To facilitate social
distancing during COVID-19, NHTSA is temporarily accepting confidential
business information electronically. Please see https://www.nhtsa.gov/coronavirus/submission-confidential-business-information for details.
Specific Guiding Questions: NHTSA has identified the five broad
subject areas below as specific areas on which it requests comment, but
welcomes comments and presentations related to any aspect of
implementing the highway safety program.
National Roadway Safety Strategy
In 2020, 38,824 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes. In the
first nine months of 2021, an estimated 31,720 people were killed in
motor vehicle crashes, up an alarming 12% over 2020.\1\ The fatality
rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased by 21% from
1.11 in 2019 to 1.34 in 2020, the largest percentage increase on
record. The proportion of people killed who were not in passenger
vehicles (motorcyclists, pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and other
nonoccupants) increased from a low of 20% in 1996 to a high of 34% in
2020.
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\1\ https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813240.
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U.S. DOT's NRSS and the Department's ongoing safety programs are
working towards a future with zero roadway fatalities and serious
injuries. The guiding paradigm of the NRSS is the Safe Systems Approach
(SSA), which addresses roadway safety by building and reinforcing
multiple layers of protection to prevent crashes and minimize the harm
caused to those involved when collisions occur. It is a holistic and
comprehensive approach because it focuses on human mistakes and human
vulnerability. SSA calls for a system with many redundancies in place
to protect everyone.
With regards to the highway safety grant program regulations:
1. How can NHTSA, States, and their partners successfully
implement NRSS and the SSA within the formula grant program to
support the requirements in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted
as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58)?
2. What non-traditional partners and safety stakeholders can the
States work with to implement NRSS and SSA?
Reducing Disparities and Increasing Community Participation
Traffic crashes are a leading cause of death for teenagers in
America and disproportionately impact Black people, American Indians,
and rural communities. Section 24102 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law requires State highway safety programs to provide ``meaningful
public participation and engagement from affected communities,
particularly those most significantly impacted by traffic crashes
resulting in injuries and fatalities.''
In addition, Section 24102 requires that States ``as part of a
comprehensive program, support--(i) data-driven traffic safety
enforcement programs that foster effective community collaboration to
increase public safety; and (ii) data collection and analysis to ensure
transparency, identify disparities in traffic enforcement, and inform
traffic enforcement policies, procedures, and activities.'' The
following questions seek input on strategies to reduce traffic safety
disparities:
3. How can the Sections 402, 405, and 1906 formula grant
programs contribute to positive, equitable safety outcomes for all?
How can states obtain meaningful public participation and engagement
from affected communities, particularly those most significantly
impacted by traffic crashes resulting in injuries and fatalities?
4. How can the formula grant program require practices to ensure
affected communities have a meaningful voice in the highway safety
planning process?
5. What varied data sources, in addition to crash-causation
data, should States be required to consult as part of their Highway
Safety Plan problem identification and planning processes to inform
the degree to which traffic safety disparities exist on their
roadways?
Triennial Highway Safety Plan
Beginning in FY 2024, States will be required to submit a Highway
Safety Plan (HSP) once every three years. The
[[Page 23783]]
HSP is a statewide, coordinated behavioral safety plan that provides a
comprehensive framework for reducing highway fatalities and serious
injuries. The HSP identifies a State's key behavioral safety needs and
guides investment decisions towards strategies and countermeasures with
the most potential to save lives and prevent injuries. As set out in
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the longer-term HSP should be
designed to allow the States to better reflect on the countermeasures
to be implemented and inform annual project selections to combat these
increasing trends.
6. How can the triennial cycle best assess longer-term behavior
modification progress and connect year-to-year activities in a
meaningful way?
7. How can the triennial HSP account for strategies that are
proportionate to the State's highway safety challenges?
8. What information is needed to ensure the HSP provides
comprehensive, longer-term, and data-driven strategies to reduce
roadway fatalities and serious injuries?
Annual Grant Application
To combat the increasing number of fatalities on America's
roadways, NHTSA's stewardship role is to ensure that States leverage
their funds most effectively to decrease the number of roadway
fatalities. An essential aspect of this is ensuring transparency in the
use of funds. NHTSA must ensure that Federal dollars are spent as
effectively as possible and that sufficient details are provided so
taxpayers know where funds are spent.
Section 24102 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires States
to submit an annual grant application that demonstrates alignment with
the approved triennial HSP. The annual grant application requires, at a
minimum, ``updates, as necessary, to any analysis included in the
triennial highway safety plan,'' ``an identification of each project
and subrecipient to be funded by the State using the grants during the
upcoming grant year, subject to the condition that the State shall
separately submit, on a date other than the date of submission of the
annual grant application, a description of any projects or
subrecipients to be funded, as that information becomes available,'' a
description of the means by which the strategy of the State to use
grant funds was adjusted and informed by the previous report'' and ``an
application for any additional grants'' under Section 405 and 1906.
9. What data elements should States submit to NHTSA in their
annual grant application to allow for full transparency in the use
of funds?
10. What types of data can be included in the annual grant
application to ensure that projects are being funded in areas that
include those of most significant need?
Performance Measures
Performance management provides a framework to support improved
investment decisions that guide States to focus on areas likely to have
the most meaningful impacts on saving lives, preventing injuries, and
reducing traffic-related healthcare and other economic costs. NHTSA and
the Governors Highway Safety Association previously collaborated on a
minimum set of performance measures to be used by States to develop and
implement behavioral HSPs and programs. States establish safety targets
and report progress for 12 core outcome measures, 1 behavior measure,
and 3 activity measures. The measures cover the major areas common to
State HSPs and use existing data systems. Except for the addition of a
bicyclist performance measure in 2015, the measures were last updated
in 2008.
11. Should these measures be revised? If so, what changes are
needed?
12. Section 24102 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires
performance targets ``that demonstrate constant or improved
performance.'' What information should NHTSA consider in
implementing this requirement?
13. What should be provided in the Annual Report to ensure
performance target progress is assessed and that projects funded in
the past fiscal year contributed to meeting performance targets?
14. How can the Annual Report best inform future HSPs?
Issued in Washington, DC.
Under authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.5.
Barbara Sauers,
Acting Associate Administrator, Regional Operations and Program
Delivery.
[FR Doc. 2022-08484 Filed 4-20-22; 8:45 am]
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