Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Evaluation of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria Program

Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Evaluation of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria Program

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

, Safety

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 60 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18065-18067]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06496]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0028]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; Evaluation of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria Program

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a request for approval of a
new information collection.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (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 an
evaluation of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) program.

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

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
2022-0028 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 John Siegler, National Center for
Statistics and Analysis (NSA-221), (202) 366-1268, National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, W55-233, 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 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

[[Page 18066]]

collection of information for which the agency is seeking approval from
OMB.
Title: Evaluation of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria
(MMUCC) Program.
OMB Control Number: NEW.
Form Number(s): NHTSA Form 1635 and NHTSA Form 1636.
Type of Request: New information collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: NHTSA is authorized by 49
U.S.C. 30182 and 23 U.S.C. 403 to collect data on motor vehicle traffic
crashes to aid in the identification of issues and the development,
implementation, and evaluation of motor vehicle and highway safety
countermeasures
The MMUCC guideline identifies a minimum set of motor vehicle crash
data variables and their attributes that States should consider
collecting and including in their State crash data systems. MMUCC is a
voluntary, minimum set of standardized data variables for describing
motor vehicle traffic crashes. MMUCC promotes data uniformity within
the highway safety community by creating a foundation for State crash
data systems to provide the information necessary to improve highway
safety. The crash data is used to identify issues, determine highway
safety messages and strategic communication campaigns, optimize the
location of selective law enforcement, inform decision-makers of needed
highway safety legislation, and evaluate the impact of highway safety
countermeasures. NHTSA developed MMUCC with the Governors Highway
Safety Association in 1998 and have regularly updated the guidelines
together, with the most recent fifth edition published in 2017.
NHTSA is seeking approval to conduct a national survey of active
law enforcement officers. The purpose of the survey would be to solicit
officers' judgement about collecting the crash data variables described
in the current fifth edition of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash
Criteria (MMUCC) Guideline (DOT HS 812 433, July 2017) as well as to
test officers' abilities to accurately collect both existing MMUCC
variables and proposed new or modified variables.
First, NHTSA will hire a contractor to contact police chiefs within
the 397 sampling units used by NHTSA's Crash Reporting Sampling System
(CRSS) to request the nomination of four law enforcement officers in
their department who collect crash data to participate in the study.
Specifically, NHTSA is requesting the police chiefs to provide
personally identifiable information (PII) about the nominated law
enforcement officers, including names and contact information (email,
phone, and address) so that NHTSA can contact these officers to
administer a survey on MMUCC data elements and arrange payment of an
honorarium.
Second, NHTSA will send the officers who were nominated to
participate in this study a unique link to one of two online surveys,
which will examine the feasibility of collecting the MMUCC crash data.
The surveys will collect limited information about each respondent
including the State where they work as a law enforcement officer, the
extent of their training for collecting crash data, and the number of
years the respondents have completed crash reports. The surveys will
collect information about respondents' beliefs and abilities to
accurately collect crash data according to the MMUCC guidelines. The
surveys will ask respondents to rate the difficulty of accurately
collecting specific MMUCC data elements, assess respondents ability to
collect information using MMUCC data elements for fictitious crash
scenarios, and ask for suggestions on how MMUCC data elements can be
improved.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: States' adoption of MMUCC variables has been slow and
inconsistent. Currently the variables collected on State's police crash
reports alignment to MMUCC variables is less than 50 percent, NHTSA
intends to conduct this information collection to learn why the
alignment rate is so low. Before embarking on the sixth edition of
MMUCC, NHTSA seeks to assess the feasibility of collecting the data
variables in MMUCC and to identify problematic data variables and other
factors that impede States from adopting the MMUCC variables.
To assess the ability of law enforcement officers to accurately
collect MMUCC crash data variables, NHTSA will conduct an electronic
survey of a national sample of law enforcement officers who complete
crash reports. The survey will ask respondents to review fictitious
crash scenarios and collect the MMUCC data variables. In addition, law
enforcement officers will be asked about their confidence to accurately
collect MMUCC data variables and to provide suggestions for improving
each data variable as needed. Examples of the types of crash data
variables in MMUCC that law enforcement will be asked about include
Direction of Travel, Sequence of Events, Type of Intersection, and
Restraint System Use. The information collected will allow NHTSA to
identify data variables in MMUCC that officers might interpret
differently. The results will inform deliberations about the content of
the next edition of MMUCC. A summary of this research will be published
as an appendix to the next edition of MMUCC.
Affected Public: Law enforcement.
Estimated Number of Respondents: NHTSA will send a short letter to
397 chief police officers to request they identify four police officers
within their department to participate in the MMUCC survey. The total
sample is 1,985 (397 police chiefs + 1,588 police officers).
Frequency: NHTSA plans to conduct this data collection once to
prepare for the sixth edition of MMUCC.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: To calculate the hour burden
and labor cost associated with submitting the Evaluation of the Model
Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria, NHTSA looked at wage estimates for
Front Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives and Police and
Sheriff's Patrol Officers who complete crash forms. NHTSA estimates the
total opportunity costs associated with these burden hours by looking
at the average wage for (1) Front line Supervisors of Police and
Detectives and (2) Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the average hourly wage for Front
line Supervisors of Police and Detectives (BLS Occupation Code 33-1012)
\1\ is $46.72 and Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers (BLS Occupation
code 33-3051) is $33.66.\2\ The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates
that wages represent 62.2 percent of total compensation for State and
local government workers, on average.\3\ Therefore, NHTSA estimates the
hourly labor costs to be $75.11($46.72/.622) for Supervisors of Police
and Sheriff's Patrol Officers and $54.12 ($33.66/622) for Police and
Sheriff's Patrol Officers. NHTSA estimates that it will take about 10
minutes (0.17 of an hour) for the police

[[Page 18067]]

chiefs to nominate four law enforcement officers who investigate motor
vehicle crashes, resulting in 67.49 (0.17 x 397) hours for 397 police
chiefs. From pilot testing the survey instruments with six former law
enforcement officers who work at NHTSA, the agency estimates that it
will take the law enforcement officers one hour to complete the survey.
Therefore, 1,588 hours for 1,588 law enforcement officers. NHTSA
estimates the total hourly compensation cost for police chiefs to be
$5,069.17 ($75.11 x 67.49 hours). NHTSA estimates the total hourly
compensation cost for law enforcement officers to be $85,942.56 ($54.12
x 1,588 hours). Table 1 provides a summary of the estimated burden
hours and labor costs associated with those respondents.
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\1\ See May 2020 National Occupational Employment and Wage
Estimates. National Estimates for First-Line Supervisors of Police
and Detectives. Available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes331012.htm (accessed July 1, 2021).
\2\ See May 2020 National Occupational Employment and Wage
Estimates. National Estimates for Police and Sheriff's Patrol
Officers. Available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes333051.htm
(accessed July 1, 2021).
\3\ Employer Costs for Employee Compensation-March 2020, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06182020.pdf. Accessed 12/
21/2021.

Table 1--Burden Estimates
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Average
Responses Estimated burden per response hourly labor Labor cost Total burden Total labor
cost per response hours costs
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Police Chiefs nomination of law enforcement 397 0.17 hour (10 minutes)........... $75.11 $12.76 67.49 $5,069.17
officer for study participation.
Survey of Law Enforcement Officers............. 1,588 1 hour........................... 54.12 54.12 1,588.00 85,942.56
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Total...................................... 1,985 ................................. ............ ............ 1,655.49 91,011.73
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: This collection is not expected
to result in any increase in costs to respondents other than the
opportunity cost associated with the burden hours. Both the police
chiefs who will nominate respondents and the law enforcement officers
completing the survey on MMUCC possess the information needed to
complete each survey.
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 1351.29.

Chou-Lin Chen,
Associate Administrator for the National Center for Statistics and
Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2022-06496 Filed 3-28-22; 8:45 am]
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