Public Workshop and Hearing for Rear Visibility; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, Rearview Mirrors, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, Low-Speed Vehicles; Phase-in Reporting Requirements

Topics:  Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards

Joseph S. Carra
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Federal Register
March 2, 2011

[Federal Register: March 2, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 41)]
[Proposed Rules]               
[Page 11417-11418]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02mr11-35]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0162]
RIN 2127-AK43

 
Public Workshop and Hearing for Rear Visibility; Federal Motor 
Vehicle Safety Standard, Rearview Mirrors, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 
Standard, Low-Speed Vehicles; Phase-in Reporting Requirements

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

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking: Announcement of a public 
technical workshop, a public hearing and re-opening of public comment 
period.

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SUMMARY: On December 7, 2010, NHTSA published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking proposing to amend the agency's Federal motor vehicle safety 
standard on rearview mirrors to improve the ability of a driver of a 
vehicle to detect pedestrians in the area immediately behind the 
vehicle and thereby minimize the likelihood of the vehicle striking a 
pedestrian while the vehicle is moving backward. NHTSA is announcing 
two separate public events relating to this proposal. The first event, 
a public technical workshop, will be held on March 11, 2011, to discuss 
technical issues relevant to the test procedure described in the 
proposed rule. The second event, a public hearing, will be held on 
March 23, 2011 to provide an opportunity for the public to present oral 
testimony regarding the proposal. The dates, times, locations, and 
framework for these public events are announced in this notice. In 
order to facilitate the submission of written comments in connection 
with these two events, the comment period for the proposed rule will be 
reopened for a period of 45 days. In a separate document appearing in 
today's edition of the Federal Register, the agency is correcting 
various minor errors regarding metric conversions, section cross 
references and other matters.

DATES: Workshop: NHTSA will hold the public technical workshop on March 
11, 2011, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until 12 p.m., local time, 
at the location indicated in the ADDRESSES section below.
    Public hearing: The public hearing will be held on March 23, 2011, 
beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until 3 p.m. at the location 
indicated in the ADDRESSES section below. If you would like to present 
oral testimony at either of these public events, please contact the 
person identified under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, at least 5 
days before the meeting.
    Comments: The comment period for the proposed rule published 
December 7, 2010, at 75 FR 76186 is reopened. Comments will be accepted 
until April 18, 2011.

ADDRESSES: The March 11 public technical workshop will be held at the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle and Research 
Test Center, 10820 State Route 347--Bldg. 60, East Liberty, Ohio 43319.
    The March 23 public hearing will be held in the media center at the 
Department of Transportation West Building, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., 
Washington, DC 20590.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you would like to present oral 
testimony at either of these public events, please contact Mr. Markus 
Price at DOT by the date specified under DATES, at: Office of Crash 
Avoidance, Visibility and Injury Prevention Division, NHTSA, 1200 New 
Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590; telephone number: (202) 366-
0098; fax number: (202) 493-2990; e-mail address: markus.price@dot.gov 
(preferred method of registration).
    Please provide the following information: The event at which you 
would like to speak; the time you wish to speak (morning or afternoon) 
at the hearing; your name and affiliation and the number of the 
individuals from your affiliation who are planning to attend; your 
address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers; and any 
accommodations you may need, such as a sign language interpreter.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed rule would expand the

[[Page 11418]]

required field of view for all passenger cars, trucks, multipurpose 
passenger vehicles, buses, and low-speed vehicles rated at 10,000 
pounds or less, gross vehicle weight, as specified in the Cameron 
Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007 (75 FR 76186). 
NHTSA's proposal would specify an area immediately behind each vehicle 
and require that the driver must be able to see that area when the 
vehicle's transmission is in reverse, thereby minimizing the likelihood 
of a vehicle striking a pedestrian while performing a backing maneuver. 
The agency is announcing two separate public events to obtain 
additional public input related to this proposal. In a separate 
document appearing elsewhere in today's edition of the Federal 
Register, the agency is correcting various minor errors regarding 
metric conversions, section cross references and other matters.
    The purpose of the first public event, a public technical workshop, 
is to provide interested parties an opportunity to discuss technical 
issues relevant to the test procedure. We are holding the workshop 
after our preliminary evaluation of comments suggests that various test 
procedure comments could be better presented using a ``hands-on'' 
approach. The workshop will be held in a lab environment. The agency 
will provide a vehicle and various test equipment to aid parties in 
demonstrating compliance testing concerns relevant to the proposed 
rule.
    The purpose of the second meeting, a public hearing, is to provide 
the public with an opportunity to present oral comments regarding 
NHTSA's proposal. The agency wants to give the public this additional 
opportunity to express their views on effective ways of meeting the 
mandate in the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act.

Technical Workshop Procedures

    To ensure that all interested persons have the benefit of the 
discussions at the workshop, we will arrange for a written transcript 
of the workshop. It will be placed in the public docket for this 
rulemaking. You may make arrangements for copies of the transcript 
directly with the court reporter.
    Because the technical workshop will be located in a lab 
environment, NHTSA requests that the number of those attending from 
each affiliation be held to a minimum. For security purposes, photo 
identification is required to enter NHTSA's vehicle research test 
center.

Public Hearing Procedures

    Once NHTSA establishes how many people have registered to speak at 
the public hearing, it will allocate an appropriate amount of time to 
each participant, allowing time for necessary breaks. In addition, we 
will reserve a block of time for anyone else in the audience who wants 
to give testimony. For planning purposes, each speaker should 
anticipate speaking for approximately ten minutes, although we may need 
to shorten that time if there is a large turnout. We will accommodate 
your requested presentation time to the extent we can, consistent with 
the other requests we receive. We request that you bring three copies 
of your statement or other material so that it can be placed into the 
docket.
    To accommodate as many speakers as possible, we prefer that 
speakers not use technological aids (e.g., audio-visuals, computer 
slideshows). However, if you plan to do so, you must notify the contact 
person in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section above in advance 
of the meeting and make advance arrangements with that person regarding 
the use of any aids in order to facilitate set-up.
    NHTSA will conduct the public hearing informally; thus, technical 
rules of evidence will not apply. Panel members may ask clarifying 
questions during the oral presentations, but will not respond to 
presentations at that time. We will arrange for a written transcript of 
the meeting. You may make arrangements for copies of the transcripts 
directly with the court reporter.
    This meeting will be held in the media room at the Department of 
Transportation West Building. Therefore, each participant must register 
with building security personnel and be escorted to the meeting room by 
the contact person in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, or 
someone delegated by him for this purpose. Please arrive at the 
security desk sufficiently in advance of the expected time of your 
presentation to allow for the time necessary to obtain security 
clearance. The length of time will depend on the size of the audience 
seeking to attend the meeting.

Public Comments

    Persons wishing to submit written comments related to the proposal 
or either public event may do so on or before the new comment closing 
date announced in this document. The agency will consider all comments 
received before the close of business on the new comment closing date 
announced in the DATES section of this preamble. The comments will be 
available for examination in the docket at the above address both 
before and after that date.
    To minimize the interval between the issuance of the final rule and 
the original statutory deadline, the agency does not expect to be able 
to consider any late comments. Rulemaking action may proceed at any 
time after the comment due date. Any comments received after the 
closing date and too late for consideration in regard to the action 
will be treated as suggestions for future rulemaking.
    The NHTSA will continue to file relevant material as it becomes 
available in the docket after the closing date. It is recommended that 
interested persons continue to examine the docket for new material.
    Those persons desiring to be notified upon receipt of their 
comments in the public docket should enclose, in the envelope with 
their comments, a self-addressed stamped postcard. Upon receiving the 
comments, the docket supervisor will return the postcard by mail.

    Issued on: February 24, 2011.
Joseph S. Carra,
Acting Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 2011-4736 Filed 2-28-11; 11:15 am]
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