[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 16, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46701-46702]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-17887]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket No. NHTSA-2002-12499]


National and State Surveys of Alcohol Targets of Opportunity

ACTION: Notice and request for public comment on proposed collection of 
information.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has 
a central role in the national effort to reduce motor vehicle related 
traffic injuries and deaths. A core priority of NHTSA is to reduce the 
number of alcohol-related fatalities. Since 1999, several states were 
awarded cooperative agreements by NHTSA to demonstrate and evaluate the 
effectiveness of traffic safety programs that combine increased law 
enforcement efforts with enhanced publicity. These states were selected 
because of their potential for reducing the substantial number or 
percentage of alcohol-related fatalities occurring each year within 
their state. During the next few years NHTSA will be supporting 
additional state programmatic efforts to reduce the number of alcohol-
related crashes. One means of determining whether these programs are 
successful is to conduct periodic telephone surveys of the public both 
prior to and after program implementation to assess changes in drivers' 
attitudes and behavior regarding drinking and driving after drinking. 
It would also be anticipated that states implementing such programs 
should show larger and more positive changes in attitudes and behavior 
as compared to a national sample of drivers. Under procedures 
established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, NHTSA invites the 
general public and Federal Agencies to comment on the need for the 
proposed data collection, the types of questions respondents should be 
asked, ways to enhance the quality of the collection, and ways to 
minimize the burden on respondents.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 16, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to US DOT, Docket Management 
Facility, Docket Operations, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20590, Docket Number NHTSA-2002-12499. It is requested 
but not required that 2 copies of the comment be provided. The Docket 
section is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marvin Levy, Ph.D., Contracting 
Officer's Technical Representative, Office of Research and Traffic 
Records (NTS-31), Washington, DC 20590, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB 
for approval, it must publish a document in the Federal Register 
providing for a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with 
affected agencies and members of the public concerning each proposed 
collection of information.
    The OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must be 
included in such a document. Under OMB's regulations (at 5 CFR 
1320.8(d)), an agency must ask for public comment on the following:
    (i) 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;
    (ii) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methods and assumptions;
    (iii) How to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (iv) 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 response to these requirements, NHTSA asks for public comment on 
the following collection of information:

National and State Surveys of Alcohol Targets of Opportunity

    Type of Request: New information collection requirement.
    OMB Clearance Number: None.
    Form Number: This collection of information uses no standard forms.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: June 30, 2005.

Summary of the Collection of Information

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a 
central role in the national effort to reduce motor vehicle related 
traffic injuries and deaths. A core priority of NHTSA is to reduce the 
number of alcohol-related fatalities. In support of this priority, 
since 1999, several states were awarded cooperative agreements by NHTSA 
to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of traffic safety 
programs that combine increased law enforcement efforts with 
substantial publicity about these programs. These states were selected 
because of their potential for reducing the substantial number or 
percentage of alcohol-related fatalities occurring each year within 
their state. One means of determining whether these state programs were 
successful was to employ periodic telephone surveys of the public both 
prior to and after program implementation to assess changes in drivers' 
attitudes and behavior regarding drinking and driving after drinking. 
[OMB No. 2127-0605]

[[Page 46702]]

    During the next few years NHTSA will be supporting additional state 
programmatic efforts to reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes. 
The objective of the current survey is to determine the extent to which 
target of opportunity programs impact the awareness, attitudes, and 
driving behavior of motorists. It is anticipated that changes in 
enforcement levels should be reflected by changes in driver awareness, 
attitudes and behavior. For example, a state that substantially 
increases their alcohol-enforcement activities and provides substantial 
publicity might expect that respondents report a greater degree of 
awareness of these efforts as compared to before the program began. It 
may be expected that respondents would report they came in contact with 
law enforcement more frequently and drive after drinking less often 
once the program began. In addition, the survey will provide 
information on driver awareness of specific enforcement techniques 
being used as well as data regarding ongoing alcohol media campaign(s). 
It also would be anticipated that states implementing such programs 
should show larger and more positive changes in attitudes and behavior 
as compared to a national sample of drivers. The information to be 
collected by this survey is not available to NHTSA through any other 
source.
    Within each state, the survey will be administered in several waves 
(e.g., prior to the intervention effort, at the mid-point, and at the 
end the effort) by telephone to a probability sample of the driving age 
public (aged 16 years or older as of their last birthday). The national 
survey also will target the driving age public and will be conducted 
twice yearly for three years. Participation by respondents is strictly 
voluntary. The interview is anticipated to average 5 minutes in length. 
Interviewers will use computer-assisted telephone interviewing to 
reduce survey administration time and to minimize data collection 
errors. A Spanish-language questionnaire and bi-lingual interviewers 
will be used to reduce language barriers to participation. All 
respondents' results will remain anonymous and completely confidential. 
Participant names and telephone numbers used to reach the respondents 
are separated from the data records prior to its entry into the 
analytical database.

Description of the Need for and Proposed Use of the Information

    In 2000, there were 16,792 alcohol-related traffic fatalities. This 
number represents approximately 40 percent of all traffic fatalities. 
Also, an estimated 310,000 persons were injured in crashes where police 
reported that alcohol was present--an average of one person injured 
approximately every two minutes. (Traffic Safety Facts: 2000, NHTSA-
National Center for Statistics and Analysis). A recent NHTSA sponsored 
publication ``The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes,'' reported 
that in 2000 alcohol related crashes was associated with more than 50 
billion dollars in economic costs.
    NHTSA is committed to the development of effective programs to 
reduce the incidence of these crashes. In 1999, NHTSA awarded 
cooperative agreements valued at approximately $1,000,000 each to five 
states--Pennsylvania, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas. During 
the next few years, NHTSA will be supporting countermeasure efforts to 
reduce these types of crashes in additional states. Each of these 
states will be responsible for implementing an enforcement and 
publicity program. Data to be collected include number and type of 
police stops made, and changes in alcohol-related violations and 
crashes.
    In order to reduce the work requirements for each state and to 
create sets of survey data that may be compared among the states, one 
or more separate awards will be made to survey firms having expertise 
in conducting random telephone surveys. Thus, the survey data to be 
collected comprise only one part of the entire data set that will be 
assessed.
    The entire data set will be used to properly plan and evaluate new 
enforcement programs directed at reducing the occurrence of alcohol-
impaired driving. States found to have implemented effective programs 
to reduce the driving after drinking problem shall prepare materials 
that highlight the major features of their programs. These materials 
will be disseminated among states that want to implement an improved 
alcohol-enforcement program.
    The findings from this proposed data collection will assist NHTSA 
in addressing the problem of alcohol-impaired driving and in 
formulating programs and recommendations to Congress. NHTSA will use 
the findings to help focus current programs and activities to achieve 
the greatest benefit, to develop new programs to decrease the 
likelihood of drinking and driving behaviors, and to provide data in 
support of states, localities, and law enforcement agencies that will 
aid them in their efforts to reduce drinking and driving crashes and 
injuries.
    It should be noted that during the past decade NHTSA has conducted 
surveys on drinking and driving attitudes and behavior. Most of these 
were obtained biannually from nationally represented samples and most 
of these were conducted years ago and cannot be used within the context 
of the present study. Some of the survey data were collected within the 
past year but these data will not be contemporaneous will future state 
surveys dealing with enforcement and publicity activities.

Description of the Likely Respondents (Including Estimated Number, and 
Proposed Frequency of Response to the Collection of Information)

    Under this proposed collection, a telephone interview averaging 
approximately 5 minutes in length would be administered to each of 500 
randomly selected members of the general public age 16 and older, 
nationally and for each state supported by this study. The national 
survey will be conducted six times over the three-year data collection 
period for a total of 3,000 respondents. State surveys will also be 
conducted over a three-year period. It is anticipated that three waves 
will be conducted in each state for a total of 1500 respondents per 
state and up to 50 states will be surveyed for a total of 75,000 
respondents. Interview will be conducted with persons at residential 
phone numbers selected using random digit dialing. No more than one 
respondent per household will be selected, and each sample member will 
complete just one interview. Businesses are ineligible for the sample 
and would be not be interviewed. After each wave is completed and the 
data analyzed, the findings will be disseminated to each state for 
review.

Estimate of the Total Annual Reporting and Record Keeping Burden 
Resulting From the Collection of Information

    NHTSA estimates that respondents in the sample would require an 
average of 5 minutes to complete the telephone interview. Thus, the 
number of estimated reporting burden on the general public would be a 
total of 6500 hours for the national and state surveys or 2166.7 hours 
per year. The respondents would not incur any reporting or record 
keeping cost from the information collection.

Rose A. McMurray,
Associate Administrator, Office of Traffic Safety Programs.
[FR Doc. 02-17887 Filed 7-15-02; 8:45 am]
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