[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 164 (Wednesday, August 25, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52329-52330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-19455]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration


Notice of Public Meeting and Workshop--Tuesday, September 21, 
2004

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

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and workshop.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will 
conduct a public meeting and workshop to present a new vehicle safety 
initiative being planned by the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. 
DOT). Meeting attendees will be given an opportunity to participate in 
a workshop in order to ask questions and provide comments on the scope, 
content, and approach of the proposed program.

DATE AND TIME: The public meeting and workshop will be held on Tuesday, 
September 21, 2004, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting and workshop will be held at the 
Doubletree Hotel Novi, 27000 Sheraton Drive, Novi, Michigan 48377.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions and further information 
please contact: Raymond Resendes, Federal Highway Administration 
(FHWA), (202) 366-2182, [email protected] or Jack Ference, 
NHTSA, (202) 366-0168, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. DOT has initiated a new safety 
research program entitled: ``Integrated Vehicle Based Safety Systems'' 
(IVBSS). One of the goals of this program is to work cooperatively with 
industry to accelerate the introduction and commercialization of 
effective integrated safety systems for light vehicles, commercial 
vehicles, and transit buses. These systems will assist drivers in 
avoiding crashes and will reduce the number and severity of injuries 
resulting from rear-end, run-off-road, and lane change crashes.
    Based on 2003 crash statistics, there were approximately 3.8 
million police-reported rear-end, run-off-road, and lane change crashes 
on U.S. roadways (about 60 percent of all crashes). These crashes 
accounted for 54 percent of the people injured in all motor vehicle 
crashes and about 52 percent of all related fatalities. Preliminary 
analyses have shown that individual rear-end, run-off-road, and lane 
change crash countermeasure systems could collectively prevent about 17 
percent of all motor vehicle crashes. Integration of these individual 
systems is expected to increase the safety benefits, improve overall 
system performance, and reduce system cost.
    This initiative will build upon prior U.S. DOT-sponsored crash 
avoidance research to develop and test integrated systems for 
passenger, commercial, and transit vehicles. It will conduct the 
research and field operational testing necessary to determine the 
safety benefits, driver acceptance, and effectiveness of integrated 
safety systems.
    There is an extensive body of knowledge on countermeasures 
addressing each of these three types of crashes individually but little 
on their integration. In this program, performance specifications and 
objective tests for integrated crash warning systems addressing rear-
end, run-off-road, and lane change crashes will be developed.
    This meeting is open to the public. It is being held to introduce 
the program and obtain feedback from all interested parties, including 
light vehicle, heavy truck, and transit bus original equipment 
manufacturers, first-tier suppliers, and fleet operators.
    The meeting will begin with a program overview by U.S. DOT staff. 
Following the program overview, meeting attendees will be given the 
opportunity to provide comments, ask questions and participate in a 
workshop to discuss the scope, content, approach, and overall program 
plan for the IVBSS initiative.
    Pre-registration for this meeting is mandatory. Also, please note 
that attendance will be limited to the first 100 registrants due to 
space limitations of the meeting room.
    Information needed by workshop participants, including the IVBSS 
Program Plan and a list of questions to be discussed in the workshop 
will be posted on the U.S. DOT's and the Intelligent Transportation 
Society of America's Web site at: http://www.its.dot.gov and http://www.itsa.org.
    This information will be available on these Web sites after August 
27, 2004.


[[Page 52330]]


    Issued on: August 19, 2004.
Joseph N. Kanianthra,
Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research, National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-19455 Filed 8-24-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P