[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 4 (Friday, January 6, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 969-970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-11]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[FHWA Docket No. FHWA-05-22706]


Motor Vehicle Registration and Licensed Driver Information

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) annually analyzes 
and publishes motor vehicle registration and licensed driver 
information obtained from the States, the District of Columbia, and 
Puerto Rico. This notice seeks public input from users on the quality, 
timeliness, comprehensiveness, and other characteristics of these data. 
Based on this input and other information, the FHWA will determine 
whether it is necessary to change the motor vehicle registration and 
licensed driver information collected. The FHWA is considering various 
options for these data programs including investigating alternative 
sources of data from the public or private sector, developing enhanced 
software to capture and process the data more efficiently, and 
maintaining the status quo.

DATES: Comments should be received on or before March 7, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand deliver comments for the docket number that 
appears in the heading of this document to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Dockets Management Facility, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001, or submit electronically at 
http://dms.dot.gov/submit or fax comments to (202) 493-2251.
    Alternatively, comments may be submitted to the Federal rulemaking 
portal at http://www.regulations.gov. All comments must include the 
docket number that appears in the heading of this document. All 
comments received will be available for examination and copying at the 
above address from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. Those desiring notification of receipt of 
comments must include a self-addressed, stamped postcard or you may 
print the acknowledgement page that appears after submitting comments 
electronically. Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments in any one of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, or labor union). Anyone 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 you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Tom Howard, 202-366-2833, Office 
of Highway Policy Information, HPPI-10, or Mr. Milton Hsieh, Office of 
Chief Counsel, HCC-40, 202-366-1397. Office hours are from 7:45 a.m. to 
4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Electronic Access and Filing: You may submit or retrieve comments 
online through the Document Management System (DMS) at: http://dms.dot.gov/submit. Electronic submission and retrieval help and 
guidelines are available under the help section. Alternatively, 
Internet users may access all comments received by the U.S. DOT Docket 
Facility by using the universal resource locator (URL) http://dms.dot.gov. It is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. 
Please follow the instructions. An electronic copy of this document may 
also be downloaded by accessing the Office of

[[Page 970]]

the Federal Register's home page at http://www.archives.gov and from 
the Government Printing Office's Web page at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara.
    Background: The FHWA collects and publishes motor vehicle 
registration and licensed driver information obtained from the States, 
the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This information is 
collected from State departments of transportation pursuant to 23 CFR 
420.105 and is published in Highway Statistics.\1\
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    \1\ Highway Statistics is an annual report containing analyzed 
data on motor fuel, motor vehicles, driver licensing, highway user 
taxation, State and local highway finance, highway mileage, and 
other selected data. This report has been published each year since 
1945. It is available at the following URL: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hss/.
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    The information in Highway Statistics is used in the development of 
highway legislation at the Federal level. The information is also used 
in preparing legislatively required reports to Congress, in keeping 
State governments informed, and, in general, as an aid to highway 
planning, programming, budgeting, forecasting, and fiscal management. 
This information is also used extensively in the evaluation of Federal, 
State, and local highway programs. The FHWA has re-assessed DOT 
internal needs for these data and has preliminarily determined that the 
information in Highway Statistics meets the Federal need of providing a 
national perspective on highway program activities.
    This notice seeks public input from users on the quality, 
timeliness, comprehensiveness, and other characteristics of the motor 
vehicle registration and licensed driver data collected by the FHWA and 
published in Highway Statistics. Based on this input and other 
information, the FHWA will determine whether it is necessary to change 
the motor vehicle registration and licensed driver information 
collected. The motor vehicle registration data currently collected by 
the FHWA can be found in Highway Statistics tables MV-1, MV-2, MV-7, 
MV-9, MV-10 and MV-11. The licensed driver data currently collected by 
the FHWA can be found in Highway Statistics tables DL-1C, DL-20 and DL-
22.
    Motor vehicle registration: The motor vehicle registration data 
collection practices vary among the States. States register specific 
vehicle types on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. States may use 
some form of a ``staggered'' system to register motor vehicles to 
permit a distribution of the renewal workload throughout all months. In 
addition, most States allow pre-registration or permit ``grace 
periods'' to better distribute the annual registration workload.
    States report motor vehicle registrations by major vehicle classes: 
automobiles, buses, trucks, and motorcycles. The truck category 
includes light trucks to the extent they can be identified and 
separated from automobiles. Data on trucks, buses, trailers, and 
semitrailers are given in tables MV-9, MV-10, and MV-11, respectively. 
Although the detail of motor-vehicle data has improved in recent years, 
it is not yet possible to obtain from all States separate data on 
single-unit trucks and combinations. Some States provide data for light 
trucks and truck tractors, but for many States the FHWA estimates this 
information using other data sources, such as the Vehicle Inventory and 
Use Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census.\2\ The table MV-9 
light truck category includes pickups, vans (full-size and mini), 
utility-type vehicles, as well as other vehicles (panel trucks and 
delivery vans generally of 10,000 pounds or less gross vehicle weight). 
Registrations of publicly owned motor vehicles are reported in table 
MV-7.
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    \2\ This report is available at the following URL: http://www.census.gov/svsd/www/tiusview.html.
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    Registration practices for commercial vehicles also differ greatly 
among the States. Some States register a tractor-semitrailer 
combination as a single unit; others register the tractor and the 
semitrailer separately. Regardless of how they were registered, only 
the power units have been included in the truck count in table MV-1. 
Some States register buses with trucks or automobiles; many States do 
not report light utility trailers separately from commercial trailers 
or semitrailers; and some States do not require registration of car or 
light utility trailers.
    Drivers' License: Each State, the District of Columbia, and Puerto 
Rico administers its own driver licensing system. Since 1954 all States 
have required drivers to be licensed, and since 1959 all States have 
required examination prior to licensing. Tests of knowledge of State 
driving laws and practices, vision, and driving proficiency are now 
required for new licensees. The State distribution of total U.S. 
licensed drivers, by sex and age group, is shown in table DL-1C.
    The distribution of total U.S. licensed drivers, by sex and age 
group, is shown in table DL-20.
    DL-22 displays the number of drivers by sex and age groups for each 
State. For the States that do not provide the driver license data 
broken out to the top age bracket of 85 and over, we have redistributed 
the last age bracket provided by each State according to the Census 
population data for those particular age brackets in that particular 
State.
    Conclusion: This notice seeks public input from users on the 
quality, timeliness, comprehensiveness, and other characteristics of 
these data. Based on this input and other information, the FHWA will 
determine whether it is necessary to change the motor vehicle 
registration and licensed driver information collected, and the steps 
needed to ensure the quality of the information.
    Specifically, the FHWA is interested in comments from users of 
motor vehicle registration and licensed driver information on data 
uses, data quality, data timeliness, data availability, and how well 
data meets user needs. Currently, the FHWA is considering various 
options for these data programs including investigating alternative 
sources of data from the public or private sector, developing enhanced 
software to capture and process the data more efficiently, and 
maintaining the status quo.

    Issued on: December 28, 2005.
J. Richard Capka,
Acting Federal Highway Administrator.
 [FR Doc. E6-11 Filed 1-5-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-P