[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 226 (Friday, November 24, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67952-67955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-19831]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2006-26125]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments 
for New Information Collection

AGENCIES: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation 
(DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA and the NHTSA invite the public to comment on our 
intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to 
approve a new information collection. This collection is summarized 
below under Supplementary Information. We are required to publish this 
notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Please submit comments by January 23, 2007.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT DMS Docket Number 
FHWA-2006-26125 by any of the following methods:
     Web Site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, 
Washington, DC, 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the 
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room 401 
on the plaza level of the Nassif Building,

[[Page 67953]]

400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions concerning the FHWA 
Motorcycle Crash Causation Study, please contact Carol Tan, Ph.D, 
Office of Safety Research and Development (HRDS), at (202) 493-3315, 
Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, Federal Highway 
Administration, 6300 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA, 22101, between 9:00 
a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. For 
questions concerning the Pilot Motorcycle Crash Causes and Outcomes 
Study, please contact Paul J. Tremont, Ph.D, Office of Behavioral 
Safety Research, NTI-131, at (202) 366-5588, National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration (NHTSA), 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 
20590 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Motorcycle Crash Causation Study and Pilot Motorcycle Crash 
Causes and Outcomes Study.
    Background: In 2004, 4,008 motorcyclists were killed and 76,000 
were injured in traffic crashes in the United States, increases of 8 
percent, and 14 percent respectively from 2003. Per vehicle mile 
traveled in 2003, motorcyclists were about 32 times more likely to die, 
and 6 times more likely to be injured in a motor vehicle crash than 
were passenger car occupants. Per 100 million miles traveled, in 2003, 
motorcyclist fatalities were 57 percent higher than they were in 1993. 
This compares with a decrease of 17.8 percent in fatality rates for 
occupants in passenger vehicles over the same period. These data show 
that the motorcycle crash problem is becoming more severe.\1\
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    \1\ More detailed information on motorcycle crashes can be found 
in Traffic Safety Facts--Motorcycles, published by NHTSA and 
available on its Web site at: http://www.-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/Rpts/2006/810606.pdf.
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    Congress has recognized this problem and directed the Department of 
Transportation to conduct research that will provide a better 
understanding of the causes of motorcycle crashes. Specifically, in 
Section 5511 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) Pub. L. 109-
59, Congress directed the Secretary of Transportation to provide grants 
to the Oklahoma Transportation Center (OTC) for the purpose of 
conducting a comprehensive, in-depth motorcycle crash causation study 
that employs the common international methodology for in-depth 
motorcycle crash investigation developed by the Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).\2\ SAFETEA-LU authorized 
$1,408,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 and 2007, but provided for an 
equal match by the Grantee (Sections 5511 and 5101). The Secretary 
delegated authority to FHWA for the Motorcycle Crash Causation Grants 
under Section 5511 (71 FR 30831).
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    \2\ The OECD methodology may be obtained by sending a request to 
[email protected].
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Coordination of FHWA Main Study and NHTSA Pilot Study

    Prior to the SAFETEA-LU directive by Congress to administer a full-
scale study of motorcycle crash causes, NHTSA awarded a contract to 
conduct a pilot study of Motorcycle Crash Causes and Outcomes. The 
intent of this pilot study is to examine appropriate applications of 
the OECD methodology to motorcycle crashes in the United States. This 
pilot test is needed before any full-scale study could be conducted 
because the OECD methodology has not previously been implemented in the 
United States, and also because this methodology incorporates some 
options for collecting crash and control sample data that are affected 
by logistical and budget constraints.
    The authorization of funds by Congress for a full-scale motorcycle 
crash study provided an opportunity for the NHTSA pilot study to become 
closely coordinated with the FHWA main study. As a result, the pilot 
study will test the procedures FHWA will consider using as it 
implements the OECD methodology. Additionally, it may be possible for 
the pilot study to transition directly into the main study, thereby 
allowing the main study to avoid many startup costs (e.g., site 
selection, training, coding manual development, data form development, 
etc.) that it otherwise would have incurred. This will allow the main 
study to capture a larger sample of crashes with the available funding. 
Recognizing these advantages, the Department of Transportation intends 
to submit a single request to OMB for approval of both of these 
studies. This notice is the first step in that combined approval 
request.

Project Working Group Guidance

    A project working group consisting of representatives from the 
motorcycle industry and from the motorcycle community was formed to 
provide input into the study design. A working group meeting was held 
in Denver on June 15-16, 2006. At this meeting, consensus was reached 
that all the relevant OECD variables would be captured in both the 
NHTSA pilot and FHWA full-scale studies, that some of these variables 
would need to be modified to conform to U.S. requirements, and that 
other variables would need to be added to provide necessary data 
related to the U.S. roadway environment.

Proposed Data Acquisition Methodology

Use of Parallel and Complementary Procedures

    The OECD describes two complementary procedures to be performed for 
acquiring the data needed to understand the causes of motorcycle 
crashes. The first of these is the traditional in-depth crash 
investigation that focuses on the sequence of events leading up to the 
crash, and on the motorcycle, rider, and environmental characteristics 
that may have been relevant to the crash. The second procedure, known 
as the case-control procedure, complements the first. It requires the 
acquisition of matched control data to allow for a determination of the 
extent to which rider and driver characteristics, and pre-crash factors 
observed in the crash vehicles, are present in similarly-at-risk 
control vehicles.
    Such a dual approach offers specific advantages to the 
understanding of crashes and the development of countermeasures. The 
in-depth study of the crash by itself allows for analysis of the events 
antecedent to the crash, some of which, if removed or altered, could 
result in a change in subsequent events that would have led to a non-
crash, or reduced crash severity outcome. For example, an in-depth 
crash investigation may reveal that an automobile approaching an 
intersection was in a lane designated for straight through traffic 
only, but the motorist proceeded to make a left turn from that lane 
into the path of an oncoming motorcycle. That finding can, by itself, 
be used to develop countermeasures, and does not require matched 
control data. However, acquiring matched control data from similarly-
at-risk riders and drivers provides additional critical information 
about crash causes that cannot be obtained if only crashes are 
examined. The main purpose of acquiring matched data is to allow for 
inferences to be made regarding risk factors for crash causes. A brief 
explanation is provided here so that those less familiar with case-
control procedures will understand the

[[Page 67954]]

advantage of acquiring controls.\3\ Consider a hypothetical situation 
where it is observed that the proportion of motorcycle riders involved 
in crashes that have a positive Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is the same 
as the proportion of matched (similarly-at-risk) control motorcycle 
riders not involved in crashes. And assume that the proportion of 
passenger-vehicle motorists who crash with motorcycles at a positive 
BAC is greater than matched control passenger-vehicle motorists. These 
data considered together would suggest that for crashes involving 
passenger vehicles and motorcycles, alcohol is a bigger risk factor for 
passenger vehicle drivers than it is for motorcycle riders. That is, 
the relative risk of crash involvement attributable to alcohol in 
motorcycle-automobile crashes is greater for passenger-vehicle 
motorists than for motorcyclists. Other risk factors for crashes (i.e., 
age, gender, riding and driving experience, fatigue level) for both 
motorcyclists and motorists can also be examined in this manner. If 
scaled interval measurements of risk factor levels are obtained (for 
example, if the level of alcohol is measured, not just its presence or 
absence), then it becomes possible to calculate functions showing how 
risk changes with changes in the variable of interest. Such risk 
functions are highly useful in the development of countermeasures.\4\
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    \3\ This being a study of crashes involving motorcycles, data 
will be acquired from both crash-involved motorcycles and also motor 
vehicles involved in those crashes as countermeasures may be 
developed separately for each that could lead to a reduction in 
crashes involving motorcycles. Similarly, when control data are 
acquired, data from similarly-at-risk motorcycle rider controls and 
similarly-at-risk automobile driver controls will also be acquired. 
This way a balanced picture of the causes of crashes involving 
motorcycles and other vehicles will emerge.
    \4\ Certainly other outcomes besides the one presented are 
possible, and other comparisons are of interest. For example, it 
would be useful to compare crash-involved motorcyclists to non-crash 
involved motorcyclists and crash-involved passenger vehicle 
motorists to non-crash involved passenger-vehicle motorists. These 
comparisons would allow for estimates of changes in relative risks 
for riders and drivers independently.
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Issues Related to Sampling

Characteristics of the Crash Sample
    To properly acquire in-depth crash data, it is necessary to find a 
location in the country that experiences the full range of motorcycle 
crash types that occur under a wide range of conditions and with a wide 
range of motorcycle rider characteristics. The location must also have 
a sufficiently high frequency of motorcycle crashes to allow 
acquisition of the crash data in a reasonable amount of time. It is 
anticipated that it will be possible to find a single location meeting 
these requirements.
    It is not necessary that the crash types observed (or other 
composite indices or parameters of interest) be drawn from a nationally 
representative sample, because it is not the intent of FHWA to make 
projections of the national incidence of the causes of crashes 
involving motorcycles from this study. Rather, the focus will be on 
identifying the antecedents and risk factors associated with motorcycle 
crashes. If it is deemed necessary, FHWA and NHTSA may utilize their 
alternative databases that incorporate certain of the key variables 
that will be acquired in this study, and those databases could be used 
in conjunction with this study's data to make national estimates of 
population parameters of interest.\5\
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    \5\ There is a lengthy precedent for studying crashes using 
case-control methods including the Grand Rapids study, (Borkenstein, 
R.F., Crowther, F.R., Shumate, R.P., Ziel, W.B. & Zylman, R. (1974). 
The Role of the Drinking Driver in Traffic Accidents (The Grand 
Rapids Study). Blutalkohol, 11, Supplement 1), and of course the 
Hurt study, (Hurt, H.H., Jr., Ouellet, J.V., and Thom, D.R. (1981). 
Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of 
Countermeasures Volume I: Technical Report).
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    In addition, the crash investigations will be conducted on-scene, 
while the involved operators and vehicles are still in place. This 
provides access to physical data that is less disturbed by rescue and 
clean up activities. It also facilitates the collection of interview 
data while memories are unaffected. This quick-response approach is 
most effective when a census of applicable crashes is selected for 
inclusion.
Characteristics of the Control Sample
    While the occurrence of a crash involving a motorcycle in the study 
site is sufficient for it to be selected into the study, selecting the 
similarly-at-risk controls is not as straightforward. The OECD 
recommends several options for acquiring matched controls including 
interviewing motorcyclists who may be filling up at nearby gas 
stations, taking videos of motorcyclists who pass the crash scenes, and 
interviewing motorcyclists at the location of the crash location at the 
same time of day, same day of week, and same direction of travel. The 
first of these methods suffers from the shortcoming that a rider or 
motorist filling his fuel tank is not presented with the same risks, in 
the same setting, as is the crash-involved rider and motorist. To 
illustrate, consider a motorcycle rider who is hit from the rear by a 
passenger vehicle motorist on a Friday night at 1:00 a.m. There is a 
reasonable chance that alcohol is involved in this crash, but to 
estimate the relative risk it will not help to measure the BAC of 
passenger vehicle motorists (and motorcyclists) at a nearby gas 
station. Passenger-vehicle motorists and motorcyclists will need to be 
sampled at the location of the crash on the same day of the week, at 
the same hour, and from the same travel direction. Even if the 
suspected risk factor is not alcohol, but some other variable (e.g., 
distraction associated with cell phone use), it is still highly 
advantageous to acquire the comparison data at the crash locations 
(matched on time and direction), rather than somewhere else.
    Using the second method mentioned above, acquiring the risk sample 
by taking video at the crash scenes provides a similarly-at-risk pool, 
and it also allows for many controls to be acquired at low cost. Its 
chief disadvantage is that it does not allow capture of some of the key 
risk factors for crashes (e.g., BAC), while others (e.g., fatigue) may 
be very difficult to capture. However, some risk factors could be 
acquired later by contacting the riders and drivers if license tag 
numbers are recorded, and so this method could be used to supplement 
the safety zone interview (described below).
    The final method, the voluntary safety research interview, involves 
setting up a safety zone at the crash location, one week later at the 
same time of day, and asking those drivers and motorcyclists who pass 
through to volunteer in a study. With this method, Certificates of 
Confidentiality are presented to each interviewed driver and rider and 
immunity is provided from arrest. The main advantage of this method is 
that the key variables that are thought to affect relative crash risk 
can be acquired from drivers and riders who are truly similarly-at-
risk. A final decision on the means of acquiring control data has not 
been made.

Information Proposed for Collection

    The OECD protocol includes the following number of variables for 
each aspect of the investigation:

Administrative log: 28
Accident typology/configuration: 9
Environmental factors: 35
Motorcycle mechanical factors: 146
Motorcycle dynamics: 32
Other vehicle mechanical factors: 9
Other vehicle dynamics: 18
Human factors: 51
Personal protective equipment: 34
Contributing environmental factors: 8
Contributing vehicle factors: 13
Contributing motorcycle factors: 57

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Contributing human factors: 50
Contributing overall factors: 2

    Note that multiple copies of various data forms will be completed 
as the data on each crash-involved vehicle and person and each control 
vehicle and person are acquired. This increases the number of variables 
above the sum of what is presented above. There are also diagrams and 
photographs that are essential elements of each investigation that are 
entered into the database. In prior OECD implementations, about 2,000 
data elements in total were recorded for each crash.

Estimated Burden Hours for Information Collection

    Frequency: This is a one time study.
    Respondents: This study will be based on all crashes occurring 
within the sampling area; however, this burden estimate is based on 
what we know about fatal crashes. The plan calls for data to be 
captured from up to 1200 crashes with motorcycle involvement, and for 
all surviving crash-involved riders and drivers to be interviewed. Two 
control riders will be interviewed for each crash-involved 
motorcyclist, and one rider and one driver will be interviewed for each 
rider and motorist in multi-vehicle crashes. Passengers accompanying 
crash-involved riders and passenger-vehicle drivers will also be 
interviewed. The following table shows the sampling plan and estimated 
number of interviews assuming 1200 crashes are investigated.\6\
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    \6\ The final crash sample size will depend on the rate at which 
crashes can be acquired in the selected site(s) and other matters 
related to logistics and the final budget. However, the study will 
acquire crashes on a sample size that exceeds the requirements of 
the OECD methodology, and will be of sufficient size to meet the 
goals of the study.
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    Maximum total crashes to be investigated is 1200.

Crash Interviews
    Single vehicle motorcycle crashes = 540
    Multi-vehicle (2-vehicle) motorcycle crashes (660*2) = 1320
    Passenger interviews motorcycle (.10* 540 + .10*660) = 120
    Passenger interviews cars (.68*660) = 449
    Total Crash Interviews (540+1320+120+449) = 2429
Control interviews
    Controls for single vehicle motorcycle crashes (2*540) = 1080
    Controls for multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes (1*660 + 1*660) = 
1320
    Passenger Interviews = 0
    Total Control Interviews = 2400
Grand Total Crash plus Control Interviews (2429+2400) = 4829

    Estimated Average Burden per Interviewee: Crash interviews are 
estimated to require about 15 minutes per individual interviewed To the 
extent possible, crash interviews will be collected at the scene, 
although it is likely that some follow-ups will be needed to get 
completed interviews from crash involved individuals. Control 
individuals' interviews will be completed in a single session and are 
expected to require about 10 minutes per individual.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Burden hours estimates are 
based on the total of 2,429 crash interviews to be conducted at an 
average length of 15 minutes each and 2,400 control interviews to be 
conducted at an average length of 10 minutes each for a total one-time 
burden on the public of 60,435 minutes or 1007.25 hours.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for FHWA's and NHSTA performance; (2) the 
accuracy of the estimated burden, (3) ways for the FHWA and NHTSA to 
enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected 
information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized, including 
the use of electronic technology, without reducing the quality of the 
collected information. The agency will summarize and/or include your 
comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information 
collection.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued on: November 15, 2006.
James R. Kabel,
Chief, Management Programs and Analysis Division.
[FR Doc. E6-19831 Filed 11-22-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-P