[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 23, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29032-29033]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-9948]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2007-27924]


Notice of Request for Information (RFI): Training Certification 
for Entry-Level Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA 
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and approval, and invites public comment. The FMCSA requests approval 
to revise an ICR entitled, ``Training Certification for Entry-Level 
Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators,'' that relates to the training 
requirements for drivers applying for a commercial drivers license.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before July 23, 2007.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by any of the following 
methods. Please identify your comments by the FMCSA Docket Number 
FMCSA-2007-27924.
     Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow instructions for 
submitting comments to the Docket.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
     Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Management 
Facility, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Plaza level, Washington, DC 20590-
0001.
     Hand Delivery: Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 
Seventh Street, SW., Washington DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., e.t. 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Docket: For access to the Docket Management System (DMS) to read 
background documents or comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at 
any time or to the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., e.t. Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays. The DMS is available 
electronically 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. If you want 
notification of receipt of your comments, please include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope, or postcard or print the acknowledgement 
page that appears after submitting comments on-line.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments

[[Page 29033]]

received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register on April 11, 
2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, Driver and 
Carrier Operations Division, Office of Bus and Truck Standards and 
Operations, MC-PSD, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 400 
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-
4009. E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (CMVSA) 
(49 U.S.C. 31301 et seq.) established national minimum testing and 
licensing standards for operators of large trucks and buses. Congress 
sought to ensure that drivers of large trucks and buses possessed the 
knowledge and skills necessary to operate these vehicles. The CMVSA 
established the ``Commercial Drivers License'' (CDL) program and 
directed the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), FMCSA's predecessor 
agency, to establish minimum Federal standards that States must meet 
when licensing CMV drivers. The CMVSA applies to most operators of CMVs 
in interstate or intrastate commerce, including employees of Federal, 
State and local governments.
    Section 4007(a)(2) of the Intermodal Surface Transportation 
Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) (Public Law 102-240, December 18, 1991) 
directed the FHWA to ``commence a rulemaking proceeding on the need to 
require training of all entry-level drivers of CMVs.'' On June 21, 
1993, the FHWA published in the Federal Register an advance notice of 
proposed rulemaking entitled, ``Commercial Motor Vehicles: Training for 
All Entry Level Drivers'' (58 FR 33874). The Agency also began a study 
of the effectiveness of the training of entry-level drivers by the 
private sector. The results of the study were published in 1997 under 
the title ``Adequacy of Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Training,'' and 
are available in FMCSA Docket 1997-2199. The study found that the heavy 
truck, motor coach, and school bus segments of the industry were not 
providing adequate entry-level training.
    On August 15, 2003, FMCSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking 
(NPRM) entitled, ``Minimum Training Requirements for Entry-Level 
Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators'' (68 FR 48863). The Agency proposed 
mandatory training for operators of CMVs in four areas: driver 
qualifications, hours-of-service of drivers, driver wellness and 
whistle-blower protection. Training in these topics was not required at 
that time, and the Agency believed that knowledge of these areas was 
crucial to CMV safety. On May 21, 2004, FMCSA published a final rule 
with the same title as the NPRM (69 FR 2004). The Agency mandated 
training for all CDL operators in the four subject areas, effective 
July 20, 2004. On June 11, 2004, OMB approved the information 
collection associated with this requirement for a period of three years 
expiring June 30, 2007.
    Title: Training Certification for Entry-Level Commercial Motor 
Vehicle Operators.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0028.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: Entry-level CDL drivers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 45,611.
    Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.
    Expiration Date: June 30, 2007.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 7,602 hours. FMCSA estimates that an 
entry-level driver requires approximately 10 minutes to complete the 
tasks necessary to comply with the regulation. Those tasks are: 
photocopying the training certificate, giving the photocopy to the 
motor carrier employer, and placing the original of the certificate in 
a personal file. Therefore, the annual burden for all entry-level 
drivers is (45,611 x 10/60) = 7,602 hours (rounded).
    Definitions: ``Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs)'': This rule 
applies to the operators of a specific sub-group of commercial 
vehicles, i.e. those having a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 
pounds or more, regardless of weight; are designed to transport 16 or 
more passengers; or are used to transport placardable and dangerous 
hazardous materials (49 CFR 383.5). The term ``CMV'' is limited to this 
definition in this document; the term ``CDL driver'' is used because 
the operators of these CMVs are required to have a valid commercial 
driver's license (CDL). This rule currently applies solely to ``entry-
level'' CDL drivers, i.e. those who have no experience operating a CMV 
(49 CFR 380.502(b)).
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for the FMCSA's performance; (2) the accuracy 
of the estimated burden; (3) ways for the FMCSA to enhance the quality, 
usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that 
the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the 
collected information. The Agency will summarize or include your 
comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information 
collection.

    Issued on: May 17, 2007.
D. Marlene Thomas,
Associate Administrator for Administration.
 [FR Doc. E7-9948 Filed 5-22-07; 8:45 am]
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