[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 226 (Monday, November 26, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66019-66021]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22879]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2007-0030]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Request for Comment; 
Revision of an Information Collection: Hours of Service (HOS) of 
Drivers Regulations, Supporting Documents

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA 
announces its plans to submit the Information Collection Request 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and approval, and invites public comment. The FMCSA invites comments on 
its plan to request OMB approval to revise an existing information 
collection (IC) entitled, ``Hours of Service of Drivers Regulations,'' 
OMB Control Number 2126-0001. The Agency has updated its calculation of 
the paperwork burden of the hours of service (HOS) rules to reflect 
changes in the number of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers, and to 
clarify the burden associated with supporting documents. The Agency 
requires most CMV drivers to complete and maintain a record of duty 
status (RODS), commonly referred to as a logbook, reflecting details of 
changes in duty status during each 24-hour period. Drivers retain the 
RODS for a minimum period and then forward them, along with supporting 
documents (e.g., fuel receipts, road toll tickets), to the motor 
carrier. The motor carrier uses the supporting documents to assist in 
reviewing the RODS for accuracy, and retains the RODS and supporting 
documents for a minimum of 6 months. This IC promotes safety in the 
operations of motor carriers of property and passengers by assisting 
the carrier and enforcement officials in ensuring compliance with the 
HOS rules that ensure drivers are provided adequate opportunities for 
rest.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before January 25, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by DOT Docket ID Number 
0030, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 202-493-2251
    Privacy Act: Note that all comments received will be posted without 
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Anyone is able to search the electronic form of 
all comments 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 
published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://DocketInfo.dot.gov.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, FMCSA Driver 
and Carrier Operations Division. Telephone: 202-366-4325. E-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The FMCSA regulates the amount 
of time a driver may drive and be on duty. A CMV driver must keep a

[[Page 66020]]

record of duty status (RODS), commonly referred to as a logbook, that 
indicates his or her duty status (driving, on duty not driving, off 
duty, sleeper berth) for all periods of the duty day. The RODS must be 
maintained on the CMV for 7 days, and subsequently submitted to the 
motor carrier along with any ``supporting documents,'' such as fuel 
receipts and toll tickets, that could assist in verifying the accuracy 
of entries on the RODS. The motor carrier must retain the RODS and 
supporting documents for a minimum of 6 months from date of receipt.
    Statutory authority for regulating the hours of service (HOS) of 
drivers operating CMVs in interstate commerce is derived from 49 U.S.C. 
31136 and 31502. The penalty provisions are located at 49 U.S.C. 521, 
522 and 526, as amended. On November 28, 1982, the Federal Highway 
Administration (FHWA), the agency previously responsible for 
administration of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (49 CFR 
350 et seq.)(FMCSRs) promulgated a final rule that required a motor 
carrier to verify the accuracy of the HOS of each driver and to ensure 
that drivers record their duty status in a specified format (47 FR 
53383). The rule as amended is codified at 49 CFR 395.8. The FMCSRs 
also state that:

    No driver shall operate a commercial motor vehicle, and a 
commercial motor carrier shall not require or permit a driver to 
operate a commercial motor vehicle, while the driver's ability or 
alertness is so impaired, or so likely to become impaired, through 
fatigue, illness, or any other cause, as to make it unsafe for him/
her to begin or continue to operate the commercial motor vehicle (49 
CFR 392.3).

    The rule provides three methods of recording driver HOS:
    (1) Paper RODS: This grid form requires the driver to graph time 
and location on a paper record over a 24-hour period (Section 
395.8(g)). It must be present on the CMV in the absence of a regulatory 
exception.
    (2) Automatic On-Board Recording Device (AOBRD): An electronic 
record is permitted if it is created and maintained by an AOBRD as 
defined by 49 CFR 395.15. The record must include all the information 
that would appear on a paper log, and the driver or carrier must be 
capable of producing this information upon demand.
    (3) Time Record: The HOS regulations allow certain ``short haul'' 
CMV drivers to record their hours of service by means of a time record, 
commonly referred to as a time card, maintained at the place of 
business (Section 395.1(e)). The regulations do not require that these 
records reflect each change of duty status, but they must show for each 
day: the time a driver begins work, the time the driver is released 
from work, and the total hours worked. There are two categories of CMV 
operators eligible for the exception: (1) Drivers operating certain 
lightweight CMVs over short distances, and (2) drivers operating within 
a 100 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location and 
returning to that location for release from duty within 12 hours of 
going on duty.
    The RODS is an important tool because it provides the information 
the carrier and enforcement personnel require to determine the 
compliance of a driver with the HOS rules. The adherence of drivers and 
motor carriers to the HOS requirements helps FMCSA protect the public 
by reducing the number of tired CMV drivers on the highways.
    Most States receive grants from FMCSA under the Motor Carrier 
Safety Assistance Program. As a condition of receiving these grants, 
States agree to adopt and enforce the FMCSRs, including the HOS rules, 
as State law. As a result, State enforcement inspectors use the RODS 
and supporting documents to determine whether CMV drivers, in 
interstate or intrastate commerce, are complying with the HOS rules.
    In addition, FMCSA uses the RODS during on-site compliance reviews 
(CRs) of motor carriers. The CR determines the overall safety rating of 
a motor carrier, and a negative review can be damaging to a motor 
carrier's CMV operations because the results of CRs are public 
information. Many shippers of property use the results of these CRs, as 
well as other records of a motor carrier's crash and violation history, 
in selecting a motor carrier to transport their freight. Finally, the 
RODS have traditionally been the principal document accepted by the 
judicial system as evidence to support actions for violations of the 
HOS regulations. This information collection supports the DOT's 
Strategic Goal of Safety because the information helps the Agency 
ensure the safe operation of CMVs in interstate commerce on our 
Nation's highways.
    On August 26, 1994, Congress directed FHWA to revise the HOS rules 
to improve both driver and motor carrier compliance and the 
effectiveness of HOS enforcement, at a cost reasonable to the motor 
carrier industry (The Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization 
Act of 1994 (HMTAA) (Pub. L. 103-311, 108 Stat. 1673)). Section 113(b) 
of the HMTAA directs the Agency to specify the number, type, and 
frequency of supporting documents that must be maintained as well as 
the ``identification items'' that must appear on the documents. The 
regulation in place at that time remains in effect today: ``Each motor 
carrier shall maintain records of duty status and all supporting 
documents for each driver it employs for a period of six months from 
the date of receipt'' (49 CFR 395.8(k)).
    On April 20, 1998, FHWA proposed a new rule for supporting 
documents (63 FR 19457). As the successor agency to FHWA for motor 
carrier responsibilities, FMCSA on May 2, 2000, proposed additional 
regulatory language to clarify the rules (65 FR 25540). The Agency 
considered the comments it received from the public on each proposal. 
On November 3, 2004, FMCSA published a Supplemental NPRM (SNPRM), 
proposing further clarification of the duties of motor carriers and 
drivers with respect to supporting documents (69 FR 63997). The SNPRM 
addressed how a motor carrier could systematically monitor the RODS of 
its CMV drivers, and discussed the use of supporting documents by the 
Agency in enforcing the HOS. The principal method for motor carriers to 
ensure the compliance of their CMV drivers with the HOS rules was a 
``self-monitoring system'' employing supporting documents. The SNPRM 
contained a list of documents that might serve as supporting documents 
for a motor carrier's self-monitoring system.
    The Agency received 197 public comments on the SNPRM, as well as 
public comment on all the proposals mentioned above. Some comments 
indicated that the burden of the paperwork associated with the 
supporting documents is greater than the estimates provided by FMCSA in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. FMCSA reevaluated its 
analysis of the rule as required by the PRA. The Agency discovered that 
the PRA analysis proposed for this rule, did not account for the 
supporting document collection and retention burdens associated with 
the existing driver RODS information collection requirements.
    In this Information Collection (IC) revision, FMCSA proposes an 
increase in the number of CMV drivers affected by the HOS regulations. 
This accounts for an increase in the total number of CMV operators on 
the highways today, as compared to 2005 when OMB last approved this 
information collection. The total number of interstate and intrastate 
CMV drivers is currently estimated to be 7.0 million. Of these, 4.6 
million are required to complete RODS and furnish supporting documents. 
The remainder are ``short haul'' drivers or

[[Page 66021]]

others who are exempt from the RODS requirement.
    The FMCSA also describes its calculation of the HOS paperwork 
burden with greater specificity. To do so, the Agency has reorganized 
its breakdown of the various paperwork tasks performed by drivers and 
motor carriers. The revised organization separates the paperwork 
burdens imposed by the RODS requirements from those imposed by the 
supporting document requirements.
    By this notice, the Agency seeks public comment on its revised 
calculations of the paperwork burden of the HOS rules.
    Title: Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers Regulations, Supporting 
Documents.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0001.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: Motor carriers, drivers of CMVs.
    Estimated Number of Respondents:
     Drivers: Approximately 4.6 million;
     Active Motor Carriers: Approximately 700,000.
    Estimated Time per Response: The driver will take an average of 6.5 
minutes to fill out a RODS, and 5 minutes to forward the completed RODS 
to the employing motor carrier. The motor carrier takes an average of 2 
minutes to review a RODS, 1 minute per day to maintain a RODS, and 1 
minute per day to maintain the supporting documents of one RODS.
    Expiration Date: 11/30/2008.
    Frequency of Response:
     Drivers: 240 days per year, on average.
     Motor Carriers: 240 days per year, on average.
    Total Number of Annual Responses Expected:
    A. DRIVER
    (1) Filling Out the RODS: 1,104,000,000 (4.6 million drivers x 240 
days);
    (2) Forwarding the RODS to the Motor Carrier: 115 million (4.6 
million drivers x 25 times per year) and
    (3) Forwarding the Supporting Documents to the Motor Carrier: 0 
(the activity is usual and customary).
    B. MOTOR CARRIER
    (1) Reviewing the RODS: 552 million (2.3 million RODS reviewed 
daily x 240 days);
    (2) Maintaining the RODS: 1,104,000,000 (4.6 million drivers x 240 
days); and
    (3) Maintaining the Supporting Documents: 1,104,000,000 (4.6 
million drivers x 240 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 184,380,000 hours [driver burden of 
129,180,000 hours and motor carrier burden of 55,200,000 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 the performance of FMCSA's functions; (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: November 15, 2007.
 Terry Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Research and Information Technology.
 [FR Doc. E7-22879 Filed 11-23-07; 8:45 am]
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