[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 240 (Friday, December 12, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75793-75794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-29414]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2008-0336]


Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information 
Collection: Annual Commercial Vehicle Driver Survey: Work and 
Compensation

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 plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its 
review and approval and invites public comment. The purpose of this 
information collection is to acquire general information regarding the 
commercial motor vehicle driving population and specific information on 
driver work history, work scheduling, and compensation. This 
information is needed in many different types of analyses conducted by 
the FMCSA and would benefit the FMCSA in assessing the impacts of 
proposed rules and the improvement of its safety programs.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before February 10, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2008-0336 using any of the 
following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://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: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. 
and 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.

Each submission must include the Agency name and the docket number for 
this Notice. Note that DOT posts all comments received without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or Room W12-140 
on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays. The FDMS is available 24 hours each 
day, 365 days each year. If you want acknowledgement that we received 
your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or 
post card or print the acknowledgement page that appears after 
submitting online.
    Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if 
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review the DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19476). This information is also 
available at http://docketsinfo.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Mindy Shalaby, Economist, Analysis 
Division, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology, Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, 
DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 493-0304; e-mail [email protected]. 
Requests for additional information or copies of the information 
collection instrument and instructions should be directed to Dr. 
Michelle Yeh, Engineering Psychologist, Human Factors Division, Volpe 
National Transportation Systems Center, 55 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 
02124. Telephone: (617) 494-3459; e-mail [email protected]. Office 
hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration (FMCSA) needs a better understanding of the commercial 
motor vehicle (CMV) driving population. Driver-related factors are an 
important consideration in CMV crashes, but there is no central 
nationwide source of information describing the population of drivers 
operating CMVs in the United States (US). Estimates of the number of 
commercial drivers and particular subsets of drivers (e.g., local, 
short-haul, and long-haul) are needed and would benefit FMCSA in 
assessing the impacts of proposed rules and the improvement of its 
safety programs. In particular, information on driver work history, 
work schedule, and compensation is needed in many different types of 
analyses conducted by the FMCSA.

[[Page 75794]]

    Driver work history addresses how long a CMV driver has been 
working in the industry, his/her level of experience, and his/her type 
of experience. These items include questions regarding driver tenure 
with his/her current employer and the number of past employers to 
provide information regarding the driver turnover rate. Items also 
collect information about driver training to understand how drivers 
learned to operate their CMVs and the amount of training that is 
ongoing in the industry. Driver work schedule examines the issue of how 
much drivers work and the activities in which they are engaged when 
they work (e.g., driving time, loading time, waiting time). FMCSA is 
interested in understanding whether drivers' work schedules are tracked 
and how they are tracked (e.g., with paper log books or Electronic On-
Board Recorders (EOBRs). Finally, driver compensation collects 
information on how much drivers earn and how they are paid (e.g., 
salary, by hour, or by mile). This data will allow FMCSA to estimate an 
average wage rate, which can be used to understand the cost imposed on 
drivers by current and proposed regulations.
    The goals of this survey are to acquire general demographic 
information regarding the commercial motor vehicle driving population, 
and specific information on driver work history, work scheduling, and 
compensation. Data for this project will be collected via driver 
interviews. The results of the information collection will be 
summarized in a report for the FMCSA and made available to the public.
    Title: Annual Commercial Vehicle Driver Survey: Work and 
Compensation.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-XXXX.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Respondents: Commercial motor vehicle drivers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 576 commercial motor vehicle 
drivers.
    Estimated Time per Response: 15 minutes per response.
    Expiration Date: N/A.
    Frequency of Response: Once.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 144 hours [576 respondents x 15 
minutes/60 minutes per response = 144].
    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: December 5, 2008.
Terry Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Research and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. E8-29414 Filed 12-11-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P