[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 101 (Thursday, May 28, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25607-25608]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-12326]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2009-0112]


Agency Information Collection (IC) Activities; Extension of a 
Currently Approved Collection: Training Certification for Entry-Level 
Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators

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 review 
and approval, and invites public comment. The FMCSA requests approval 
to extend an ICR entitled, ``Training Certification for Entry-Level 
Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators.'' There is no change from the 
burden estimate approved by OMB on March 11, 2008.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before July 27, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2009-0112 by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line 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 to 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., e.t. 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 postcard or print the acknowledgement page that appears 
after submitting them on-line.
    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 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: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, Driver and 
Carrier Operations Division, Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, 20590-
0001. Telephone: 202-366-4325. 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) (Pub. L. 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 29384). The Agency mandated 
training for all CDL operators in the four subject areas, effective 
July 20, 2004, despite litigation over the final rule in the U.S. Court 
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. While the court ordered a remand so 
the Agency could review the matter, the court did not vacate the rule.

[[Page 25608]]

Consequently, the final rule is currently in effect (Advocates for 
Highway and Auto Safety v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 
429 F. 3d1136 (D.C.Cir. 2005).
    Title: Training Certification for Entry-Level Commercial Motor 
Vehicle Operators
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0028.
    Type of Request: Extension of an IC.
    Respondents: Entry-level CDL drivers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 45,611.
    Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2009.
    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 7,602 hours [45,611 respondents x 10 minutes/60 minutes to 
complete a response = 7,601.8 hours (rounded to 7,602 hours)].
    Definitions: ``Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV)'': A motor vehicle 
operated in commerce and having a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 
pounds or more, regardless of actual weight, or designed to transport 
16 or more passengers, or 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 less than one year of 
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 of 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: May 20, 2009.
David T. Anewalt,
Acting Associate Administrator, Research and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. E9-12326 Filed 5-27-09; 8:45 am]
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