[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 221 (Wednesday, November 16, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71122-71123]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29361]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0162]


Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Request for public comment on proposed collection of 
information.

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SUMMARY: Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from 
the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before seeking OMB approval, 
Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of 
information, including extensions and reinstatements of previously 
approved collections.
    This document describes an Information Collection Request (ICR) for 
which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before January 17, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation Dockets, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 20590. 
You may also submit comments electronically at http://www.regulations.gov. All comments should refer to the Docket No. NHTSA-
2011-0162.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Cicchino, Ph.D., Contracting 
Officer's Technical Representative, Office of Behavioral Safety 
Research (NTI-131), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., W46-491, Washington, DC 20590. Dr. Cicchino's 
phone number is (202) 366-2752 and her email address is 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB 
for approval, it must publish a document in the Federal Register 
providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with members of 
the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of 
information. The OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must 
be included in such a document. Under OMB's regulations (at 5 CFR 
1320.8(d)), an agency must ask for public comment on the following:
    (i) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (ii) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (iii) How to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (iv) How to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks public comment on 
the following proposed collection of information:
    Title: Instrumented On-Road Study of Motorcycle Riders.
    Type of Request: New information collection request.
    OMB Clearance Number: None.
    Form Number: This collection of information uses no standard forms.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of 
approval.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: In this study, the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will be 
conducting on-road instrumented vehicle data collection with a total of 
160 motorcycle riders to examine motorcycle riders' behaviors as they 
typically ride. Volunteers will be recruited to have their motorcycles 
outfitted for one year with instrumentation such as cameras, GPS, and 
accelerometers that will capture data on normal riding behavior 
whenever their motorcycles are ridden.
    Before participating in the on-road portion of the study, 
participating motorcycle riders will be asked to complete intake 
questionnaires that will ask about their demographics, riding history, 
self-reported behavior, and perceptions. After completing the on-road 
study, participants will be asked to complete a short debriefing 
interview that will focus on their experiences riding with the 
instrumentation in the past year. If a participant is involved in a 
motorcycle crash during the study, he or she may be asked additional 
questions about the circumstances surrounding the crash. This 
subjective data will be combined with the objective data from the 
instrumentation on actual riding behavior to help NHTSA develop a 
better understanding of if a rider's demographic characteristics, 
riding history, self-reported behavior, and perceptions are linked to 
his or her behavior on the road.
    Need and Use of Information: The National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration (NHTSA) was established to reduce the mounting number of 
deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle 
crashes on the Nation's highways. As part of this statutory mandate, 
NHTSA is authorized to conduct research as a foundation for the 
development of motor vehicle standards and traffic safety programs.
    Motorcycle fatalities have increased over the past decade at an 
alarming rate. In 2009, 4,462 motorcycle riders were killed in the US. 
This marks the first time the number of motorcycle fatalities has 
decreased after steadily increasing over 11 years; however, even with 
this decline, the number of motorcycle fatalities in 2009 was nearly 
double that from a decade earlier. Motorcycles made up 3% of the 
registered vehicles in the US in 2009 but motorcyclists accounted for 
13% of the total traffic fatalities.
    Knowledge of both how riders successfully avoid crashes and of 
behaviors that correlate with and contribute to crash risk is crucial 
to developing effective countermeasures to reduce motorcycle crashes 
and fatalities. Data describing actual events are difficult to collect. 
Riders and law enforcement officers are not always aware of what caused 
a crash after the fact. It is even more difficult to identify 
behavioral factors associated with safe riding, and the actions of 
riders during evasive maneuvers that did not result in a police-
reportable crash. Studies using instrumented vehicles to collect data 
on the real-world driving of passenger car and truck drivers have 
provided unprecedented information describing

[[Page 71123]]

actual events occurring for drivers as they negotiate the roadway 
system. The goal of this study is to collect similar data from 
motorcycle operators using instrumented motorcycles.
    Participating riders' responses to a series of questionnaires on 
their demographics, riding history, self-reported behavior, and 
perceptions will augment the data collected from their instrumented 
motorcycles. Information collected from questionnaires will allow NHTSA 
to investigate if these rider characteristics are related to safe and 
unsafe on-motorcycle riding behavior. A debriefing interview will 
collect additional subjective information on the rider's experiences 
riding with the instrumentation over the prior year. In support of its 
mission, NHTSA will use the information from the questionnaires and 
interviews, in conjunction with the naturalistic data collected from 
the instrumented motorcycles, to decrease crashes and resulting 
injuries and fatalities, and provide informational support to States, 
localities, and law enforcement agencies that will aid them in their 
efforts to reduce motorcycle crashes.
    Description of the Likely Respondents (Including Estimated Number, 
and Proposed Frequency of Response to the Collection of Information): 
Participation in the study will be voluntary. Each of the 160 
participants in the on-road instrumented motorcycle portion of the 
study will be asked to complete intake questionnaires, capturing 
demographic characteristics, riding history, self-reported behavior, 
and perceptions, during his or her instrumentation session and to 
complete a debriefing interview as the instrumentation is being removed 
from his or her motorcycle one year later.
    If a participant in the study is involved in a crash while riding 
the instrumented motorcycle, he or she may be asked to participate in 
one additional interview on the circumstances surrounding the crash. 
Based on the number of crashes that occurred per mile driven in a prior 
instrumented car study and the number of motorcycle injury crashes per 
mile ridden in 2009, NHTSA estimates that 20 motorcycle crashes may 
occur during this study.
    Estimate of the Total Annual Reporting and Record Keeping Burden 
Resulting from the Collection of Information: The intake questionnaires 
are estimated to take 75 minutes to complete, and the debriefing 
interview is estimated to last 15 minutes. Intake questionnaires will 
be completed during the time when the respondent's motorcycle is being 
instrumented, and the debriefing interview will be completed while the 
instrumentation is being removed from the respondent's motorcycle after 
the one-year period of on-road data collection. This results in an 
estimated burden of 200 hours of burden for the intake questionnaires 
(160 respondents x 75 minutes), and 40 hours of burden for the 
debriefing interviews (160 respondents x 15 minutes).
    A rider involved in a crash on his or her instrumented motorcycle 
during the on-road data collection period may be asked to participate 
in an additional interview regarding the circumstances that surrounded 
the crash. This interview would take approximately 60 minutes, and 
NHTSA estimates that 20 motorcycle crashes may occur during this study. 
Thus, the estimated burden for post-crash interviews is 20 hours (20 
respondents x 60 minutes).
    The total estimated information collection burden for this project 
is 260 hours over one year: 200 hours for the intake questionnaires, 40 
hours for the debriefing interviews, and 20 hours for possible post-
crash interviews. The respondents will not incur any record-keeping 
burden or record-keeping cost from the information collection.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

Jeffrey Michael,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2011-29361 Filed 11-15-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P