[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 25, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24764-24766]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9953]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0053]


Visual-Manual NHTSA Driver Distraction Guidelines for In-Vehicle 
Electronic Devices

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

ACTION: Proposed Federal guidelines; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: On February 24, 2012, NHTSA published proposed voluntary NHTSA 
Driver Distraction Guidelines for in-vehicle electronic devices. The 
agency provided a 60-day comment period. We received a petition from 
the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers requesting an extension of the 
comment period. The petitioner argued that additional time was needed 
to review information that was not placed in the docket when the 
proposed NHTSA Guidelines were published. After considering the 
petition, we are extending the comment period by 24 days, from April 
24, 2012, to May 18, 2012.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed NHTSA Guidelines published 
February 24, 2012, at 77 FR 11200, is extended. You should submit your 
comments early enough to ensure that the docket receives them not later 
than May 18, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to the docket number identified in 
the heading of this document by 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 or Courier: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see 
the Public Participation heading of the Supplementary Information 
section of this document. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided. Please see the ``Privacy Act'' heading 
below.
    Privacy Act: 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.
    Confidential Business Information: If you wish to submit any 
information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three 
copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim 
to be confidential business information, to the Chief Counsel, National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West 
Building 4th Floor, Room W41-318, Washington, DC 20590. In addition, 
you should submit two copies, from which you have deleted the claimed 
confidential business information, to Docket Management at the address 
given above. When you send a comment containing information claimed to 
be confidential business information, you should include a cover letter 
setting forth the information specified in our confidential business 
information regulation (49 CFR Part 512).
    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 
Docket.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues, you may contact 
Dr. W. Riley Garrott, Vehicle Research and Test Center, telephone: 
(937) 666-3312, facsimile: (937) 666-3590. You may send mail to this 
person at: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Vehicle 
Research and Test Center, P.O. Box B-37, East Liberty, OH 43319.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 24, 2012, NHTSA published in the 
Federal Register a notice proposing voluntary NHTSA Driver Distraction 
Guidelines for in-vehicle electronic devices (77 FR 11200). The 
proposed NHTSA Guidelines are meant to promote safety by discouraging 
the introduction of excessively distracting devices in vehicles. These 
NHTSA Guidelines, which are voluntary, apply to communications, 
entertainment, information gathering, and navigation devices or 
functions that are not required to operate the vehicle safely and that 
are operated by the driver through visual-manual means (meaning

[[Page 24765]]

the driver looking at a device, manipulating a device-related control 
with the driver's hand, and watching for visual feedback). We provided 
a 60-day comment period.
    In a petition dated March 9, 2012,\1\ the Alliance of Automobile 
Manufacturers (Alliance) requested that certain information, including 
several research reports referenced in the notice, be placed in the 
docket. The Alliance also requested that a public workshop be held to 
provide an opportunity for all interested parties to gain a better 
understanding of the technical details supporting the proposed 
Guidelines and to share advanced technical information in an effective 
manner in order to help the agency as it reviews comments and works to 
finalize the Guidelines. The Alliance requested an extension of the 
comment period by at least an additional 60 days from the date that all 
the supporting research and data were submitted into the public docket 
or from the date of any technical workshop, whichever was later.
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    \1\ Alliance Petition, Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0053-0015.
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    On March 23, 2012, NHTSA held a public workshop at its Vehicle 
Research and Test Center in East Liberty, Ohio, to provide interested 
parties with an opportunity to discuss issues relevant to the technical 
aspects of the proposed NHTSA Guidelines. The workshop included brief 
NHTSA presentations outlining the content and basis of the proposed 
Guidelines and presentations from attendees. The presentations and 
written comments from the workshop were placed in the docket on April 
9, 2012.\2\ The four research reports cited in the proposed Guidelines 
but not initially included in the docket are expected to be available 
in the docket in late April or early May 2012.\3\
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    \2\ Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0053-0045. Additional information 
regarding the classification of the police-reported crash data in 
Table 1 of the February 24, 2012 notice was also placed in the 
Docket on April 9, 2012. Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0053-0046.
    \3\ The titles of the four reports are: An Examination of the 
Definition of ``Task'' and Use of ``Tax Taxonomies'' Based on 
Interviews with Experts; Summary of Radio Tuning Effects on Visual 
and Driving Performance Measures--Simulator and Test Track Studies; 
Driver Eye Glance Behavior During Visual-Manual Secondary Task 
Performance: Occlusion Method Versus Simulated Driving; and 
Explanatory Material about the Definition of a Task Used in NHTSA's 
Driver Distraction Guidelines, and Task Examples.
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    After considering the petition from the Alliance, we have decided 
to extend the comment period by 24 days. We wish to facilitate the 
efforts of the petitioner and other interested persons to provide 
complete comments. We believe that a 24-day extension will ensure that 
interested persons have sufficient time to analyze the relevant 
research reports and information presented at the technical workshop. 
The workshop was held on March 23, and the presentations and written 
comments from the workshop were placed in the docket on April 9. With 
the extension considered, all interested persons will have had 
approximately six weeks to review the information presented at the 
workshop before the end of the comment period. Additionally, all four 
reports referenced in the proposed Guidelines and noted in the 
Alliance's petition are expected to be available in the docket in late 
April or early May 2012. Given the agency's schedule for placing these 
reports in the docket, we expect that all interested persons will, with 
the extension considered, have had approximately one and a half to 
three and a half weeks to review these reports before the end of the 
comment period. This range of time reflects the fact that the reports 
will be individually placed in the docket as they are finalized so that 
interested persons can have access to them as soon as possible. 
Additionally, to the extent possible, we will consider comments that 
Docket Management receives after the close of the comment period.
    The Alliance did not provide any detailed information showing why a 
longer extension, such as its suggestion of 60 days from the docketing 
of the research reports or date of the public workshop, would be 
necessary.

Public Participation

How do I prepare and submit comments?

    Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your 
comments are correctly filed in the docket, please include the docket 
number of this document in your comments.
    Your comments must not be more than 15 pages long. (49 CFR 553.21). 
We established this limit to encourage you to write your primary 
comments in a concise fashion. However, you may attach necessary 
additional documents to your comments. There is no limit on the length 
of the attachments.
    Comments may be submitted to the docket electronically by logging 
onto the docket Management System Web site at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    You may also submit two copies of your comments, including the 
attachments, to docket Management at the address given above under 
ADDRESSES.
    Please note that pursuant to the Data Quality Act, in order for 
substantive data to be relied upon and used by the agency, it must meet 
the information quality standards set forth in the OMB and DOT Data 
Quality Act guidelines. Accordingly, we encourage you to consult the 
guidelines in preparing your comments. OMB's guidelines may be accessed 
at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/reproducible.html. DOT's 
guidelines may be accessed at http://www.bts.gov/programs/statistical_policy_and_research/data_quality_guidelines/.

How can I be sure that my comments were received?

    If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of 
your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the 
envelope containing your comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket 
Management will return the postcard by mail.

How do I submit confidential business information?

    If you wish to submit any information under a claim of 
confidentiality, you should submit three copies of your complete 
submission, including the information you claim to be confidential 
business information, to the Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building 4th 
Floor, Room W41-318, Washington, DC 20590. In addition, you should 
submit two copies, from which you have deleted the claimed confidential 
business information, to Docket Management at the address given above 
under ADDRESSES. When you send a comment containing information claimed 
to be confidential business information, you should include a cover 
letter setting forth the information specified in our confidential 
business information regulation. (49 CFR Part 512.)

Will the agency consider late comments?

    We will consider all comments that Docket Management receives 
before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated 
above under DATES. To the extent possible, we will also consider 
comments that Docket Management receives after that date.

How can I read the comments submitted by other people?

    You may read the comments received by Docket Management at the 
address given above under ADDRESSES. The

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hours of the docket are indicated above in the same location. You may 
also see the comments on the Internet. To read the comments on the 
Internet, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for accessing the docket.
    Please note that even after the comment closing date, we will 
continue to file relevant information in the docket as it becomes 
available. Further, some people may submit late comments. Accordingly, 
we recommend that you periodically check the docket for new material.

    Issued on: April 19, 2012.
John Maddox,
Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 2012-9953 Filed 4-20-12; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P