[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 13, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35473-35475]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-14413]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket No. NHTSA-2012-0066]


Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements

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

ACTION: Request for public comment on proposed revision of the 
previously approved 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 August 13, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number 
NHTSA-2012-0066 using any of the following methods:
    Electronic submissions: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the online instructions for submitting comments.
    Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590.
    Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Fax: 1-202-493-2251
    Instructions: Each submission must include the Agency name and the 
Docket number for the Notice. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov including any 
personal information provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Hinch, Contracting Officer's 
Technical Representative, Office of Behavioral Safety Research (NTI-
132), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey 
Ave. SE., W46-500, Washington, DC 20590. Mary Hinch's phone number is 
202-366-5595 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:

[[Page 35474]]

    (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: NHTSA Distracted Driving Survey Project.
    Type of Request: Revision of previously approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Clearance Number: 2127-0665.
    Form Number: NHTSA Form 1084.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of 
approval.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: The National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposes to conduct awareness 
surveys to evaluate two traffic safety programs designed to reduce 
distracted driving. One program will focus on hand-held phone use and 
be conducted statewide in two States. If clearance is granted, the 
awareness surveys would be conducted in-person before and after four 
program waves. Over the program period, 40,000 people would be 
surveyed, 20,000 in each State. The other program will focus on texting 
behavior and be conducted at the community level in two States. If 
clearance is granted, the awareness surveys would either be conducted 
in-person or by telephone before and after four program waves. Surveys 
would be conducted in two communities in each State. Over the program 
period, 20,000 people would be surveyed, 10,000 in each State. 
Estimated interview length would be approximately 10 minutes for each 
survey. Information on attitudes, awareness, knowledge, and behavior 
would be collected through both surveys.
    A Spanish-language translation and bilingual interviewers would be 
used to minimize language barriers to participation. Additionally, the 
proposed surveys would be anonymous; the surveys would not collect any 
personal information that would allow anyone to identify respondents. 
Participant names would not be collected during the interview. For the 
telephone surveys, the telephone number used to reach the respondent 
would be separated from their responses prior to entry into the 
analytical database. In addition, for the telephone surveys, the 
interviewers would use computer-assisted telephone interviewing to 
reduce interview length and minimize recording errors.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information: NHTSA was established by the Highway Safety Act of l970 
(23 U.S.C. 101) to carry out a Congressional mandate 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. According to the Overview of NHTSA's Driver 
Distraction Program (see distraction.gov), research suggests that 
driving distracted may degrade driver performance by imposing 
additional workload on the driver. As summarized in the overview, 
distraction may result in reduced eye scanning behavior, slower 
reaction time, degraded vehicle control, and lower detection of objects 
in peripheral vision.
    Driving distracted may influence the likelihood of a crash. This 
supports the need for strong evaluation efforts to identify what 
interventions are effective at reducing distracted driving. In this 
effort, NHTSA proposes to conduct information collections to assess the 
effectiveness of two traffic safety programs designed to reduce 
distracted driving. The programs will use waves of public media and 
enhanced enforcement activity to increase the perceived likelihood of 
getting a ticket for driving distracted and, consequently, decrease the 
occurrence of distracted driving behavior. NHTSA would like to conduct 
public awareness surveys to gather information from the driving public 
regarding their experience of the programs, including their awareness, 
perception, and knowledge of the programs. An essential part of these 
evaluation efforts is to compare baseline and post-program measures to 
determine if the programs contribute to changes in participant 
responses; therefore, multiple measurements would be required.
    The findings from these two proposed information collections would 
build on existing knowledge. In 2010 and 2011, NHTSA conducted a high 
visibility enforcement program in Hartford, Connecticut and Syracuse, 
New York using enhanced enforcement and the media campaign, Phone in 
One Hand, Ticket in the Other, to reduce distracted driving behavior. 
The program demonstrated that this could be done at the community 
level, exhibited by decreases in both observed hand-held phone use and 
electronic device manipulation (e.g., texting). The next major step is 
to demonstrate how this program can be implemented statewide. NHTSA 
will be taking this step through a statewide distracted driving 
demonstration program. The findings from the first proposed information 
collection would provide a fuller understanding of this process. The CT 
NY program revealed challenges in enforcing distracted driving laws, 
especially with texting behavior, which can be performed below the line 
of sight. It is valuable to develop and test enforcement strategies to 
determine the ones that are effective. NHTSA will be testing 
enforcement strategies through a high visibility enforcement texting 
program. The findings from the second proposed information collection 
would provide insight into the effectiveness of the strategies.
    Description of the Likely Respondents (Including Estimated Number, 
and Proposed Frequency of Response to the Collection of Information): 
NHTSA intends to collect data from 60,000 drivers to conduct awareness 
surveys for two separate distracted driving evaluation efforts. The 
distracted driving program focused on hand-held phone use will be 
conducted statewide in two States. If clearance is granted, awareness 
surveys would be administered in-person to a population 18 years and 
older, before and after four program waves. Surveys would be conducted 
at 10 sites in each State and 250 surveys would be administered at each 
site per measurement period. Over 4 waves (i.e., 8 measurement 
periods), 40,000 people would be surveyed in both States (20,000 in 
each State). (Two States * 10 locations in each State * 250 surveys per 
measurement period * 8 measurement periods = 40,000 total surveys.)
    The distracted driving program focused on texting behavior will be 
conducted at the community level in two States. If clearance is 
granted, awareness surveys would be administered in-person or by 
telephone to a population 18 years and older, before and after four 
program waves. Surveys would be conducted in two communities in each 
State. For the very first and very last measurement periods,

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1,000 surveys would be conducted. This would be done to increase the 
power required to measure change. For all other measurement periods, 
500 surveys would be conducted. Over 4 waves (i.e., 8 measurement 
periods), 10,000 people would be surveyed in each State (20,000 people 
would be surveyed in both States). (Two States * 2 communities in each 
State * (2 measurement periods * 1,000 surveys) + (6 measurement 
periods * 500) = 20,000 surveys.)
    For the telephone surveys, interviews would be conducted with 
persons at both residential phone numbers and cell phone numbers. 
Systematic sampling procedures would include Random Digit Dial sampling 
techniques. Federal law prohibits the use of auto dialing to call cell 
phones; therefore all cell phone numbers would be dialed manually. For 
interviews conducted with persons using landline phones, no more than 
one respondent per household would be selected. For interviews 
conducted with persons on cell phones, a single user of the cell phone 
would be selected. Each sample member would complete just one 
interview. Businesses are ineligible for the sample and would not be 
interviewed.
    Estimate of the Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden 
Resulting From the Collection of Information: For the statewide hand-
held program, NHTSA estimates interviews would require an average of 10 
minutes to complete or a total of 6,667 hours for the 40,000 
respondents. For the community texting program, NHTSA estimates 
interviews would require an average of 10 minutes to complete or a 
total of 3,333 hours for the 20,000 respondents. Thus, for both 
proposed surveys, the total time burden on the general public would be 
10,000 hours. The respondents would not incur any reporting cost from 
the information collection. The respondents also would not incur any 
record keeping burden or recordkeeping cost from the information 
collection.

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

    Issued on: June 8, 2012.
Jeffrey Michael,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2012-14413 Filed 6-12-12; 8:45 am]
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