[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 21, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69916-69918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-28306]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2012-0129]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension of an 
Approved Information Collection Request; 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 its 
review and approval. On May 17, 2012, FMCSA published a Federal 
Register notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on the ICR. The 
agency received no comments in response to this notice.

DATES: Please send your comments by December 21, 2012. OMB must receive

[[Page 69917]]

your comments by this date to act quickly on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2012-0129. Interested persons are 
invited to submit written comments on the proposed information 
collection to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office 
of Management and Budget. Comments should be addressed to the attention 
of the Desk Officer, Department of Transportation/Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration, and sent via electronic mail to [email protected], or faxed to (202) 395-6974, or mailed to the 
Office Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 
20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, Driver and 
Carrier Operations Division, Office of Bus and Truck Standards and 
Operations, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration, 6th Floor, West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 
SE., Washington, DC, 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-4325. Email: 
[email protected]. Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Training Certification for Entry-Level Commercial Motor 
Vehicle Operators.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0028.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently-approved ICR.
    Respondents: Entry-level CDL drivers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 397,500.
    Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.
    Expiration Date: November 30, 2012.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 66,250 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 66,250 hours [397,500 x 10/60 minutes to respond = 66,250 
hours].

Background

    The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (49 U.S.C. 31301 et 
seq.) established the CDL program and directed the Federal Highway 
Administration (FHWA), FMCSA's predecessor agency, to establish minimum 
qualifications for issuance of a CDL. After public notice and an 
opportunity for comment, the FHWA established driver knowledge-and-
skills standards. The Agency required the States to ensure by testing 
that each CDL applicant meets these standards before issuing a CDL to 
the applicant.
    In 1985, the FHWA published ``Model Curriculum for Training 
Tractor-Trailer Drivers'' (Model Curriculum). In the years following, 
the FHWA did not mandate driver training for three principal reasons. 
First, the Agency did not believe it could justify the use of the 
considerable Agency resources that would be required to develop and 
sustain a nationwide, comprehensive driver-training program. Second, 
the FHWA believed that the level of safety of entry-level drivers would 
soon be improving because the States were nearing the deadline for 
enforcing the new mandatory CDL-licensing knowledge-and-skills 
standards. Third, many truck-driving schools were strengthening their 
training curricula in light of the new Model Curriculum (``Truck 
Safety: Information on Driver Training,'' Report of the U.S. General 
Accounting Office, GAO/RCED-89-163, August 1989, pages 4 and 5).
    In 1991, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 
1991 (ISTEA) (Public Law 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'' [Section 4007(a)(2)]. On June 21, 
1993, the FHWA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking 
entitled, ``Training for All Entry-Level Drivers of Commercial Motor 
Vehicles (CMVs)'' (58 FR 33874). The Agency also began a study of the 
effectiveness of the driver training currently being received by entry-
level CMV drivers. The results of the study were published in 1997 
under the title ``Adequacy of Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver 
Training'' (Adequacy Report), which is available under FMCSA Docket 
1997-2199 at the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov) 
described above. The study found that CMV drivers (i.e. drivers of 
heavy trucks, motorcoaches, and school buses) were not receiving 
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 entry-level CMV operators hauling property (not 
passengers), thereby addressing the vast majority of the CMV drivers 
identified by the Adequacy Report. FMCSA proposed entry-level training 
on four topics it believed would provide the greatest benefit to the 
safety of CMV operations: Driver qualifications, hours-of-service of 
drivers, driver wellness and whistle-blower protection. On May 21, 
2004, after a period of public comment, FMCSA published a rule 
prohibiting a motor carrier from allowing an entry-level driver 
employee to operate a CMV transporting property until he or she 
provided the carrier with a duly-executed certificate indicating that 
he or she had been trained in the four subject areas noted above (69 FR 
2004). The rule became effective on July 20, 2004. Training providers 
were required to provide a certificate to each driver trainee receiving 
the requisite training.
    In 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 
Circuit held that FMCSA failed to consider important factors identified 
by the Adequacy Report in developing its entry-level driver-training 
rule. While the Court left the 2004 rule in place, it also directed the 
Agency to give the rule further consideration consistent with its 
decision. On December 26, 2007, FMCSA proposed revised minimum 
standards for the mandatory training of entry-level CDL drivers (72 FR 
73226). The Agency has analyzed the public comments received in 
response to the notice, and is continuing to develop a final rule on 
this subject.

Definitions

    (1) ``Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations'' (FMCSRs) are parts 
350-399 of volume 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. (2) 
``Commercial motor vehicle'' (CMV) means a motor vehicle or combination 
of motor vehicles used in commerce to transport passengers or property 
if the motor vehicle--(a) has a gross combination weight rating of 
11,794 kilograms or more (26,001 pounds or more) inclusive of a towed 
unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of more than 4,536 
kilograms (10,000 pounds), or (b) has a GVWR of 11,794 or more 
kilograms (26,001 pounds or more), or (c) is designed to transport 16 
or more passengers, including the driver, or (d) is of any size and is 
used in the transportation of hazardous materials as defined in 49 CFR 
383.5 (49 CFR 383.5). The definition of CMV found at 49 CFR 390.5 of 
the FMCSRs is not applicable to this notice. (3) ``Commercial Driver's 
License (CDL) Driver'' means the

[[Page 69918]]

operator of a CMV because such operators must possess a valid 
commercial driver's license (CDL)(Section 383.23(a)(2)). (4) ``Entry-
level CDL Driver'' means a driver with less than one year of experience 
operating a CMV with a CDL (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 to perform its 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.

    Issued on: November 8, 2012.
Kelly Leone,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2012-28306 Filed 11-20-12; 8:45 am]
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