[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 100 (Thursday, May 23, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 30954]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-12355]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA 2013-0058]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of a Currently 
Approved Collection: Driver Qualification Files

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) 
``Driver Qualification (DQ) Files'' to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for its review and approval. Motor carriers must maintain 
a DQ file on each employee-driver and document therein that the 
individual meets the minimum qualification requirements for a driver of 
commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. The Agency's 
estimate of the number of drivers subject to these requirements has 
been revised to exclude any consideration of drivers and motor carriers 
operating exclusively in intrastate commerce. In addition, this 
revision request includes an updated estimate of the interstate drivers 
and an increase in the estimated annual burden hours for this ICR. The 
bulk of the increase in burden hours is the result of a more accurate 
Agency estimate of the number of job openings for CMV drivers offered 
each year. On March 5, 2013, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice 
allowing for a 60-day comment period on this ICR. The agency received 
five comments in response to that notice.

DATES: Please send your comments to this notice by June 24, 2013. OMB 
must receive your comments by this date to act quickly on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2013-0058. 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], faxed to (202) 395-6974, or mailed to the 
Office of 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, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-4325. 
Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Driver Qualification Files.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0004.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved ICR.
    Respondents: Motor carriers and drivers of commercial motor 
vehicles.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 46,900,000.
    Estimated Time per Response: 30 minutes (average).
    Expiration Date: May 31, 2013.
    Frequency of Response: Responses to some regulatory requirements of 
the driver qualification rules occur on a random basis. Other responses 
occur more predictably. Some responses recur; others do not. For 
example, motor carriers are required to obtain and review the motor 
vehicle driving record of their drivers from the State of licensure. 
They must complete this task at the time of hiring and again every year 
thereafter. The time-of-hiring requirement results in a random 
frequency of response, but, thereafter, the annual requirement results 
in a fixed frequency of response.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 5,800,000 hours [5,400,000 hours for 
driver hiring + 300,000 hours for annual review of driver 
qualifications + 100,000 hours for driver review and rebuttal of safety 
performance history = 5,800,000].

Background

    The Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 [Pub. L. 98-554, Title II, 98 
Stat. 2832 (October 30, 1984)] requires the Secretary of Transportation 
to issue regulations pertaining to CMV safety. These regulations are 
also issued under the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. 504, 31133, 
31136, and 31502. Part 391 of volume 49 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) contains the qualification requirements for drivers 
of CMVs in interstate commerce.
    Motor carriers may not require or permit an unqualified driver to 
operate a CMV (49 CFR 391.11). The foremost proof of driver 
qualification is the information that part 391 requires be collected 
and maintained in the DQ file (49 CFR 391.51). Motor carriers must 
obtain this information from sources specified in the regulations. 
These include the driver, previous employers of the driver, and 
officials of the State of driver licensure.
    Motor carriers are not required to forward driver qualification 
information to FMCSA, but must maintain the information in a DQ file. 
The DQ file must be updated annually (49 CFR 391.25). The DQ file of 
each driver must be made available to State and Federal safety 
investigators on demand.
    This request for OMB approval revises the Agency's previous 
Paperwork Reduction Act estimate of the information collection burden 
of the DQ file requirements.

Public Comments Invited

    FMCSA requests that you comment on any aspect of this information 
collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary 
for 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. The agency will summarize or include your comments in the 
request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.

     Issued on: May 14, 2013.
G. Kelly Leone,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology 
and Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-12355 Filed 5-22-13; 8:45 am]
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