[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 102 (Tuesday, May 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32009-32010]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-12520]
[[Page 32009]]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2013-0072]
Technical Report on the Injury Vulnerability of Older Occupants
and Women
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Request for comments on technical report.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces NHTSA's publication of a technical
report comparing the injury and fatality risk in crashes of older and
younger vehicle occupants and of male and female occupants. The
report's title is: Injury Vulnerability and Effectiveness of Occupant
Protection Technologies for Older Occupants and Women.
DATES: Comments must be received no later than September 25, 2013.
ADDRESSES:
Report: The technical report is available on the Internet for
viewing in PDF format at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811766.pdf.
You may obtain a copy of the report free of charge by sending a self-
addressed mailing label to Charles J. Kahane (NVS-431), National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room W53-312, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Comments: You may submit comments [identified by Docket Number
NHTSA-2013-0072] by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
You may call Docket Management at 202-366-9826.
Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see
the Procedural Matters section of this document. Note that all comments
received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles J. Kahane, Chief, Evaluation
Division, NVS-431, National Center for Statistics and Analysis,
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room W53-312, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-2560.
Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Aging increases a person's fragility
(likelihood of injury given a physical insult) and frailty (chance of
dying from a specific injury). Young adult females are more fragile
than males of the same age, but later in life women are less frail than
their male contemporaries. Double-pair-comparison and logistic-
regression analyses of 1975-2010 FARS, 1987-2007 MCOD, and 1988-2010
NASS-CDS data allow quantifying the effects of aging and gender on
fatality and injury risk and studying how trends have changed as
vehicle-safety technologies developed.
In crashes of cars and LTVs of the past 50 model years, fatality
risk increases as occupants age, given similar physical insults, by an
average of 3.11 .08 percent per year that they age.
Fatality risk is, on average, 17.0 1.5 percent higher for
a female than for a male of the same age (but more so for young adults
and much less so for elderly occupants). The relative risk increases
for aging and females may have both intensified slightly from vehicles
of the 1960s up to about 1990 (even while safety improvements greatly
reduced the absolute risk for men and women of all age groups); since
then, the added risk for females has substantially diminished, probably
to less than half, while the increase for aging may also have
diminished, but by a much smaller amount. AIS >= 2 nonfatal-injury risk
increases only by 1.58 .35 percent per year of aging, but
it is 28.8 6.0 percent higher for a female than for a
male.
Older occupants are susceptible to thoracic injuries, especially
multiple rib fractures. Females are susceptible to neck and abdominal
injuries and, at lower severity levels, highly susceptible to arm and
leg fractures. Female drivers are especially vulnerable to leg
fractures from toe-pan intrusion. All of the major occupant protection
technologies in vehicles of recent model years have at least some
benefit for adults of all age groups and of either gender; none of them
are harmful for a particular age group or gender. Nevertheless, seat
belts have been historically somewhat less effective for older
occupants and female passengers, but more effective for female drivers.
Frontal air bags are about equally effective across all ages; side air
bags may be even more effective for older occupants than for young
adults. Air bags and other non-belt protection technologies are helping
females just as much and quite possibly even more than they protect
males; this may have contributed to shrinking the historical risk
increase for females relative to males of the same age.
Procedural Matters
How can I influence NHTSA's thinking on this subject?
NHTSA welcomes public review of the technical report. NHTSA will
submit to the Docket a response to the comments and, if appropriate,
will supplement or revise the report.
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 (NHTSA-2013-0072) in your comments.
Your primary comments must not be more than 15 pages long (49 CFR
553.21). However, you may attach additional documents to your primary
comments. There is no limit on the length of the attachments.
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) or you may visit http://www.regulations.gov.
Please send two paper copies of your comments to Docket Management,
fax them, or use the Federal eRulemaking Portal. The mailing address is
U. S. Department of Transportation, Docket Management Facility, M-30,
West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20590. The fax number is 1-202-493-2251. To use the
Federal eRulemaking Portal, go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow
the online instructions for submitting comments.
We also request, but do not require you to send a copy to Charles
J. Kahane, Chief, Evaluation Division, NVS-431, National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, Room W53-312, 1200 New Jersey Avenue
SE., Washington, DC 20590 (or email them to [email protected]). He
can check if your comments have been received at the Docket and he can
expedite their review by NHTSA.
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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. You may also periodically
access http://www.regulations.gov and enter the number for this docket
(NHTSA-2013-0072) to see if your comments are on line.
How do I submit confidential business information?
If you wish to submit any information under a claim of
confidentiality, send 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., Washington, DC 20590.
Include a cover letter supplying the information specified in our
confidential business information regulation (49 CFR Part 512).
In addition, send two copies from which you have deleted the
claimed confidential business information to U. S. Department of
Transportation, Docket Management Facility, M-30, West Building, Ground
Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590,
or submit them via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
Will the agency consider late comments?
In our response, 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.
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.
How can I read the comments submitted by other people?
You may read the materials placed in the docket for this document
(e.g., the comments submitted in response to this document by other
interested persons) at any time by going to http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. You may also
read the materials at the Docket Management Facility by going to the
street address given above under ADDRESSES. The Docket Management
Facility is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30111, 30168; delegation of authority at
49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8.
James F. Simons,
Director, Office of Regulatory Analysis and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2013-12520 Filed 5-24-13; 8:45 am]
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