[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 109 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34152-34154]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13416]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket No. NHTSA-2013-0069]


Reports, Forms, and Record Keeping Requirements

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

ACTION: Request for public comment on proposed 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, 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 the collection of information for which 
NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 5, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number 
NHTSA-2013-0069 using any of the following methods:
    Electronic submissions: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the on-line 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

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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 this 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: Mr. Alan Block, Contracting Officer's 
Technical Representative, Office of Behavioral Safety Research (NTI-
131), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE., W46-499, Washington, DC 20590. Mr. Block's phone number is 
202-366-6401 and his 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:
    (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:

Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS)

    Type of Request--Reinstatement with change.
    OMB Clearance Number--2127-0645.
    Form Number--NHTSA 1020A and NHTSA 1020B.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval--3 years from date of 
approval.
    Summary of the Collection of Information--NHTSA proposes to conduct 
the Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS) among a national 
probability sample of 12,000 adults (age 16 and older). The MVOSS 
focuses on issues related to seat belt and child restraint use, and has 
been conducted on a periodic basis by NHTSA since 1994. This would be 
the seventh administration of the MVOSS. Participation by respondents 
would be voluntary.
    NHTSA's information needs require seat belt and child safety seat 
sections too large to merge into a single survey instrument without 
producing an inordinate burden on respondents. Rather than reduce these 
sections, the proposed survey instrument is divided into two 
questionnaires. Each questionnaire would be administered to one-half 
the total number of respondents to be interviewed. The average amount 
of time for respondents to complete either questionnaire is estimated 
to be 15 minutes, a slight reduction from earlier years due to the 
inclusion of fewer questions. Questionnaire 1 would focus on 
seat belts and include smaller sections on air bags, on general driving 
(including speed), and on drinking and driving because of the extensive 
impact of alcohol on the highway safety problem. Questionnaire 
2 would focus on child restraint use, accompanied by smaller 
sections on Emergency Medical Services, and use of wireless phones. 
Both questionnaires would contain sections on crash injury experience. 
Some basic seat belt questions contained in Questionnaire 1 
would be duplicated on Questionnaire 2.
    The survey would use a multi-mode approach that employs Web as the 
primary response mode, with the on-line technology serving to reduce 
length and minimize recording errors. Mail and telephone would serve as 
alternative response modes for respondents that choose not to 
participate on-line. The telephone interviewers would use computer-
assisted telephone interviewing. A Spanish-language translation of the 
questionnaires, and bilingual interviewers to conduct the telephone 
interviews, would be used to minimize language barriers to 
participation.
    The multi-mode approach is a major change in methodology from 
previous administrations of the MVOSS. Therefore, the full 
administration of the survey would be preceded by a pilot test to 
assess methods for each of the response modes used in the survey.
    The sample for the full administration of the survey would be drawn 
from an address-based sampling frame. Contact with prospective 
respondents would be conducted through the mail. The first contact 
would ask that the sampled household member go to a designated Web site 
to take the survey. Each respondent would be assigned a unique randomly 
generated PIN (Personal Identification Number) that must be used to 
access the questionnaire via computer. Follow up contacts would include 
mail and telephone as alternative response modes. The personally 
identifiable information used to contact respondents would be held 
separately from the information provided by respondents to the survey 
so that no connection can be made between the two. No personally 
identifiable information would be collected during the interviews.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information--NHTSA was established to reduce the 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.
    During the late 1960s and early 1970s, more than 50,000 persons 
were killed each year in motor vehicle crashes in the United States. 
Diverse approaches were taken to address the problem. Vehicle safety 
designs and features were improved; restraint devices were improved; 
safety behaviors were mandated in State legislation (including seat 
belt use and child safety seat use); alcohol-related legislation was 
enacted; this legislation was enforced; public information and 
education activities were widely implemented; and roadways were 
improved.
    As a result of these interventions and improvements, crash 
fatalities dropped significantly. By 2011, total fatalities had fallen 
to 32,367, representing a 36% decline from 1966. In addition, the 
resident population and the number of vehicle miles traveled increased 
greatly over those years. When fatality rates are computed per 100,000 
population, the rate for 2011 (10.39) was about 60 percent lower than 
the 1966 rate (25.89). In sum, heightened highway safety activity 
conducted over the past several decades corresponds with major strides 
in reducing traffic fatalities.
    Remaining barriers to safety will be more resistant to programmatic 
influences now that the easy gains have

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already been accomplished. Moreover, crash fatalities rose in 2012. 
Thus significant effort will be needed just to preserve the gains that 
already have been made. Up-to-date information is essential to plot the 
direction of future activity that will achieve reductions in crash 
injuries and fatalities in the coming years.
    As part of its collection of information used to develop and 
implement effective countermeasures to improve highway traffic safety, 
NHTSA conducted its first MVOSS in 1994. The survey included questions 
related to seat belts, child safety seats, air bags, and Emergency 
Medical Services. It also contained small segments on alcohol use and 
on speeding. The survey has been repeated five times since then, with 
the survey instrument updated prior to each survey administration to 
incorporate emergent issues and items of increased interest. The most 
recent MVOSS was fielded during the first quarter of calendar year 
2007.
    The proposed survey is the seventh MVOSS. The survey would collect 
data on topics included in the preceding surveys and would monitor 
changes over time in the use of occupant protection devices and in 
attitudes related to vehicle occupant safety. It is important that 
NHTSA monitor these changes so that the Agency can determine the 
effects of its efforts to promote the use of safety devices and to 
identify areas where its efforts should be targeted and where new 
strategies may be needed. As in earlier years, NHTSA proposes to make a 
small number of revisions to the survey instrument to address new 
information needs. If approved, the proposed survey would assist NHTSA 
in addressing motor vehicle occupant safety and in formulating programs 
and recommendations. The results of the proposed survey would be used 
to: (a) Identify areas to target current programs and activities to 
achieve the greatest benefit; (b) develop new programs and initiatives 
aimed at increasing the use of occupant safety devices by the public; 
and (c) provide informational support to States and localities in their 
traffic safety efforts. The findings would also be used directly by 
State and local highway safety and law enforcement agencies in the 
development and implementation of effective countermeasures to prevent 
injuries and fatalities to vehicle occupants.
    Description of the Likely Respondents (Including Estimated Number, 
and Proposed Frequency of Response to the Collection of Information)--
This proposed effort would involve cognitive testing of the 
questionnaires, usability tests to identify any problems with self-
administration of the Web version of the questionnaires, a pilot test, 
and final survey administration. Businesses are ineligible for the 
sample and would not be interviewed. No more than one respondent would 
be selected per household. Each member of the sample would complete one 
interview.
    The cognitive testing would consist of one-on-one cognitive 
interviews with each of nine persons selected from the general public 
for each questionnaire, for a total of 18 cognitive interviews. All 
would be drivers 18 and older. All cognitive interviews using the child 
restraint use questionnaire would be conducted with parents of children 
under the age of 9. A maximum of 100 licensed drivers 18 and older 
would be recruited to participate in usability tests, with all tests of 
the child restraint use questionnaire conducted with parents of young 
children. For the pilot test, a maximum of 1,200 completed interviews 
with people age 16 and older would be obtained. For the final survey, 
12,000 completed interviews with randomly selected members of the 
general public age 16 and older would be obtained, 6,000 per 
questionnaire. The respondent sample would be selected from all 50 
States plus the District of Columbia.
    Estimate of the Total Annual Reporting and Record Keeping Burden 
Resulting from the Collection of Information--NHTSA estimates that the 
respondents participating in the cognitive interviewing would average 
\1/2\ hours to carry out that activity, for a total of 27 hours for the 
18 cognitive interviews. NHTSA estimates that the respondents 
participating in the usability testing would average 1 hour in carrying 
out that activity. The number of usability testing respondents would 
not exceed 100, leading to a maximum burden of 100 hours. The projected 
1,200 maximum completed interviews for the pilot test, with an average 
duration of 15 minutes, would produce a maximum burden of 300 hours. 
The 12,000 final survey interviews, with an average duration of 15 
minutes, would produce a burden of 3,000 hours. The maximum reporting 
burden for the MVOSS would be 27 hours for the cognitive testing, 100 
hours for the usability testing, 300 hours for the pilot test, and 
3,000 hours for the final survey for a grand total of 3,427 hours.
    All interviewing would occur during a single calendar year. Thus 
the annual reporting burden would be the entire 3,427 hours. The 
respondents would not incur any reporting cost from the information 
collection. The respondents also would not incur any record keeping 
burden or record keeping cost from the information collection.

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

    Issued on: May 31, 2013.
Jeffrey Michael,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2013-13416 Filed 6-5-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P