[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 216 (Friday, November 7, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66448-66451]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26563]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2014-0388]


Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information 
Collection Request: Entry Level Driver Training Survey for Commercial 
Drivers' Licenses

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 review 
and approval. The purpose of this ICR is to examine, by a one-time 
collection of survey data, the relationship of commercial driver 
license (CDL) entry level driver training (ELDT), as influenced by any 
subsequent employer training that may have been received, to safety 
performance of the drivers. The goal of this research is to contribute 
to other related research being done evaluating the relationship of CDL 
ELDT to subsequent safety performance of the drivers.
    The results of this study, along with others, will provide FMCSA 
with information to support its consideration of the congressionally 
mandated requirement to establish enhanced minimum training 
requirements for CDL entry-level drivers from those currently required 
at 49 CFR 380.503. There is no national database that contains or 
collects data on the training received by drivers to enable them to 
qualify for a CDL.
    Recently licensed freight CDL drivers will be surveyed. (This will 
contain both drivers without hazardous material endorsements and drives 
with hazardous materials endorsements.) Motorcoach and bus drivers 
recently observed to have begun driving such vehicles in the most 
recent three years, as indicated by data in MCMIS, will be surveyed. 
The goal is to obtain a better understanding of the amount and type of 
total training they received, and its composition between that received 
before obtaining the CDL, and that received after obtaining the CDL. 
Type of training is divided into hours-based versus performance-based. 
Data on the amount and type of training received will be collected 
using a one-time survey effort. The data will be analyzed to describe 
the details of the driver training reported by the survey participants.
    Results of the training survey data will be analyzed in relation to 
the safety performance data of the responding drivers available from 
two databases: the State-operated Commercial Driver's License 
Information System (CDLIS) and the Federally-operated Motor Carrier 
Management Information System (MCMIS).

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before January 6, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2014-0388 using any of the 
following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Services; U.S. Department of Transportation, 
1200

[[Page 66449]]

New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and 
docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the exemption process, see the Public 
Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading 
below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the 
online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street 
address listed above.
    Privacy Act: 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 for the Federal Docket Management System 
published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2008 (73 FR 3316), or 
you may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdfE8-794.pdf.
    Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available 
24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic 
submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the ``help'' section 
of the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site. If you want us to notify 
you that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, 
stamped envelope or postcard, or print the acknowledgement page that 
appears after submitting comments online. Comments received after the 
comment closing date will be included in the docket and will be 
considered to the extent practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Goettee, Research Division, 
Office of Analysis, Research and Technology, Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 20590. 
Telephone: (202-366-4097); email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: CDL driving is a specialized skill, distinct in many 
ways and more demanding than operating a smaller vehicle such as an 
automobile.\1\ In the early 1970's the CDL Program (49 CFR Parts 383 
and 384) did not exist.\2\ Thus, there were no standardized national 
requirements that prevented a driver from operating a vehicle heavier 
than 26,000 lbs. or that carries 16 or more persons without 
demonstrating minimum knowledge and skills. Neither the Federal 
government nor any State had CDL ELDT requirements. In States that did 
have a classified licensing system, only a few required the driver 
candidate to be skills-tested in a representative commercial vehicle. 
As a result, many drivers were operating large commercial motor 
vehicles that they may not have been qualified to drive.\3\
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    \1\ National Transportation Safety Board. (1986) Safety 
Recommendations H-86-27 through 34. Washington, DC.
    \2\ Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (1996). Purpose 
and scope of this part and responsibility for compliance and 
training. 49 CFR, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
    \3\ Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Commercial 
Driver's License Program (CDL/CDLIS). Retrieved from http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration-licensing/cdl/cdl.htm.
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    Additionally, because there was no tracking of existing licenses, 
there was no systematic method for preventing drivers from obtaining 
multiple licenses from multiple States and spreading convictions of any 
traffic violations over those licenses. That allowed them to avoid 
having any driver license suspended or revoked in any jurisdiction as a 
result of convictions for violations of moving traffic laws and thus 
being reported to the National Driver Registry.
    In the early 1980's, before the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act 
(CMVSA) was enacted, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office 
of Motor Carriers (the predecessor to FMCSA) determined that there was 
a need for technical guidance in the area of truck driver training. At 
that time, only a few driver-training institutions offered a structured 
curriculum or a standardized training program for any type of 
commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver.
    In 1986, 32 States issued some form of a classified driver's 
license (i.e., a license that makes a distinction between types of 
vehicles that the holder may operate). Of these 32 States, 12 required 
State-conducted, behind-the-wheel skills testing of all applicants in a 
vehicle that represented the type that the driver operated or expected 
to operate. The other 20 of those 32 States waived testing if the 
applicants met certain conditions, such as certification of training 
and testing by their employer; two States recognized training schools. 
The remaining 18 States and the District of Columbia did not require 
applicants to demonstrate their driving skills in the types of vehicles 
they drove or intended to drive, nor did they require certification of 
training and testing by the employer or a recognized training school. 
Drivers in those States who obtained a driver license to drive a 
passenger car were also considered qualified to drive an 18-wheeler or 
a three-axle intercity bus.
    In 1986 Congress passed the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act \4\ 
(CMVSA), and subsequent amendments, explicitly to begin addressing 
these issues. Implementation of the CDL Program and its supporting 
information system, CDLIS, have been addressing many of these issues.
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    \4\ U.S. Congress, (1986). Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act 
of 1986. Title XII of Public Law 99-570, Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 
49 U.S.C. 31301 et seq., Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing 
Office.
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    The goal of the CDL program is to ensure that drivers of large 
trucks and commercial passenger vehicles possess the knowledge and 
skills necessary to obtain a CDL and operate those vehicles on public 
highways, and that such drivers are uniformly sanctioned for specified 
convictions. The CMVSA established the CDL Program and directed the 
Secretary to establish minimum Federal standards that the States must 
meet when licensing drivers required to have a CDL and sanctions for 
convictions for specified violations. The CMVSA and implementing 
regulations apply to virtually anyone who operates a CMV requiring a 
CDL in interstate or intrastate commerce, including employees of 
Federal, State, and local governments. There are very limited 
exceptions.
    One of the issues not addressed by the original CMVSA was 
standardizing the ELDT to be received by those drivers before obtaining 
a CDL. A 1995 FHWA-sponsored study titled Assessing the Adequacy of 
Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Training (the Adequacy Report) 
concluded, among other things, that effective entry-level driver 
training needs to include behind-the-wheel instruction on how to 
operate a heavy vehicle.\5\
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    \5\ Dueker, R. L. (1995). Assessing the Adequacy of Commercial 
Motor Vehicle Driver Training: Final Report (FHWA-MC-96-011). 
Washington, DC: U.S. DOT FHWA Office of Motor Carriers.
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    In 2004 FMCSA issued a Final Rule for such CDL ELDT, found at 49 
CFR 380.503. The requirements of that rule were estimated to take on 
average 10

[[Page 66450]]

hours of training to accomplish. However, the rule was challenged; the 
court determined FMCSA needed to give more attention to its previous 
research in establishing meaningful minimum CDL training standards, in 
particular with regard to behind-the-wheel training requirements. The 
court left the rule in effect but remanded it to FMCSA for further 
action. In 2007 FMCSA issued a follow-on Notice of Proposed Rule Making 
(NPRM), proposing revised ELDT standards for CDL drivers.
    The 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) 
requirement expanded the scope of the needed rule. In January and March 
2013, FMCSA held public listening sessions to obtain additional input. 
In December 2012, FMCSA tasked its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory 
Committee (MCSAC) with developing training recommendations; these were 
delivered in June 2013. In September 2013, FMCSA withdrew the 2007 NPRM 
in order to develop a new proposed rule responsive to the 2007 docket 
comments, the MAP-21-directives, input from the listening sessions, the 
MCSAC recommendations, and several research projects under way 
(including this survey). In March 2014, it was announced that a 
negotiated rulemaking was being considered to facilitate the rulemaking 
process. On August 19, 2014, the agency announced initiation of the 
process with the contracted convener (79 FR 49044).
    Title: Entry Level Driver Training Survey for Commercial Drivers' 
Licenses
    OMB Control Number: 2126-00XX.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Respondents: Entry-level interstate \6\ freight and bus/motorcoach 
drivers. The goal is to understand what entry-level training general 
freight drivers without endorsements received to obtain their CDLs, and 
what additional training the hazmat freight (H--non-tanker, X--tanker 
endorsements) and bus/motorcoach drivers (P endorsement) received to 
obtain the required endorsement(s). Respondents will therefore be from 
one of two groups. The first group is CDL drivers newly licensed within 
the past three years (for freight--non-hazmat and hazmat). The second 
group is drivers first observed operating a motorcoach or bus as 
demonstrated by MCMIS data within the last three years, regardless of 
when they received their CDL. The criteria for selection of this second 
group is different because such drivers could have obtained their CDL 
in the past, but only recently obtained training and began driving bus/
motorcoaches. In order to have more safety performance data available, 
all drivers must be driving for a carrier authorized to operate 
interstate. To avoid specific bias caused by a higher than usual 
inspection rate at the border for international drivers, the carriers 
must operate solely in the United States.\7\
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    \6\ Intrastate drivers do not cross jurisdictions, and often do 
not operate on interstate highways. Therefore, they tend toward 
having minimal number of inspections and traffic citations from 
either a MCSAP or non-MCSAP officers. This lack of safety 
performance data would make it harder to evaluate any relationship 
between their training and early subsequent safety performance. 
Therefore, due to this lower availability of safety performance 
data, intrastate drivers are not included in the target population.
    \7\ Drivers who cross the Canadian and Mexican borders have a 
high number of inspections at the border and would bias the sample.
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    Recent entry-level freight CMV drivers for purposes of this survey 
are defined as those who received their initial commercial license 
within the past three years. This will be verified by examining the 
date the CDL index record was added to the CDLIS index. The drivers 
also must have received an inspection within the past 12 months. This 
is to verify they were recently, and thus may still be, driving a CMV 
for a living. (Previous survey research from CDL drivers, found while 
the response rate by CDL drivers was quite low, drivers who were 
currently driving were more likely to respond.) Those drivers who also 
have an H or X endorsement will automatically be routed to additional 
questions regarding training for those endorsements.
    Recent entry-level Bus/Motorcoach (P) CMV drivers are defined as 
having had an inspection or crash recorded in MCMIS in the past three 
years while driving a bus or motorcoach vehicle.\8\ (As noted above, 
entry level bus/motorcoach drivers are defined differently from the 
freight drivers because drivers can enter the profession of bus/
motorcoach driving many years after obtaining their CDL.)
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    \8\ Neither CDLIS nor MCMIS contains the date when an 
endorsement was earned. Therefore, this research assumes that when a 
driver has their first inspection operating a motor vehicle 
requiring a P endorsement, it is more likely they recently completed 
training, likely from the employer, to operate that type vehicle.
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    Estimated Number of Invitees: 82,207 drivers will be invited to 
participate in the survey.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 7,399.
    Estimated Time Per Response: Between 12 and 21 minutes per 
response, primarily via online technology to a secure Web site for 
completing only one survey instrument by the invited drivers. The 
necessary login information will be provided in their solicitation 
letter. The length of time required depends on which survey instrument 
applies to that type of driver (see detailed calculation below.) The 
average is 15.4 minutes because of the small number of drivers with H, 
X or P endorsements that will be included in the invited sample.
    Expiration Date: N/A. This is a new ICR for a one-time survey.
    Frequency of Response: Once per respondent.
    Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1903 hours [6620 general freight 
survey responses x 15 minutes/60 minutes = 1655; 498 hazmat endorsement 
freight survey responses x 21 minutes/60 minutes = 174.3; 109 bus 
survey responses x 12 minutes/60 minutes = 21.8; 172 motorcoach survey 
responses x 18 minutes/60 minutes = 51.6; total estimated burden thus 
is 1902.7, rounded to 1903 hours].
    Form(s): MCSA-5890, ``Entry-Level CMV CDL Truck Driver Training 
Survey,'' MCSA-5891, ``Entry-Level CMV CDL Bus Driver Training 
Survey,'' and MCSA-5892, ``Entry-Level CMV CDL Motorcoach Driver 
Training Survey.''

Analysis

    This study will obtain safety performance data from both MCMIS and 
CDLIS to analyze the safety performance in relation to the amount and 
type of training received by recently licensed CDL drivers who chose to 
respond to this survey.
    FMCSA maintains the MCMIS, which contains violations of Federal 
Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) found during roadside 
inspections (including driver out-of-service orders) and crash data 
submitted by States supported by Motor Carrier Safety Assistance 
Program (MCSAP) funding. CDLIS Index data are maintained by the 
American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). The 
licensing States maintain the detailed CDLIS driver records that 
contain convictions on State and local traffic infractions, 
suspensions, and revocations.
    This study will ensure confidentiality regarding the identity and 
responses of the participating drivers. Only summarized data will be 
published. Results of this study will provide FMCSA with information to 
support its considerations of establishing minimum entry-level training 
requirements for CDL drivers.
    Public Comments Invited: On whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance

[[Page 66451]]

of the functions of the Department, including whether the information 
will have practical utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimates 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87 on: October 31, 2014.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology and Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-26563 Filed 11-6-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P