[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 245 (Monday, December 22, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76443-76445]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-29861]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2014-0189]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of an Approved 
Information Collection: Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers Regulations

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 (PRA), 
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, and invites public comment. FMCSA requests 
approval to revise and extend ICR 2126-0001 entitled, ``Hours of 
Service (HOS) of Drivers Regulations.'' This notice supersedes the 
Agency's notice of September 12, 2014 (79 FR 54776) that asked for 
comments on this ICR. This notice (1) amends the Agency's estimate of 
the population of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers subject to the 
recordkeeping requirements of the HOS rules, (2) addresses a public 
comment received, and (3) invites public comment.

DATES: Please send your comments by January 21, 2015. OMB must receive 
your comments by this date in order to act on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Federal Docket Management 
System Docket Number FMCSA-2014-0189. 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,

[[Page 76444]]

Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert F. Schultz, Driver and Carrier 
Operations Division, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-4325; email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers Regulations.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0001.
    Type of Request: Revision of an information collection.
    Respondents: Motor Carriers of Property and Passengers, Drivers of 
CMVs.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3.66 million (3.29 million CMV 
drivers + 0.37 million motor carriers).
    Estimated Time per Response: Paper log: CMV driver--11.5 minutes, 
Motor Carrier--4 minutes. Electronic log: CMV driver--1 minute, Motor 
Carrier--3 minutes.
    Expiration Date: December 31, 2014.
    Frequency of Response: Drivers: 240 days per year; Motor Carriers: 
240 days per year.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 137.90 million hours.

Background

    The HOS rules require most CMV drivers to maintain on the CMV a 
record of duty status (RODS), or daily log, current to the last change 
in duty status. The RODS is critical to FMCSA's safety mission because 
it helps roadside enforcement officials determine if CMV drivers are 
complying with the HOS rules limiting driver on-duty and driving time, 
and requiring periodic off-duty time. The information helps FMCSA 
protect the public by reducing the number of tired CMV drivers on the 
highways.
    Statutory authority for regulating the HOS of drivers operating 
CMVs in interstate commerce is derived from 49 U.S.C. 31136 and 31502. 
The penalty provisions are located at 49 U.S.C. 521, 522 and 526, as 
amended. The driver's RODS was first prescribed by the Interstate 
Commerce Commission (ICC) in Ex Parte MC-2, by order dated July 15, 
1938, and later modified by order issued February 8, 1939, effective 
January 1, 1940. Effective July 1, 1952, the daily log was completely 
revised as Bureau of Motor Carrier (BMC) Form BMC 54, prescribed by the 
ICC. And on November 28, 1982, the Federal Highway Administration, the 
agency responsible for administration of the Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Regulations (49 CFR 350 et seq.) (FMCSRs) at that time, 
published a final rule amending the safety rules to reduce the burden 
for drivers and motor carriers by revising the requirements for 
recording a driver's duty status, reducing the record retention period 
for both motor carriers and drivers, and relaxing the 100 air-mile 
radius RODS exception. Section 395.8 concerning RODS has been amended a 
number of times since 1982 but the basic requirements for documenting 
hours of service has not changed significantly since then. Motor 
carriers must ensure that their drivers record their duty status in a 
specified format and verify the accuracy of the HOS of each driver. The 
rule is codified at 49 CFR 395.8. The FMCSRs also state that drivers 
may not drive a CMV while their ability or alertness is so impaired, or 
likely to be so impaired, by fatigue or illness or other condition, 
that it is unsafe for them to drive (49 CFR 392.3). Motor carriers are 
also barred from permitting or requiring a CMV driver to operate their 
vehicle under these conditions. The FMCSA regulates the amount of time 
a CMV driver may drive or otherwise be on duty, in order to ensure that 
adequate time is available to the driver for rest. A driver must 
accurately record his or her duty status (driving, on duty not driving, 
off duty, sleeper berth) at all points during the 24-hour period 
designated by the motor carrier (49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)). The RODS must be 
recorded on a specified grid (section 395.8(g)). The term ``logbook'' 
is often used in the industry to denote the collection of the most 
recent RODS of the driver. A driver must have the RODS for the previous 
7 consecutive days in the CMV at all times (section 395.8(k)(2)). The 
RODS must be submitted to the motor carrier along with any supporting 
documents, such as fuel receipts and toll tickets that could assist in 
verifying the accuracy of entries on the RODS. The HOS rules do not 
require motor carriers to submit this information to FMCSA. However, 
motor carriers must retain these records for a minimum of 6 months from 
the date of receipt and make them available to enforcement officials 
upon request (section 395.8(k)(1)). The HOS rules provide three methods 
of recording driver duty status:
    (1) Paper RODS: This grid form requires the driver to graph time 
and location on a paper record over a 24-hour period (section 
395.8(g)). It must be present on the CMV in the absence of a regulatory 
exception.
    (2) Time Record: ``Short haul'' CMV drivers do not have to maintain 
a RODS onboard the vehicle if their motor carrier maintains a time 
record showing for each duty day when the driver reported for duty, 
when he or she was released from duty, and the total hours on duty 
(section 395.1(e)). Such drivers also do not have to maintain 
supporting documents, such as fuel and toll receipts, on board the 
vehicle.
    (3) Automatic On-Board Recording Device (AOBRD): An electronic 
record is permitted if it is created and maintained by an AOBRD as 
defined by section 395.2. The record must include all the information 
specified in section 395.15.
    As a condition of receiving certain Federal grants, States agree to 
adopt and enforce the FMCSRs, including the HOS rules, as State law. As 
a result, State enforcement inspectors use the RODS and supporting 
documents to determine whether CMV drivers are complying with the HOS 
rules. In addition, FMCSA uses the RODS during on-site compliance 
reviews (CRs) and targeted reviews of motor carriers, and Federal and 
State courts rely upon the RODS as evidence of driver and motor carrier 
violations of the HOS regulations. This information collection supports 
the DOT's Strategic Goal of Safety because the information helps the 
Agency ensure the safe operation of CMVs on our Nation's highways.
    On March 28, 2014, the Agency published a supplemental notice of 
proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) proposing rules that would require motor 
carriers currently using RODS to use electronic logging devices (ELDs) 
to record their HOS information, and sought public comment (79 FR 
17656). The SNPRM also included a proposal concerning HOS supporting 
documents used to verify the accuracy of the RODS. The ELD rulemaking 
does not affect this ICR because ELDs will not be mandatory until 
sometime after the 3-year timeframe of this PRA estimate.
    The currently-approved IC burden estimate of the HOS rules, 
approved by OMB on December 11, 2011, is 184.38 million hours. The 
Agency's estimate accounted for the HOS IC burden of both interstate 
and intrastate CMV drivers. Approval of the IC expires on December 31, 
2014.

Renewal of This IC

    The Agency is asking OMB to approve its revised estimate of the IC 
burden of the HOS rules. On June 24, 2014, FMCSA published a Federal 
Register notice announcing that the Agency was submitting to OMB a 
revised estimate of the IC burden of the HOS rules of 106.89 million 
hours, and asked for public comment on it (79 FR 35843). The revised 
estimate excluded the HOS IC

[[Page 76445]]

burden of intrastate CMV drivers because the Agency believed that the 
HOS burden imposed on these drivers was not subject to reporting under 
the PRA. The Agency estimated that 2.84 million drivers were subject to 
the IC requirements of the HOS rules.
    The agency received one comment in response to the notice. The 
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) asked the Agency to 
amend the ``short-haul'' exception of section 395.1(e)(1) so that more 
CMV drivers could operate under its terms. As explained above, short-
haul drivers are not required to maintain a RODS or supporting 
documents on board the CMV. NRCMA pointed out that expanding the number 
of drivers qualifying as ``short-haul'' drivers would reduce the 
overall paperwork burden of this ICR. The Agency will take the NRMCA 
suggestion under advisement. By law, formal rulemaking is required to 
amend Federal regulations, including publication of the proposed 
amendment in the Federal Register and an opportunity for public 
comment.
    On September 12, 2014, FMCSA published the second notice of this 
ICR as required by law, and asked the public to submit comments to OMB 
on its IC burden estimate of 106.89 million hours (79 FR 54776). 
Subsequently, the OMB directed FMCSA to account for the IC burden 
imposed on intrastate drivers and their motor carriers by State HOS 
laws. It concluded that this burden was subject to reporting under the 
PRA because FMCSA requires its State grantees to adopt compatible HOS 
rules as a condition of receiving funding under the Agency's Motor 
Carrier Safety Assistance Program. Today, FMCSA publishes this 30-day 
notice to revise its burden estimate for this IC and provide for public 
comment on it. The Agency today includes approximately .82 million 
intrastate drivers and revises its estimate of the total population of 
interstate and intrastate CMV drivers subject to the recordkeeping 
requirements of the HOS rules--3.66 million. Accordingly, the Agency 
revises its estimate of the IC burden of the HOS rules--137.89 million 
hours. These estimates supersede those set forth in the September 12 
notice.
    The Agency's request for OMB approval of its amended estimate of 
the IC burden of the HOS rules is not the result of amendment of those 
rules. Aside from the 2014 adjustments related to the HOS burden of 
intrastate CMV drivers, the Agency's estimate is the result of two 
program adjustments. The first program adjustment is revised estimates 
of the number of drivers operating CMVs in interstate and intrastate 
commerce and of the number of CMV drivers subject to the HOS rules. The 
approved 2011 ICR estimated that 7.0 million CMV drivers operated in 
interstate and intrastate commerce and that 4.6 million of those 
drivers were subject to the recordkeeping requirements of the HOS 
rules. Today the Agency estimates that 5.7 million CMV drivers operate 
in interstate and intrastate commerce and that 3.66 million of these 
drivers are subject to the recordkeeping requirements of the HOS rules 
(2.04 million CMV drivers qualify as ``short haul'' drivers and do not 
incur any HOS recordkeeping burden). The second program adjustment is 
an Agency estimate of the use of AOBRDs in the industry to record, 
transfer and store HOS information electronically. AOBRDs automate 
several IC tasks required of CMV drivers and motor carriers by the HOS 
rules. The currently-approved 2011 burden estimate did not account for 
AOBRD usage. FMCSA data today indicates that an average of 0.37 million 
CMV drivers will be employing electronic technology for HOS purposes 
over the three years that are the subject of this IC estimate. The 
Agency estimate submitted to OMB for approval is 137.89 million burden 
hours. It combines an estimate of the IC burden imposed on those using 
paper RODS or logs (3.29 million CMV drivers) and a separate estimate 
of the IC burden imposed on those using AOBRDs (0.37 million CMV 
drivers).
    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 under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87 on December 
10, 2014.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology, 
Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-29861 Filed 12-19-14; 8:45 am]
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