[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 51 (Wednesday, March 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14206-14208]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-05928]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2015-0124]


Potential Benefits and Feasibility of Voluntary Compliance; 
Public Listening Sessions

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public listening sessions; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: FMCSA announces two public listening sessions, on April 1 and 
25, 2016, to solicit information on the potential benefits and 
feasibility of voluntary compliance and ways to credit carriers and 
drivers who initiate and establish programs that promote safety beyond 
the standards established in FMCSA regulations. The recently enacted 
Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act mandates that the 
FMCSA Administrator allow recognition for a motor carrier that installs 
advanced safety equipment, enhanced driver fitness measures, fleet 
safety management tools, technologies, and programs and other standards 
for use by motor carriers to receive recognition, including credit or 
an improved Safety Measurement System (SMS) percentile. FMCSA is 
soliciting comments to develop a process for identifying and reviewing 
these opportunities to provide credit to those carriers and drivers who 
go above and beyond the regulatory requirements. The listening sessions 
are intended to provide interested parties with an opportunity to share 
their views on this topic with Agency representatives, along with any 
data or analysis they may have. All comments will be transcribed and 
placed in the docket referenced above for FMCSA's consideration. The 
entire proceedings of both meetings will be webcast.

DATES: This docket will remain open indefinitely.
    The listening sessions will be held on Friday, April 1, 2016, from 
10:00 a.m. to Noon and 1:15 p.m. to 3 p.m., Local Time, and on Monday, 
April 25, 2016, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 
p.m., Local Time. If all interested parties have had the opportunity to 
comment, the sessions may conclude early.

ADDRESSES: The April 1, 2016, listening session will be held at the 
Mid-America Trucking Show at the Kentucky Expo Center, 938 Phillips 
Lane, Louisville, KY. The April 25, 2016, session will be held at the 
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance Spring 2016 Workshop at the Sheraton 
Grand Chicago, 301 East North Water Street, Chicago, IL. In addition to 
attending the session in person, the Agency offers several ways to 
provide comments, as described below.
    Internet Address for Live Webcast. FMCSA will post specific 
information on how to participate via the Internet on the FMCSA Web 
site at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/calendar in advance of the listening session.
    You may submit comments identified by Docket Number FMCSA-2015-0124 
using any of the following methods:

[[Page 14207]]

     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West 
Building, Ground Floor, Washington, DC 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., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    For information about the listening sessions: Ms. Shannon L. 
Watson, Senior Policy Advisor, Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590 or by 
telephone at 202-366-2551.
    If you need sign language interpretation or any other accessibility 
accommodation, please contact Ms. Watson by Friday, March 18, 2016, to 
allow us to arrange for such services. FMCSA cannot guarantee that 
interpreter services requested on short notice will be provided.
    For other information about the Beyond Compliance program: Ms. 
Theresa Rowlett, (202) 366-6406, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Submitting Comments

    If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this 
notice (FMCSA-2015-0124), indicate the specific section of this 
document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each 
suggestion or recommendation. You may submit your comments and material 
online or by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only one of 
these means. FMCSA recommends that you include your name and a mailing 
address, an email address, or a phone number in the body of your 
document so that FMCSA can contact you if there are questions regarding 
your submission.
    To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov, 
put the docket number, FMCSA-2015-0124, in the keyword box, and click 
``Search.'' When the new screen appears, click on the ``Comment Now!'' 
button and type your comment into the text box on the following screen. 
Choose whether you are submitting your comment as an individual or on 
behalf of a third party and then submit.
    If you submit your comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them 
in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing. If you submit comments by mail and would 
like to know that they reached the facility, please enclose a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard or envelope.
    We will consider all comments and material received during the 
comment period and may draft a notice of proposed rulemaking based on 
your comments and other information and analysis.

Viewing Comments and Documents

    To view comments, as well as any documents mentioned in this 
preamble as being available in the docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Insert the docket number, FMCSA-2015-0124, in the 
keyword box, and click ``Search.'' Next, click the ``Open Docket 
Folder'' button and choose the document to review. If you do not have 
access to the Internet, you may view the docket online by visiting the 
Docket Management Facility in Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the 
DOT West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, 
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., E.T., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

Privacy Act

    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the 
public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT posts these 
comments, without edit, including any personal information the 
commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the system 
of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 
www.dot.gov/privacy.

I. Background

    The trucking and bus industries and the U.S. Department of 
Transportation have invested in the research, development, and testing 
of strategies and technologies to reduce truck and bus crashes. In 
September 2014, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) submitted 
a request to FMCSA to consider initiating a pilot program to 
investigate the benefits and feasibility of a voluntary compliance 
program. Citing research that has been underway for several years, the 
Agency established an Alternative Compliance team in December 2014, the 
goal of which was to analyze the concept and gather data to support how 
it might be developed and implemented.
    On March 30-31, 2015, the Agency's Motor Carrier Safety Advisory 
Committee (MCSAC) deliberated on the potential benefits and feasibility 
of a voluntary compliance program and ways to credit carriers and 
drivers who initiate and establish programs that promote safety beyond 
FMCSA's regulations. MCSAC completed its deliberations during its June 
15-16, 2015, meeting and subsequently submitted its final report on 
Task 15-1 to the Agency on September 21, 2015. A copy of the report is 
posted at the MCSAC's Web site, https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mcsac.
    On April 23, 2015 (80 FR 22770), the Agency published a notice 
requesting responses to specific questions and any supporting data the 
Agency should consider in the potential development of a Beyond 
Compliance program.\1\ The notice indicated that Beyond Compliance 
would include voluntary programs implemented by motor carriers that 
exceed regulatory requirements and improve the safety of commercial 
motor vehicles and drivers operating on the Nations' roadways by 
reducing the number and severity of crashes. Beyond Compliance would 
not result in regulatory relief.
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    \1\ See https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-04-23/pdf/2015-09463.pdf or https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/notices/2015-09463.
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    Section 5222 of the recently enacted the Fixing America's Surface 
Transportation Act (Pub. L. 114-94, Dec. 4, 2015, 129 Stat. 1312) (FAST 
Act) mandates that the FMCSA Administrator allow recognition for a 
motor carrier that installs advanced safety equipment, enhanced driver 
fitness measures, fleet safety management tools, technologies, and 
programs and other standards for use by motor carriers to receive 
recognition, including credit or an improved SMS percentile. This 
provision requires the Administrator, after providing notice and 
comment, to develop a process for identifying and reviewing these 
opportunities to provide credit to those carriers and drivers who go 
above and beyond the regulatory requirements.
    FMCSA held similar listening sessions on January 12, 2016, at the 
American Bus Association's (ABA) Marketplace in Louisville, Kentucky, 
and on January 31, 2016, at the United Motorcoach Association (UMA) 
Expo 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia.

II. Meeting Participation and Information FMCSA Seeks From the Public

    The listening session is open to the public. Speakers should try to 
limit their remarks to 3-5 minutes. No preregistration is required. 
Attendees may submit material to the FMCSA staff at the session for 
inclusion in the pubic docket referenced at the beginning of this 
notice.

[[Page 14208]]

    Those participating in the webcast will have the opportunity to 
submit comments online that will be read aloud at the session along 
with those comments made in the meeting rooms in Louisville and 
Chicago. FMCSA will docket the transcripts of the webcast, a separate 
transcription of each listening session prepared by an official court 
reporter, and all other materials submitted to FMCSA personnel.
    FMCSA would like to know the views of the public on the concept, 
with any data or analysis to support it, with regard to 3 basic areas: 
(1) What voluntary technologies or safety program best practices would 
be appropriate for beyond compliance; (2) What type of incentives would 
encourage motor carriers to invest in technologies and best practices 
programs; and (3) How FMCSA would verify that the voluntary 
technologies or safety programs are being implemented.

    Issued on: March 10, 2016.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2016-05928 Filed 3-15-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P