[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45209-45212]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18487]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0082]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for 
Comment; Drivers' Use of Camera-Based Rear Visibility Systems Versus 
Traditional Mirrors

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a proposed collection of 
information.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 
announces our intention to request the Office of Management and 
Budget's (OMB) approval of a proposed collection of certain information 
by the Agency. Before a Federal agency can collect certain information 
from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Procedures 
established under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA) require 
Federal agencies to publish a notice in the Federal Register concerning 
each proposed collection of

[[Page 45210]]

information and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the 
notice. The proposed collection of information supports research 
addressing safety-related aspects of drivers' use of camera-based rear 
visibility systems intended to serve as a replacement for traditional 
outside rearview mirrors.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 28, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the docket number in 
the heading of this document or by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on 
the electronic docket site by clicking on ``Help'' or ``FAQ''.
     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: U.S Department of Transportation, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday 
through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Fax: 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 www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy heading below.
    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 in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html .
    Docket: For access to the docket to read comments received, go to 
http://www.regulations.gov, or the street address listed above. Follow 
the online instructions for accessing the dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Mazzae, Applied Crash 
Avoidance Research Division, Vehicle Research and Test Center, NHTSA, 
10820 State Route 347--Bldg. 60, East Liberty, Ohio 43319; Telephone 
(937) 666-4511; Facsimile: (937) 666-3590; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), before an agency submits a proposed collection 
of information to OMB for approval, it must first 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 regulation (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;
    (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 for public 
comments on the following proposed collection of information:
    Title: Drivers' Use of Camera-Based Rear Visibility Systems Versus 
Traditional Mirrors.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    OMB Clearance Number: New Collection.
    Form Number: None.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from date of 
approval.
    Summary of the Collection of Information:
    NHTSA proposes to perform research involving the collection of 
information from the public as part of a multi-year effort to learn 
about drivers' use of camera-based systems designed to replace 
traditional outside rearview mirrors. Initial research will focus on 
light vehicles and be followed by research examining camera-based 
visibility systems on heavy trucks.
    For the light vehicle research, all camera-based visibility systems 
to be tested will be foreign production or prototype systems fitted 
onto U.S. or European specification vehicles. At least two test 
vehicles will be equipped with both camera and mirror technologies, 
while the other test vehicles will be equipped with camera-based 
visibility systems and no outside mirrors. Systems to be tested with 
heavy trucks have yet to be finalized.
    Research participants will be members of the public who are 
licensed car drivers and/or truck drivers. Participants will drive a 
test vehicle equipped with a camera-based system in place of outside 
rearview mirrors, an original equipment outside rearview mirror system, 
or a combination of both. The research will involve track-based and on-
road, semi-naturalistic driving in which participants will drive 
vehicles in multi-lane traffic scenarios while using the outside 
rearview mirrors or alternative system during lane changes and other 
typical driving situations. A portion of testing will take place in 
dark (i.e., nighttime or early morning) driving conditions to permit 
examination of system performance and drivers' use of systems in those 
conditions. Vehicles will be fitted with instrumentation for recording 
driver eye glance behavior, as well as vehicle speed, position, 
steering angle, and turn signal status. Separate, but similar data 
collections will be conducted for passenger cars and heavy trucks. 
Questions will be asked during the course of the research to assess 
individuals' suitability for study participation, to obtain feedback 
regarding participants' use of the camera-based rear visibility 
systems, and to gauge individuals' level of comfort with and confidence 
in the technologies' performance and safety.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information:
    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 
mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce healthcare and 
other economic costs associated with motor vehicle crashes. As new 
vehicle technologies are developed, it is prudent to ensure that they 
do not create any unintended decrease in safety. The safety of passive 
visibility-related technologies depends on both the performance of the 
systems and on drivers' ability to effectively and comfortably use the 
systems. This work seeks to examine and compare drivers' eye glance 
behavior and aspects of driving behavior and lane change maneuver 
execution for traditional mirrors and camera-based systems intended to 
replace outside rearview mirrors.
    The collection of information will consist of: (1) Question Set 1, 
Driving Research Study Interest Response Form, (2) Question Set 2, 
Screening Questions,

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(3) passive observation of driving behavior, and (4) Question Set 3, 
Post-Drive Questionnaire.
    The information to be collected will be used for the following 
purposes:
     Question Set 1, Driving Research Study Interest Response 
Form will be used to determine individuals' willingness to participate 
in the study and whether an individual qualifies for participation in 
this study based on certain information. For example, participants 
must:
    [cir] Be at least 25 years of age
    [cir] For drivers of passenger cars: Hold a valid U.S. or Canadian 
driver's license
    [cir] For drivers of heavy trucks: Hold a valid U.S. commercial 
driver's license
    [cir] Drive at least 11,000 miles annually
    [cir] Provide their contact information for the purposes of 
coordinating participation.
     Question Set 2, Screening Questions will be primarily used 
to ensure that participants meet certain minimum health qualifications, 
are free of recent criminal convictions, and have reasonable 
availability to participate in the study. The objective of the health 
screening questions is to identify candidate participants whose 
physical and health conditions may be deemed ``average'' and are 
compatible with being able to drive continuously for up to 3 hours a 
vehicle equipped with only original equipment components.
     Question Set 3, Post-Drive Questionnaire will be used to 
get information about the participants' experiences during the 
experimental drive, including their degree of comfort in using the 
camera-based system. There will be different versions of the 
questionnaire for light vehicle and truck drivers, but both will be 
designed to require not more than 15 minutes to complete all questions. 
Participants will complete the Question Set 3 post-drive questionnaire 
one time for mirrors and one time for the camera-based rear visibility 
system.
    Affected Public (Respondents): Research participants will be 
licensed drivers aged 25 years or greater who drive at least 11,000 
miles annually, are in good health, and do not require assistive 
devices to safely operate a vehicle and drive continuously for a period 
of 3 hours.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: Information will be collected in 
an incremental fashion to permit the determination of which individuals 
have the necessary characteristics for study participation. All 
interested candidates will complete Question Set 1, Driving Research 
Study Interest Response Form. A subset of individuals meeting the 
criteria for Question Set 1 will be asked to complete Question Set 2, 
Screening Questions. From the individuals found to meet the criteria 
for both Questions Sets 1 and 2, a subset will be chosen with the goal 
of achieving a sample providing a balance of age and sex to be 
scheduled for study participation. A summary of the estimated numbers 
of individuals that will complete the noted question sets is provided 
in the following table.

                     Estimated Number of Respondents
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                        Questions                             Total N
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Question Set 1, Driving Research Study Interest Response             750
 Form...................................................
Question Set 2, Screening Questions.....................             300
Question Set 3, Post-Drive Questionnaire................             160
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    Estimated Time per Response: Completion of Question Set 1, Driving 
Research Study Interest Response Form is estimated to take 
approximately 5 minutes and completion is estimated to take 
approximately 7 minutes for Question Set 2, Screening Questions. 
Completion of Question Set 3, Post-Drive Questionnaire is estimated to 
take 15 minutes per participant and each participant will compete the 
questionnaire two times. The estimated annual time and cost burdens are 
summarized in the table below. The number of respondents and time to 
complete each question set are estimated as shown in the table. The 
time per question set is calculated by multiplying the number of 
respondents by the time per respondent and then converting from minutes 
to hours. The hour value for each question set is multiplied by the 
latest average hour earning estimate from the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics to obtain an estimated burden cost per question set.\1\
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    \1\ Bureau of Labor Statistics Feb. 2019 Average Hourly Earnings 
data for ``Total Private,'' $27.66 (Accessed 3/8/2019 at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm.) The Bureau of Labor 
Statistics estimates that for private industry workers, wages 
represent 70.1% of total compensation. Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation-March 2019, (Assessed 7/31/2019 at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf).

                                                       Estimated Time per Response and Total Time
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                                                                                             Time per
             Question Set                            Topic                 Participants      response       Total time      Total time      Total cost
                                                                                             (minutes)       (minutes)        (hours)
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1....................................  Driving Research Study Interest               750               5           3,750            62.5       $2,466.12
                                        Response Form.
2....................................  Screening Questions..............             300               7           2,100            35.0        1,381.03
3a...................................  Post-Drive Questionnaire,                      80              30           2,400            40.0        1,578.32
                                        Passenger Vehicle.
3b...................................  Post-Drive Questionnaire, Heavy                80              30           2,400            40.0        1,578.32
                                        Truck.
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Estimated Burden..............................................................  ..............  ..............           177.5        7,003.78
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    Total Estimated Annual Burden: 177.5 hours.
    Frequency of Collection: The data collection described will be 
performed once to obtain the target number of valid test participants.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.95.


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    Issued in Washington, DC.
Tim J. Johnson,
Acting Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 2019-18487 Filed 8-27-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-59-P