[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 77 (Thursday, April 21, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 23780-23783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08484]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

23 CFR Part 1300

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0036]
RIN 2127-AM45


Uniform Procedures for State Highway Safety Grant Programs

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

[[Page 23781]]


ACTION: Notification of public meetings; request for comments (RFC).

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SUMMARY: NHTSA is initiating a rulemaking process to implement changes 
to the Highway Safety Grant Program (the annual formula grants to 
States) in accordance with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 
In order to ensure that the broadest possible cross-section of 
stakeholders is engaged from the onset of the process, NHTSA is 
publishing this RFC and announcing three public meetings to be held 
prior to issuing the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

DATES: NHTSA will hold public meetings on May 2, May 4, and May 5, 
2022, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) each 
day. The meetings will be held virtually and provide an avenue for 
submission of comments. For planning purposes, NHTSA will allot time 
within each meeting for the topical areas outlined in this RFC, and to 
accommodate other issues a presenter may wish to raise. Upon 
registration, participants will identify whether they choose to provide 
verbal comments at the meeting and which topical areas they wish to 
address. Based on the results of that registration process, NHTSA will 
schedule time for each presenter, ensuring to the maximum extent 
practicable that all interested applicants have an opportunity for an 
oral presentation. However, the schedule will be on a first come first 
served basis. The public will also have the opportunity to submit 
written comments to the Docket concerning matters addressed in this 
notification. Written comments should be submitted no later than May 
23, 2022.

ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be held virtually via Zoom for 
Government. The meetings' online links and a detailed agenda will be 
provided upon registration. You may send written comments, identified 
by the docket number listed at the beginning of this document or by the 
Regulatory Information Number (RIN), by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for sending comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 
5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. To be sure 
someone is there to help you, please call 202-366-9826 before coming.
    Instructions: All written submissions must include the agency name 
and docket number or RIN for this rulemaking. All comments received 
will be posted without change at https://www.regulations.gov/ including 
any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on sending 
comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the 
``Public Participation'' heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section of this document.
    Docket: For access to the docket go to https://www.regulations.gov 
at any time or to 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. Telephone: 202-366-
9826. If going in person, please call ahead to be sure someone is there 
to help you.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information, contact Amy 
Schick, Acting Director, Office of Grants Management and Operations, 
Regional Operations and Program Delivery, National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, Telephone number: (202) 366-2764. You may also 
contact NHTSA's Grants Management and Operations Office at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: The ``Highway Safety Grant Program,'' as used in this 
notification, refers to the annual formula grants to States, the 
District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories to carry out highway safety 
programs within their jurisdictions. NHTSA implements the Highway 
Safety Grant Program, in part, through regulations published at 23 CFR 
part 1300. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58) 
(hereinafter the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) requires NHTSA to 
undertake a rulemaking to implement changes to the Highway Safety Grant 
Program consistent with statute. The statutory and regulatory changes 
will take effect for grants starting in Fiscal Year 2024. In order to 
ensure that the broadest possible cross-section of stakeholders is 
involved from the onset of the rulemaking process, NHTSA is publishing 
this RFC and will hold public meetings prior to issuing a NPRM. In 
addition, NHTSA seeks comments related to non-regulatory aspects of 
implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. All interested parties 
are invited to participate in this opportunity.

Public Participation

    Registration: Registration is required for all attendees. There is 
no cost to register. Attendees should register online at the links 
below by April 28, 2022. Please provide your name, affiliation, email 
address, and indicate whether you wish to speak during the public 
meeting. Register at:

 May 2, 2022: https://usdot.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItfuqhrz0pGqTf_q-7HL9klOdBTQKR99s
 May 4, 2022: https://usdot.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsc-ihrTgtEwg9GuV_2WG4KOAmTrdmkiQ
 May 5, 2022: https://usdot.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItdemprDIjEy9ev-zPEJUQ0ht1zBeTLIA

    Each public meeting will be five hours long, with a 30-minute break 
at the halfway point of the meeting. Speaker registration will be on a 
first-come, first-served basis. As described later in this 
notification, NHTSA is interested in hearing presentations concerning 
the following topics: The National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS); 
Reducing Disparities and Increasing Community Participation; Triennial 
Highway Safety Plans; Annual Grant Applications; and Performance 
Measures. Presenters may also convey their views on other matters 
related to the upcoming implementation of the highway safety grants 
under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
    Through the registration link, speakers will be asked to select 
which of the specified topic(s) they want to address, as well as issues 
they may wish to raise. It is anticipated that each speaker will have 
five minutes to offer verbal comments per topic, but not to exceed 15 
minutes total, in order to ensure that all interested presenters are 
given the opportunity to present their views during the day of the 
meeting. During this allotted time, speakers may ask clarifying 
questions of NHTSA and NHTSA may ask clarifying questions of speakers. 
When called upon to provide comments, speakers will be asked to turn on 
their camera and state their name and organizations/affiliation. NHTSA 
may adjust time allotments on a running basis during the meeting if the 
meeting is running ahead of schedule, to provide additional 
opportunities for discussion.
    NHTSA is committed to providing equal access to this meeting for 
all participants. Persons with disabilities in need of accommodation 
should contact NHTSA's Grants Management Office at 
[email protected] or

[[Page 23782]]

call (202) 366-2764 and ask for Amy Schick for help with your request 
by April 28, 2022. Closed captioning services will be available for 
this meeting through the Zoom platform.
    Should it become necessary to cancel or reschedule the meeting due 
to an unforeseen circumstance, NHTSA will take all available measures 
to notify registered participants as soon as possible.
    The public sessions will be recorded and transcribed. Both the 
recording and transcription will be made available after the event on 
the NHTSA website, listed under the title of the public meetings.
    Written Comments: Comments may be submitted electronically or in 
hard copy during the 30-day comment period. Please submit all comments 
no later than 30 days after the publication of this public 
notification, by any of the methods listed earlier in this document. 
Written comments should refer to the docket number above and be 
submitted by one of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 
ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. To be sure someone 
is there to help you, please call 202-366-9826 before coming.
    Instructions: All written comment submissions must include the 
agency name and docket number. All comments received will be posted 
without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act discussion below.
    Docket: For access to the Docket, go to https://www.regulations.gov 
at any time or to 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. Telephone: 202-366-
9826. If going in person, please call ahead to be sure someone is there 
to help you.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can 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 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78), or visit https://www.regulations.gov/privacy.html.
    Confidential Business Information: If you wish to submit any 
information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three 
copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim 
to be confidential business information to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. In addition, you 
should submit two copies, from which you have deleted the claimed 
confidential business information, to Docket Management at the address 
given above. When you send a comment containing information claimed to 
be confidential business information, you should submit a cover letter 
setting forth the information specified in our confidential business 
information regulation (49 CFR part 512). To facilitate social 
distancing during COVID-19, NHTSA is temporarily accepting confidential 
business information electronically. Please see https://www.nhtsa.gov/coronavirus/submission-confidential-business-information for details.
    Specific Guiding Questions: NHTSA has identified the five broad 
subject areas below as specific areas on which it requests comment, but 
welcomes comments and presentations related to any aspect of 
implementing the highway safety program.

National Roadway Safety Strategy

    In 2020, 38,824 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes. In the 
first nine months of 2021, an estimated 31,720 people were killed in 
motor vehicle crashes, up an alarming 12% over 2020.\1\ The fatality 
rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased by 21% from 
1.11 in 2019 to 1.34 in 2020, the largest percentage increase on 
record. The proportion of people killed who were not in passenger 
vehicles (motorcyclists, pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and other 
nonoccupants) increased from a low of 20% in 1996 to a high of 34% in 
2020.
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    \1\ https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813240.
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    U.S. DOT's NRSS and the Department's ongoing safety programs are 
working towards a future with zero roadway fatalities and serious 
injuries. The guiding paradigm of the NRSS is the Safe Systems Approach 
(SSA), which addresses roadway safety by building and reinforcing 
multiple layers of protection to prevent crashes and minimize the harm 
caused to those involved when collisions occur. It is a holistic and 
comprehensive approach because it focuses on human mistakes and human 
vulnerability. SSA calls for a system with many redundancies in place 
to protect everyone.
    With regards to the highway safety grant program regulations:

    1. How can NHTSA, States, and their partners successfully 
implement NRSS and the SSA within the formula grant program to 
support the requirements in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted 
as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58)?
    2. What non-traditional partners and safety stakeholders can the 
States work with to implement NRSS and SSA?

Reducing Disparities and Increasing Community Participation

    Traffic crashes are a leading cause of death for teenagers in 
America and disproportionately impact Black people, American Indians, 
and rural communities. Section 24102 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure 
Law requires State highway safety programs to provide ``meaningful 
public participation and engagement from affected communities, 
particularly those most significantly impacted by traffic crashes 
resulting in injuries and fatalities.''
    In addition, Section 24102 requires that States ``as part of a 
comprehensive program, support--(i) data-driven traffic safety 
enforcement programs that foster effective community collaboration to 
increase public safety; and (ii) data collection and analysis to ensure 
transparency, identify disparities in traffic enforcement, and inform 
traffic enforcement policies, procedures, and activities.'' The 
following questions seek input on strategies to reduce traffic safety 
disparities:

    3. How can the Sections 402, 405, and 1906 formula grant 
programs contribute to positive, equitable safety outcomes for all? 
How can states obtain meaningful public participation and engagement 
from affected communities, particularly those most significantly 
impacted by traffic crashes resulting in injuries and fatalities?
    4. How can the formula grant program require practices to ensure 
affected communities have a meaningful voice in the highway safety 
planning process?
    5. What varied data sources, in addition to crash-causation 
data, should States be required to consult as part of their Highway 
Safety Plan problem identification and planning processes to inform 
the degree to which traffic safety disparities exist on their 
roadways?

Triennial Highway Safety Plan

    Beginning in FY 2024, States will be required to submit a Highway 
Safety Plan (HSP) once every three years. The

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HSP is a statewide, coordinated behavioral safety plan that provides a 
comprehensive framework for reducing highway fatalities and serious 
injuries. The HSP identifies a State's key behavioral safety needs and 
guides investment decisions towards strategies and countermeasures with 
the most potential to save lives and prevent injuries. As set out in 
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the longer-term HSP should be 
designed to allow the States to better reflect on the countermeasures 
to be implemented and inform annual project selections to combat these 
increasing trends.

    6. How can the triennial cycle best assess longer-term behavior 
modification progress and connect year-to-year activities in a 
meaningful way?
    7. How can the triennial HSP account for strategies that are 
proportionate to the State's highway safety challenges?
    8. What information is needed to ensure the HSP provides 
comprehensive, longer-term, and data-driven strategies to reduce 
roadway fatalities and serious injuries?

Annual Grant Application

    To combat the increasing number of fatalities on America's 
roadways, NHTSA's stewardship role is to ensure that States leverage 
their funds most effectively to decrease the number of roadway 
fatalities. An essential aspect of this is ensuring transparency in the 
use of funds. NHTSA must ensure that Federal dollars are spent as 
effectively as possible and that sufficient details are provided so 
taxpayers know where funds are spent.
    Section 24102 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires States 
to submit an annual grant application that demonstrates alignment with 
the approved triennial HSP. The annual grant application requires, at a 
minimum, ``updates, as necessary, to any analysis included in the 
triennial highway safety plan,'' ``an identification of each project 
and subrecipient to be funded by the State using the grants during the 
upcoming grant year, subject to the condition that the State shall 
separately submit, on a date other than the date of submission of the 
annual grant application, a description of any projects or 
subrecipients to be funded, as that information becomes available,'' a 
description of the means by which the strategy of the State to use 
grant funds was adjusted and informed by the previous report'' and ``an 
application for any additional grants'' under Section 405 and 1906.

    9. What data elements should States submit to NHTSA in their 
annual grant application to allow for full transparency in the use 
of funds?
    10. What types of data can be included in the annual grant 
application to ensure that projects are being funded in areas that 
include those of most significant need?

Performance Measures

    Performance management provides a framework to support improved 
investment decisions that guide States to focus on areas likely to have 
the most meaningful impacts on saving lives, preventing injuries, and 
reducing traffic-related healthcare and other economic costs. NHTSA and 
the Governors Highway Safety Association previously collaborated on a 
minimum set of performance measures to be used by States to develop and 
implement behavioral HSPs and programs. States establish safety targets 
and report progress for 12 core outcome measures, 1 behavior measure, 
and 3 activity measures. The measures cover the major areas common to 
State HSPs and use existing data systems. Except for the addition of a 
bicyclist performance measure in 2015, the measures were last updated 
in 2008.

    11. Should these measures be revised? If so, what changes are 
needed?
    12. Section 24102 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires 
performance targets ``that demonstrate constant or improved 
performance.'' What information should NHTSA consider in 
implementing this requirement?
    13. What should be provided in the Annual Report to ensure 
performance target progress is assessed and that projects funded in 
the past fiscal year contributed to meeting performance targets?
    14. How can the Annual Report best inform future HSPs?

    Issued in Washington, DC.

    Under authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.5.
Barbara Sauers,
Acting Associate Administrator, Regional Operations and Program 
Delivery.
[FR Doc. 2022-08484 Filed 4-20-22; 8:45 am]
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