[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 95 (Tuesday, May 17, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29999-30000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10510]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0030]


Agency Request for Information; State Electronic Data Collection 
Grant Program: Extension of Comment Period

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

ACTION: Extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 
received one petition to extend the comment period for a request for 
information (RFI) notice on the agency's efforts to develop and 
implement a new discretionary grant program to increase the number of 
States, U.S. territories, and Indian tribes electronically transferring 
their motor vehicle crash data to NHTSA. NHTSA published an RFI notice 
requesting information from interested parties on April 29, 2022. The 
comment period for the RFI notice was scheduled to end on May 31, 2022. 
NHTSA is extending the comment period for the April 29, 2022, RFI 
notice by 45 days.

DATES: The comment period for the RFI notice published on April 29, 
2022 is extended to July 15, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to the docket number identified in 
the heading of this document by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. To be 
sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 366-9332 before 
coming.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Regardless of how you submit your comments, please mention the 
docket number identified in the heading of this document.
    Note that all comments received will be posted without change to 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.
    Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits 
comments

[[Page 30000]]

from the public to better inform its decision-making 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.transportation.gov/privacy. In order to facilitate comment tracking 
and response, the Agency encourages commenters to provide their name, 
or the name of their organization; however, submission of names is 
completely optional. Whether or not commenters identify themselves, all 
timely comments will be fully considered.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to www.regulations.gov, or the street address 
listed above. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call 
(202) 366-9332 before coming. Follow the online instructions for 
accessing the dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues, you may contact 
Ms. Barbara Rhea, State Data Reporting Systems Division Chief, NHTSA 
(phone: 202-366-2714) or you may send an email to Ms. Rhea at 
[email protected]. Address: National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, West Building, Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 29, 2022, pursuant to Section 
24108(d) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, NHTSA published 
an RFI notice seeking comment on its plans to develop a new State 
electronic data collection program that requires NHTSA to develop and 
implement a new discretionary grant program. The new grant program is 
to provide support to States to upgrade and standardize their State 
crash data systems to enable electronic data collection, intrastate 
data sharing, and electronic data transfer to NHTSA. The new program 
will increase the accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility of the data 
including data relating to fatalities involving vulnerable road users 
to States and NHTSA. See Public Law 117-58, 24108(d)(3), 135 Stat 429. 
Eligible States \1\ may use these grants for the costs of equipment to 
upgrade a statewide crash data repository; adoption of electronic crash 
reporting by law enforcement agencies and increasing alignment of State 
crash data with the latest Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria.\2\ 
This notice requests information from interested parties, including 
State crash data owners, highway safety offices, law enforcement, and 
other stakeholders to assist NHTSA in the development of a new State 
electronic data collection program that supports State crash data 
system improvements, enhances NHTSA's National Center for Statistics 
and Analysis (NCSA) data infrastructure where these data will be 
stored, and shares a subset of the resulting data with the public. 
NHTSA plans to utilize the information provided under this RFI notice 
to enhance and support the development of the State electronic data 
collection discretionary grant program. The comment period for the RFI 
notice was scheduled to end on May 31, 2022.
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    \1\ Under BIL, ``State'' is defined as each of the 50 States, 
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. 
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern 
Mariana Islands and the Secretary of the Interior, acting on behalf 
of an Indian Tribe. See Public Law 117-58, 24108(d)(1)(A).
    \2\ Sec.  24108(d)(3)(C).
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Comment Period Extension Requests

    The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) requested a 60-day 
extension of the comment period. The requestor states that the RFI 
notice addresses several complex topics that would require conducting 
in-depth review and analysis to develop informed feedback. They 
suggested the additional time would allow them to conduct the detailed 
review of the notice and develop appropriate responses. The requestor 
stated that the additional time would allow for more fully developed 
feedback to support the agency's next steps.

Agency Decision

    NHTSA determined that the requestor provided sufficient 
justification for an extension, and that the extension is consistent 
with the public interest. NHTSA agrees that allowing additional time 
for the public and its stakeholders to provide comments to the 
questions raised in the RFI notice would better inform NHTSA regarding 
the various program areas and topics discussed in the RFI notice. 
Therefore, NHTSA is granting the aforementioned request to extend the 
comment period; however, NHTSA is extending it for 45 days. A 45-day 
extension appropriately balances NHTSA's interest in providing the 
public with sufficient time to comment on the questions raised in the 
RFI notice with its interest to pursue development of this program in a 
timely manner and its ability to present proposals at the 2022 Traffic 
Records Forum, scheduled for August 7-10, 2022.
    Authority: S. 24108, Pub. L. 117-58, 135 Stat 429; 49 U.S.C. 30166 
and 30182; delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 and 49 CFR 501.8.

Chou-Lin Chen,
Associate Administrator for the National Center for Statistics and 
Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2022-10510 Filed 5-16-22; 8:45 am]
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