[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 112 (Monday, June 12, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38124-38126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12420]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2023-0024]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for 
Comment; First Responder Incident Advanced Reporting Program

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

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

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SUMMARY: NHTSA invites public comments about our intention to request 
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new 
information collection. Before a federal agency can collect certain 
information from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Under 
procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before 
seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on 
proposed collections of information, including extensions and 
reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document 
describes a collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek 
OMB approval on the First Responder Incident Advanced Reporting Program 
(FRIAR) in which first responders (e.g., law enforcement, fire 
department, and emergency medical services) may submit information 
about fatalities, injuries, or crashes that may have been caused due to 
a motor vehicle or equipment defect.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 11, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
2023-0024 through any of the following methods:
     Electronic submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions 
for submitting comments.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department 
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help 
you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number for this notice. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act 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 https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
dockets via internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact Tanya Topka, Office of Defects 
Investigation (NEF-100), (202) 366-9590, National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, W48-336, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), 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

[[Page 38125]]

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: (a) 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; (b) 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; (c) how to enhance 
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; 
and (d) 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 for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
    Title: First Responder Incident Advanced Reporting (FRIAR) 
Information Collection.
    OMB Control Number: New.
    Form Number(s): N/A.
    Type of Request: Approval of a new collection of information.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of 
approval.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: The purpose of this 
collection is to provide first responders with a distinct mechanism to 
report to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) regarding 
fatalities, injuries, or crashes that may have been caused due to an 
alleged defect. Currently, ODI collects Vehicle Owner Questionnaires 
(VOQ) to gather information from the public about alleged or suspected 
safety defects. The FRIAR collection is a separate method to collect 
safety and defect related information from the first responder 
community that will expedite and prioritize ODI's review of such 
reports.
    The FRIAR program will differ from the agency VOQ review process 
because first responders, based on their experience, may identify an 
incident(s) or crash that involves a potential safety-related problem 
that warrants swift review by ODI. An ODI safety defect analyst or 
investigator will follow-up with the first responder within 24 business 
hours (or 3 business days) upon receipt of a report. Reports submitted 
to ODI, in combination with other information obtained by ODI, are 
analyzed to determine if a potential defect exists that may require 
further investigation or the initiation of a recall. FRIAR was designed 
and created in the wake and review of the General Motors (GM) ignition 
switch recall and the 2015 Workforce Assessment document,\1\ and the 
program will provide first responders a direct reporting mechanism to 
NHTSA for alleged safety defects that they may see in the field.
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    \1\ Workforce Assessment: The Future of NHTSA's Defect 
Investigations, https://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/communications/pdf/workforce-assessment-june2015.pdf, last accessed July 13, 2022.
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    A first responder may submit a report(s) through NHTSA's Vehicle 
Safety Hotline, or NHTSA's www.nhtsa.gov website, which will have a 
section specified for first responders. The reports may contain an 
allegation of a safety defect that the first responder encountered that 
may be related to a vehicle, equipment, tire(s), child restraints, 
injuries, a crash, property damage, or fatality. This information 
collection is not expected to be burdensome to first responders since 
submitting the FRIAR form is voluntary and will require less than 5 
minutes to complete.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information: First responders have not had a direct or public method of 
reporting alleged safety defects to ODI, and the FRIAR program will 
address this reporting disparity.
    Affected Public: State and Local First Responders (e.g., law 
enforcement, fire department, and emergency medical services).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: approximately 100 respondents a 
year.
    Respondents include a combination of State or local agencies that 
respond to car crashes, investigate crashes, and complete crash 
reports. NHTSA estimates that FRIAR will receive approximately 100 
reports each year. Currently, even without a mechanism or prompt for 
collecting this information, NHTSA receives unsolicited tips and 
information from first responders regarding suspected vehicle defects 
(approximately 1 report a month) via telephone or email correspondence 
with NHTSA staff that work with first responders in other official 
capacities and duties. We anticipate that FRIAR will collect about 10 
reports a month. NHTSA will conduct outreach to first responder 
communities to raise awareness about the FRIAR program that may 
increase the number of reports received over time. Therefore, it is 
estimated that the FRIAR project will generate, on average, 100 reports 
a year in the first year and the number of reports will increase over 
time.
    Frequency: Ongoing.
    The data will be collected on an ongoing basis (e.g., whenever a 
first responder decides to voluntarily submit information about a 
crash, fatality, or injury occurs that they suspect could be related to 
a safety-related motor vehicle or equipment defect, which is expected 
to be infrequent) and is voluntary. It is anticipated that each 
response will be unique and will not be from the same agency, station, 
jurisdiction, etc., and there is no limit to how many reports a single 
agency or entity can submit to the FRIAR program during a given year.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 25 hours.
    NHTSA estimates that the total burden hours for this information 
collection will be 25 hours per year. This is based on NHTSA's 
estimates that there will be 100 FRIAR reports submitted each year and 
that each report will take first responders approximately 15 minutes to 
complete (completion of the form will take 5 minutes and the follow-up 
phone call will take 10 minutes).
    NHTSA estimates the cost associated with the burden hours by 
looking at average wages for different categories of first responders. 
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the mean hourly 
wage is $34.02 an hour for police and sheriff's patrol officers (BLS 
Code 33-3051),\2\ $26.58 an hour for firefighters (BLS Code 33-
2011),\3\ $17.64 per hour for emergency medical technicians (EMT) (BLS 
Code 29-2042).\4\ First responders may have to utilize overtime to 
submit reports to FRIAR, and the standard overtime calculation is: 1 
hour overtime = 1.5 x hourly rate (e.g., time + 1 half). Therefore, 
NHTSA estimates the hourly labor costs for FRIAR respondents for 15 
minutes using the overtime rate to be: $12.76 for police and sheriff's 
patrol officers, $9.97 for firefighters, and $6.62 for emergency 
medical technicians (EMT). NHTSA estimates that between all categories 
of respondents, we will receive approximately 100 reports each year 
with each report taking 15 minutes

[[Page 38126]]

to complete. NHTSA estimates that the total of 25 burden hours will be 
distributed equally among the respondent categories and the average 
total labor costs associated with these burden hours will be $244.58 a 
year ([sum of all three 15 min average overtime rates hourly wage 
rates/3] x 25 hours).
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    \2\ Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2021, 33-5051Police 
and Sheriff's Patrol Officers, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes333051.htm, last accessed June 28, 2022.
    \3\ Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2021, 33-2011 
Firefighters, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes332011.htm, last 
accessed June 28, 2022.
    \4\ Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2021, Emergency 
Medical Technicians, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes292042.htm, 
last accessed June 28, 2022.
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: This collection is not expected 
to result in any costs to respondents other than the cost associated 
with the burden hours.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.

Jeffrey Lee Quandt,
Deputy Director, Office of Defect Investigation.
[FR Doc. 2023-12420 Filed 6-9-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P