[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 201 (Thursday, October 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72210-72211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23076]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0077]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for 
Comment; Alcohol-Impaired Driving Segmentation Study

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

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

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
summarized below will be submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of 
the information collection and its expected burden. This document 
describes a new information collection for consumer research purposes 
regarding a one-time online voluntary study to better understand 
attitudes and behaviors related to alcohol-impaired driving that will 
enhance and refine communication strategy and tactics. A Federal 
Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the 
following information collection was published on June 7, 2023, 
Document 2023-12102. Two (2) comments were received before the closing 
date of August 7, 2023.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before November 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection, including suggestions for reducing burden, 
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information 
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment'' 
or use the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact Kil-Jae Hong, Marketing Specialist, 
Office of Communications and Consumer Information (NCO-200), 202-493-
0524, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department 
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. 
Please identify the relevant collection of information by referring to 
its OMB Control Number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a 
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and 
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a 
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control 
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces 
that the following information collection request will be submitted 
OMB.
    Title: Alcohol-Impaired Driving Segmentation Study.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-New.
    Form Number: NHTSA Form 1710, NHTSA Form 1711.
    Type of Request: Request for approval of a new information 
collection.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    Length of Approval Requested: Three years from approval date.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: The National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), under the U.S. Department of 
Transportation (USDOT), was established to reduce the number of deaths, 
injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes on 
the nation's highways. In keeping with this mission and to fulfill a 
congressional mandate to improve highway traffic safety, NHTSA's Office 
of Communications and Consumer Information (OCCI) is dedicated to 
eliminating risky behaviors on our nation's roads through public 
awareness campaigns. One of the most significant NHTSA's OCCI seeks to 
address through these efforts is drunk driving.
    Drunk driving is a significant cause of highway fatalities, 
injuries and economic losses. Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities 
totaled 11,654 in 2020, accounting for 30% of all motor-vehicle-crash 
fatalities.\1\ On average, in 2020, there was an alcohol-impaired 
driving fatality every 45 minutes.\2\ Among motorcycle riders, in 
particular, 27% of riders in fatal crashes were legally drunk--a rate 
exceeding that of passenger car drivers (23%) and the highest among all 
vehicle types measured.\3\ Aside from the fatalities, alcohol-impaired 
driving crashes carried an economic cost of an estimated $44 billion in 
2010 (the most recent year for which cost data is available).\4\
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    \1\ 2020 Alcohol Impaired Driving (Traffic Safety Facts. Report 
No. DOT HS 813 294).
    \2\ Ibid.
    \3\ Ibid.
    \4\ National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2015, July). 
Overview: 2013 data. (Traffic Safety Facts. Report No. DOT HS 812 
169). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration.
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    In order for NHTSA's public awareness campaigns on drunk driving to 
be effective, they must effectively ``compete'' for audience attention 
in the public domain among hundreds of other major marketers, including 
those in the alcoholic beverage industry that strategically target 
messages to particular groups of the public marketplace. In the 
consumer marketing context and environment, NHTSA must work to convince 
members of the driving/riding public not to operate vehicles when 
impaired by alcohol. Accordingly, NHTSA finds that it is necessary to 
conduct research, as authorized by the National Traffic Motor Vehicle 
Safety Act, to conduct research that will allow NHTSA to better tailor 
its communication strategies.
    Specifically, NHTSA believes a segmentation analysis would be 
especially useful to NHTSA. More closely understanding and segmenting 
drunk drivers and motorcycle riders will enable more effective 
communications programs. Insights about drunk drivers'/motorcycle 
riders' lifestyle characteristics, alcohol-consumption behaviors and 
attitudes towards drunk driving will provide useful, pragmatic 
information for NHTSA's continuing efforts to address the drunk 
driving/motorcycle riding issue responsible for so many deaths.
    Accordingly, NHTSA is seeking approval to conduct a one-time 
voluntary study to obtain information to better understand attitudes 
and

[[Page 72211]]

behaviors related to alcohol-impaired driving that will be used to 
enhance and refine communication strategy and tactics (i.e., more 
effectively target and message at-risk drivers and motorcycle riders). 
The study will survey drivers and motorcycle riders ages 21- to 54-
years-old because this age range represents the greatest number of 
alcohol-related driving/riding fatalities according to NHTSA's Fatality 
Analysis Reporting System (FARS).\5\
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    \5\ 2020 Alcohol Impaired Driving (Traffic Safety Facts. Report 
No. DOT HS 813 294).
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    The research study will include two components, both being one-time 
collections. The first component will involve a series of online webcam 
interviews that will collect qualitative information that will serve as 
a cognitive test to improve the quantitative survey that will be 
administered in the second component. The quantitative survey will be 
administered online and by phone (and potentially supplemented by mail 
if needed). After collecting the data, segmentation analysis will be 
done to classify drivers and motorcycle riders according to segments 
based on common demographics, drinking behaviors, attitudes about 
drinking and driving/motorcycle riding, and lifestyle characteristics. 
The segmentation profiles will be used by NHTSA's Office of 
Communications and Consumer Information (OCCI) to better target and 
reach intended audiences with communications messages and techniques 
that are relevant and meaningful to people within the target market.
    60-Day Notice: A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment 
period soliciting public comments on the following information 
collection was published on June 7, 2023 (FR Doc. 2023-12102). NHTSA 
received two (2) comments. NHTSA received comments from the National 
Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) and 
Responsibility.org. Both NAMIC and Responsibility.org supported NHTSA's 
alcohol-segmentation study efforts to inform communications initiatives 
to prevent alcohol-impaired driving and both requested future 
consideration to collaborate on communications efforts. [insert whether 
we received comments and if so, how many.
    NHTSA Response: NHTSA appreciates the support from NAMIC and 
Responsibility.org. NHTSA recognizes the actions that both are taking 
to help communicate the dangers of impaired driving and the efforts 
that they are taking to decrease this behavior on US roadways. NHTSA 
looks forward to completing this study, sharing the results, and having 
discussions with both NAMIC and Responsibility.org on how we can work 
together to decrease impaired-driving crashes, injuries and fatalities 
in the US.
    Affected Public: Vehicle Drivers and Motorcycle Riders ages 21-54 
(English and Spanish-speaking).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 5,400.
    Frequency: One-time.
    Number of Responses: 5,400.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,574.67.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $119,250.99.
    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 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) 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 appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of 
responses.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.

    Issued on October 16, 2023.
Juliette Marie Vallese,
Associate Administrator, Office of Communications and Consumer 
Information.
[FR Doc. 2023-23076 Filed 10-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P