[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 219 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78454-78456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25196]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0153]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Request for OMB 
Approval To Renew an Information Collection Request: Truck and Bus 
Maintenance Requirements and Their Impact on Safety

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department 
of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA 
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and approval. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) 
is authorized to study vehicle maintenance to determine the impact of 
vehicle maintenance requirements on overall motor carrier safety. FMCSA 
may fund research, development, and technology projects that improve 
the safety and efficiency of commercial motor vehicle operations 
through technological innovation and improvement.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before December 
15, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Lukuc, Program Manager, 
Technology Division, DOT, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001; (202) 834-6180; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In this study, FMCSA will collect, via two 
surveys of freight motor carriers and passenger carrier maintenance 
managers, qualitative and quantitative data to assess the opinions of 
carrier representatives to develop an operational definition of 
``systematic maintenance'' for trucks and buses, examine maintenance 
differences between vehicle classes, and identify industry maintenance 
norms. Survey results of those carriers with low crash and vehicle 
maintenance violation rates will be combined to provide guidance on 
recommended practices. Additionally, respondents from carriers with 
high rates of crashes and violations may provide useful feedback on the 
effect of the interventions within their maintenance programs or 
activities, and an evaluation of adequacy of current regulations. The 
information collected by the survey will be a critical input to the 
Recommended Practices Report, which is a required final product for the 
project. Three comments were received in response to the 60-day Federal 
Register notice.
    Title: Truck and Bus Maintenance Requirements and Their Impact on 
Safety.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0069.
    Type of Request: Renewal of a currently approved ICR.
    Respondents: Freight motor carriers and passenger carriers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 578 respondents [578 respondents 
will complete the Online Recruitment Survey. Of those 578 respondents, 
289 will also complete the Carrier Maintenance Manager Survey].
    Estimated Time per Response: Varies [Online Recruitment Survey: 5 
minutes. Carrier Maintenance Manager Survey: 45 minutes].
    Expiration Date: November 30, 2023.
    Frequency of Response: Annually.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 265 hours [Online Recruitment 
Survey: 578 respondents x (5 minutes / 60 minutes) = 48 hours; Carrier 
Maintenance Manager Survey: 289 respondents x (45 minutes / 60 minutes) 
= 217 hours].
    Background: FMCSA's core mission is to reduce crashes, injuries, 
and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. To aid in 
accomplishing this, the Agency uses

[[Page 78455]]

the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) enforcement program to 
prioritize and target interventions of those motor carriers who are 
most likely to be involved in a future crash. As part of the CSA 
program, the Agency deploys the Safety Measurement System (SMS). SMS 
uses inspection, crash, and investigation data captured in the Motor 
Carrier Management Information System to calculate a percentile for 
each motor carrier. A motor carrier's SMS percentile is based on its 
past compliance with a complete range of safety-based regulations (such 
as driver safety, hours of service, driver fitness, and vehicle 
maintenance, among others). The survey described in this notice focuses 
on the vehicle maintenance component of those safety regulations. The 
study goal is to determine what improvements, ranging from better 
compliance interventions to better vehicle maintenance requirements, 
would enhance motor carrier safety.
    In 2014, the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center 
conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of SMS in identifying the 
highest risk motor carriers to be targeted for interventions. One 
finding from the study was that motor carriers targeted for 
intervention due to ``vehicle maintenance'' issues (i.e., violations) 
had a 65 percent higher crash rate compared to the national average. 
These violations are based on Federal and State inspections of 
components critical to the safe operation of the vehicle. It is 
important to recognize that proper and regular preventative maintenance 
(i.e., systematic maintenance programs) among carriers--rather than 
Federal and State inspections, which are by nature limited to the most 
visible or obvious safety-related components--should be the primary 
activity applied to ensure safe equipment operation. While these 
initial findings are important, they raise additional questions. One 
such question is prompted by the stipulation in 49 CFR 396.3(a), which 
states that every carrier must have a program to ``systematically 
inspect, repair, and maintain, or cause to be systematically inspected, 
repaired, and maintained, all motor vehicles and intermodal equipment 
subject to its control.'' Though this regulation provides some 
direction, there is no supporting definition of the word systematic, 
and because this term is subjective, it is likely to vary from one 
carrier to another. The lack of specificity regarding standard 
intervals for preventative maintenance makes it difficult for Federal 
and State personnel to evaluate the effectiveness of and compliance 
with a carrier's maintenance program. Furthermore, the lack of 
specificity may make it difficult for carriers to ascertain and 
therefore comply with the regulation's intent.
    The current research effort, augmented by the proposed survey, is 
necessary to improve FMCSA's understanding of the safety impact of 
preventative vehicle maintenance and to clarify the requirements of 
Sec.  396.3(a). The study objectives are as follows:
    1. Develop an operational definition of systematic maintenance.
    2. Evaluate whether current regulations and the intervention 
process could be modified to improve compliance with vehicle 
maintenance requirements. Examples of such requirements are as follows: 
(i) Preventative maintenance intervals, (ii) preventative maintenance 
inspections with adequately trained/equipped mechanics, and (iii) 
adequacy of motor carriers' maintenance facilities. However, the 
results of the survey will be used only to explore what areas of 
rulemaking and/or other areas, such as policy guidance and training, 
might be useful in the future; the results of the survey will not be 
used for rulemaking, per se.
    3. Gather information to assist in establishing minimum standards 
for inspection intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and 
certification of maintenance facilities. FMCSA is authorized to conduct 
this research under 49 U.S.C. 31108, Motor Carrier Research and 
Technology Programs. Under section 31108(a)(3)(C), FMCSA may fund 
research, development, and technology projects that improve the safety 
and efficiency of commercial motor vehicle operations through 
technological innovation and improvement. This information collection 
supports the DOT strategic goal of Safety.
    Under contract to FMCSA, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute 
(VTTI) at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will 
use online surveys to obtain the data required to address the study 
objectives. The information collection will be administered in two 
phases:
    Phase I: Online Recruitment Survey. This voluntary, seven-question 
survey will screen carriers and verify their eligibility for Phase II 
participation. To be eligible for Phase II participation, carriers must 
fall into one of two groups: (a) The Recommended Practices (RP) Group, 
which includes carriers with the lowest Vehicle Maintenance and Crash 
Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASIC) 
percentiles (i.e., less than or equal to the 33rd percentile); or (b) 
the Intervention Effects (IE) Group, which includes carriers that have 
experienced Federal or State interventions in the last 24 months due to 
vehicle maintenance violations. The BASICs are Unsafe Driving, Crash 
Indicator, Hours-of-Service (HOS) compliance, Vehicle Maintenance, 
Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance, and 
Driver Fitness. More information on the SMS methodology can be found at 
https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/SMSMethodology.pdf.
    Phase II: Carrier Maintenance Management Survey. This voluntary, 
108-question survey will include questions about demographics; 
maintenance practices, intervals, personnel, and facilities; and State 
and Federal inspections, among other things. The Phase II survey will 
employ branch logic; as such, carriers will be prompted to complete 
different sections based on their survey group (and for one section, 
carrier size). Consequently, no participating carrier will be asked to 
complete all 108 questions. In the Phase II survey, carriers (of all 
sizes) in the RP Group will be asked to provide additional information 
about maintenance personnel and facilities (e.g., mechanic training 
levels, tools required for adequate inspection, and certification of 
facilities) and vehicle maintenance issues that may impact safety. 
Information from the RP Group will seek to address Objective 1, 
relating to development of an operational definition of systematic 
maintenance, Objective 2, relating to potential regulatory changes, and 
Objective 3, relating to establishment of minimum standards for 
inspection intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and 
certification of maintenance facilities. Carriers in the IE Group will 
be asked to complete the section on intervention effects, which 
includes questions about the status of active interventions or 
investigations; results of closed interventions or investigations; 
interactions with State versus Federal agencies; intervention 
activities experienced; the accuracy of violations leading to 
interventions; actions taken in response to interventions; changes in 
carrier vehicle maintenance practices as a result of an intervention; 
significant benefits of interventions; and ways the intervention 
process could be improved. Information provided by the IE Group will 
also address the portion of Objective 2 regarding sufficiency of 
regulations and where interventions need to be improved to facilitate 
complying with these regulations.

[[Page 78456]]

    Survey responses will be summarized and reported using plots, 
tables, content analysis, and calculated summary statistics. Plots and 
tables will provide a visual comparison of multiple choice and checkbox 
survey responses for successful carriers (i.e., carriers in the RP 
Group) and those receiving interventions in the last 24 months (i.e., 
carriers in the IE Group). These methods will also allow researchers to 
summarize responses by carrier operation type (i.e., truck or bus) and 
size. Bar charts will be used to plot responses to many survey 
questions. Some survey responses may be summarized with tables with 
rows for each of the carrier operation types (truck or bus) and each 
carrier-size subgroup. To explore and summarize responses to open-ended 
survey questions, researchers will use content analysis methods. An 
illustration of an open-ended question in the survey is ``List examples 
of critical safety-related maintenance activities for trailer vehicle 
milestones.'' The goal of content analysis of open-ended questions will 
be to identify common answers.
    The results of this information collection will be documented in a 
technical report to be delivered to and published by FMCSA. In 
addition, the results will be used to create a ``recommended best 
practices'' report that will outline minimum standards for inspection 
intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and certification of 
maintenance facilities. Finally, VTTI is required under the contract 
with FMCSA to compile and analyze the collected information and develop 
a public-use data set.
    If this data collection does not take place, the truck and bus 
industry would continue to operate with the uncertainty of what a 
``systematic maintenance'' program, as currently worded in Sec.  
396.3(a), consists of. This term's ambiguous definition makes it 
difficult for Federal and State inspectors to evaluate the 
effectiveness of a carrier's maintenance program or its compliance with 
this provision. Furthermore, this uncertainty may make it difficult for 
carriers to ascertain and therefore comply with the regulation's 
intent.
    The 60-day notice for this collection was published on August 24, 
2023 (88 FR 58057). The Agency received three comments.
    The first comment was anonymous and asserted that fraud within the 
industry affected the industry's ability to perform maintenance that 
could enhance safety. Through the research enabled by this survey, the 
Agency seeks to assess the degree to which maintenance enhances safety.
    The second comment was from a maintenance trainer who stated that 
49 CFR 396.17 requires that periodic inspections beyond visual 
observation are required on an annual basis to certify that each 
vehicle passes maintenance requirements. The Agency agrees that 
periodic maintenance inspections that go beyond roadside visual 
inspections are an important part of a systematic maintenance program, 
and the research is taking into consideration the elements of periodic 
maintenance that impact carrier preventative maintenance programs.
    The third comment was from the National Waste and Recycling 
Association (NWRA). NWRA suggests that the survey should recruit 
carriers that operate vocational short-haul trucks (e.g., refuse 
hauler) because of the differences in duty cycles that affect 
maintenance. In particular, waste and recycling vehicles brake 
frequently as part of their duty cycle, which may have implications for 
maintenance and safety. The Agency agrees that a variety of highway and 
vocational truck and bus carriers will be recruited for the survey, but 
the recruitment and collection will be constrained to identifying 
carriers based on the recommended practices group and intervention 
effects group criteria.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2) 
the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for FMCSA to enhance the 
quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) 
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of 
the collected information.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2023-25196 Filed 11-14-23; 8:45 am]
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