Notice2022-08229
Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved Information Collection: Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program
Primary source
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Published
April 18, 2022
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Abstract
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 its review and approval and invites public comment. The FMCSA request approval to renew an ICR titled, "Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program." This ICR was previously approved under emergency procedures on January 24, 2022, and expires on July 31, 2022. The ICR is necessary for FMCSA to conduct a pilot program to determine the safety impacts of allowing 18- to 20-year-old commercial driver's license (CDL) holders to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. The ICR will cover data collected on drivers and carriers participating in the pilot program.
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 74 (Monday, April 18, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 74 (Monday, April 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23010-23013]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08229]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0081]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved
Information Collection: Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program
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 its
review and approval and invites public comment. The FMCSA request
approval to renew an ICR titled, ``Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot
Program.'' This ICR was previously approved under emergency procedures
on January 24, 2022, and expires on July 31, 2022. The ICR is necessary
for FMCSA to conduct a pilot program to determine the safety impacts of
allowing 18- to 20-year-old commercial driver's license (CDL) holders
to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. The
ICR will cover data collected on drivers and carriers participating in
the pilot program.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before June 17,
2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2022-0081 using any of the
following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
<bullet> Mail: Dockets Operations; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
<bullet> Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC, 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
E.T., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and
docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see
the Public Participation heading below. Note that all comments received
will be posted without change to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, including
any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading
below.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, and follow the
online instructions for accessing the docket, or go to the street
address listed above.
Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits
comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT
posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information
the commenter provides, to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>, as described in the
system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at
<a href="http://www.dot.gov/privacy">www.dot.gov/privacy</a>.
Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available
24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic
submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the ``FAQ'' section
of the Federal eRulemaking Portal website. If you want us to notify you
that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed,
stamped envelope or postcard, or print the acknowledgement page that
appears after submitting comments online. Comments received after the
comment closing date will be included in the docket and will be
considered to the extent practicable.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicole Michel, Office of Analysis
Research and Technology/Research Division, DOT, FMCSA, West Building
6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001; 202-
366-4354; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#731d1a101c1f165d1e1a101b161f33171c075d141c05"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="305e59535f5c551e5d595358555c70545f441e575f46">[email protected]</span></a>.
[[Page 23011]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: Current regulations on driver qualifications (49 CFR
part 391.11(b)(1)) state that a driver must be 21 years of age or older
to operate a CMV in interstate commerce. Currently, drivers under the
age of 21 may operate CMVs only in intrastate commerce subject to State
laws and regulations.
Section 23022 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA),
requires the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a commercial driver
Apprenticeship Pilot Program. An apprentice is defined as a person
under the age of 21 who holds a CDL. Under this program, these
apprentices will complete two probationary periods, during which they
may operate in interstate commerce only under the supervision of an
experienced driver in the passenger seat. An experienced driver is
defined in section 23022 as a driver who is not younger than 26 years
old, who has held a CDL and been employed for at least the past 2
years, and who has at least 5 years of interstate CMV experience and
meets the other safety criteria defined in the IIJA.
The first probationary period must include at least 120 hours of on
duty time, of which at least 80 hours are driving time in a CMV. To
complete this probationary period, the employer must determine
competency in:
1. Interstate, city traffic, rural 2-lane, and evening driving;
2. Safety awareness;
3. Speed and space management;
4. Lane control;
5. Mirror scanning;
6. Right and left turns; and
7. Logging and complying with rules relating to hours of service.
The second probationary period must include at least 280 hours of
on-duty time, including not less than 160 hours driving time in a CMV.
To complete this probationary period, the employer must determine
competency in:
1. Backing and maneuvering in close quarters;
2. Pre-trip inspections;
3. Fueling procedures;
4. Weighing loads, weight distribution, and sliding tandems;
5. Coupling and uncoupling procedures; and
6. Trip planning, truck routes, map reading, navigation, and
permits.
After completion of the second probationary period the apprentice
may begin operating CMVs in interstate commerce unaccompanied by an
experienced driver.
In addition to data regarding successful completion of the
probationary periods, the IIJA requires data collection for data
relating to any incident in which a participating apprentice is
involved as well as other data relating to the safety of apprentices.
Additional data will include crash data (incident reports, police
reports, insurance reports), inspection data, citation data, safety
event data (as recorded by all safety systems installed on vehicles, to
include advanced driver assistance systems, automatic emergency braking
systems, onboard monitoring systems, and forward-facing and in-cab
video systems) as well as exposure data (record of duty status logs,
on-duty time, driving time, and time spent away from home terminal).
This data will be submitted monthly through participating motor
carriers.
The data collected will be used to report on the following items,
as required by section 23022:
1. The findings and conclusions on the ability of technologies or
training provided to apprentices as part of the pilot program to
successfully improve safety;
2. An analysis of the safety record of participating apprentices as
compared to other CMV drivers;
3. The number of drivers that discontinued participation in the
apprenticeship program before completion;
4. A comparison of the safety records of participating drivers
before, during, and after each probationary period; and
5. A comparison of each participating driver's average on-duty
time, driving time, and time spent away from home terminal before,
during, and after each probationary period.
FMCSA will monitor the monthly data being reported by the motor
carriers and will identify drivers or carriers that may pose a risk to
public safety. While removing unsafe drivers or carriers may bias the
dataset, it is a necessary feature for FMCSA to comply with Sec.
381.505, which requires development of a monitoring plan to ensure
adequate safeguards to protect the health and safety of pilot program
participants and the general public. Knowing that a driver or carrier
was removed from the pilot program for safety reasons will help FMCSA
minimize bias in the final data analysis.
FMCSA and the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Agency
(DOL/ETA) will be partnering in the implementation of the Safe Driver
Apprenticeship Pilot Program (SDAP). All motor carriers who are
approved for the program by FMCSA will also be required to become
Registered Apprenticeships (RAs) under 29 CFR part 29 before they can
submit information on their experienced drivers and apprentices. The
information collection burden for the DOL/ETA RA Program can be found
in approved ICR 1205-0223.
The statutory mandate for this pilot program is contained in
section 23022 of the IIJA. FMCSA's regulatory authority for initiation
of a pilot program is Sec. 381.400. The Apprentice Pilot Program
supports the DOT strategic goal of economic strength while maintaining
DOT and FMCSA's commitment to safety.
On January 7, 2022, FMCSA published a notice in the Federal
Register seeking public comment on the emergency approval of this ICR
(87 FR 1001). A total of 144 comments were received on that notice,
which are summarized here.
<bullet> Of the 144 comments received, 134 comments were from
individuals while 10 comments were from organizations, associations, or
motor carriers.
<bullet> A total of 31 comments supported the SDAP, which consisted
of 25 individuals and 6 organizations, associations, or motor carriers.
<bullet> A total of 102 comments were opposed to the SDAP, which
consisted of 98 individuals and 4 organizations, associations, or motor
carriers. The majority of these comments cited previous studies showing
age as a factor in safe driving performance, concerns that drivers
would not be compensated properly, or that the industry would ``take
advantage'' of younger drivers.
<bullet> A total of 11 comments, all from individuals, were neutral
towards the SDAP.
Several comments provided recommendations on how to conduct the
pilot program. These are summarized below.
<bullet> Recommendation: Extend the probationary period to 6
months.
Response: While there is no prohibition toward individual carriers,
or even individual drivers on a case-by-case basis having the
probationary period extended, FMCSA has decided this would
fundamentally alter the intention behind section 23022 of the IIJA and
therefore has not included this recommendation as part of the pilot
program design.
<bullet> Recommendation: Require additional performance benchmarks,
such as mountainous driving.
Response: FMCSA does not consider mountainous driving to be broad
enough to be required by all apprentices, as some may never require
mountainous driving. These additional performance requirements should
be considered at the discretion of each carrier and experienced driver
to impart the knowledge required for apprentices operating in each
unique circumstance.
[[Page 23012]]
<bullet> Recommendation: Require that apprentices continue
utilizing required technology throughout the entire pilot program.
Response: Apprentices will be required to continue operating a
vehicle equipped with onboard monitoring systems (OBMS) until they turn
21 years old and no longer require an exemption to operate in
interstate commerce. Regarding other technology, such as active braking
collision mitigation systems and governed speed limiters, FMCSA has
determined it is best to follow the requirements as laid out in the
IIJA to enable naturalistic data collection of how these drivers would
operate in a real-world setting. Furthermore, by requiring these
technologies only during the apprenticeship period, data may be
gathered to allow additional insights into the benefits of these
technologies for this age group.
<bullet> Recommendation: Increase the requirements for experienced
drivers to have 5 consecutive years with no violations, crashes, etc.
Response: FMCSA does not find benefit or reason to increase the
requirement on experienced drivers from that which is described in the
IIJA.
<bullet> Recommendation: Ensure experienced drivers are logged as
on duty, not driving when monitoring apprentices.
Response: FMCSA agrees that experienced drivers must be logged as
on duty, not driving when they are in the passenger seat observing
apprentice drivers. This will be made clear to program participants.
<bullet> Recommendation: Visibly identify drivers with high
visibility markings, such as stickers.
Response: FMCSA disagrees with this recommendation as it has the
potential to bias the data collection by creating a potential for
behavior changes in surrounding drivers that decreases the integrity of
naturalistic data collection. Furthermore, this could impact the
ability to properly compare safety performance of these drivers with
other drivers.
<bullet> Recommendation: Revoke a driver's CDL and expel carriers
for any crashes resulting in death, injury, or property damage.
Substantial violations of program rules should have penalties including
suspension of an experienced driver's CDL, suspension of apprentices
from the program, and/or fines for motor carriers.
Response: FMCSA does not have the authority to revoke CDLs, as
these are issued by State driver's licensing agencies. FMCSA retains
the right to remove an exemption from a participating driver, carrier,
or both if they are determined to present a safety concern. FMCSA
cannot impose fines on a motor carrier for failing to meet the
requirements of a voluntary pilot program; however, FMCSA retains the
right to revoke a motor carrier's participation in the study if they
fail to meet the requirements of the program.
<bullet> Recommendation: Add a requirement for becoming a
registered apprentice with DOL.
Response: FMCSA agrees that participating carriers must have a
registered apprenticeship with the DOL.
<bullet> Recommendation: Increase minimum rate of liability
insurance to $10 million for participating carriers.
Response: Minimum financial liability requirements are set by
regulatory statute. FMCSA does not have the authority to increase this
rate for participating carriers.
<bullet> Recommendation: Reduce monthly burden by clarifying what
safety event data is required.
Response: FMCSA has clarified that the safety event data provided
will be the summary of safety events (including participating driver
identification, time, date, and type of safety event for each event) as
opposed to all recorded video data. It is intended that this data will
be the reduced data from a carrier's OBMS provider which can be used
for coaching or training purposes.
<bullet> Recommendation: Have a hotline number to report violations
of program rules.
Response: Participating drivers will be provided with information
on how to report coercion or potential violations of the program
through the research team.
<bullet> Recommendation: Conduct regular, anonymized surveys of
trainers and apprentices to assess compliance.
Response: FMCSA is confident the monthly data provided as a
requirement of participation in the study will illuminate any areas of
non-compliance with the program.
<bullet> Recommendation: Carriers must submit electronic logs from
electronic logging devices on a quarterly basis.
Response: Carriers are required to submit monthly exposure data
that will cover the same information contained in electronic logs as
well as additional information, such as days away from home duty
station.
<bullet> Recommendation: FMCSA should produce guidance literature
to orient all trainers and apprentices.
Response: FMCSA will develop materials for electronic distribution
to participating carriers who can then provide this information to
their participating drivers that contains information on participation
requirements and contact information for the research team in case
there are questions from the driver. Additionally, FMCSA will maintain
the website (<a href="http://fmcsa.dot.gov/safedriver">fmcsa.dot.gov/safedriver</a>) with frequently asked questions
and resources for participating carriers and drivers.
<bullet> Recommendation: FMCSA should establish an independent
oversight board for the program composed of experienced drivers,
industry stakeholders, and safety and training experts to meet
quarterly and produce regular assessments of program safety.
Response: FMCSA will be reviewing safety data on a monthly basis to
determine if there are any immediate safety concerns. As authorized by
49 CFR part 381, FMCSA may remove a driver, carrier, or terminate the
program at any time if safety concerns are identified.
<bullet> Recommendation: FMCSA should require carriers, as a
condition of their participation in the program, to report driver and
trainer compensation during the time they are working in the program.
Response: Carriers will have to report compensation information on
apprentice drivers to comply with the DOL RA requirements.
<bullet> Recommendation: Compensable working time should follow the
definition recognized by the DOL's Wage and Hour Division.
Response: FMCSA does not have authority to regulate compensation or
wages.
Additionally, some commenters felt that becoming a registered
apprentice with DOL would be too burdensome and is an additional
requirement that was not in the IIJA. While this requirement was not
specifically part of the IIJA, FMCSA maintains that a registered
apprenticeship with DOL is an important step in the safety and
monitoring oversight of the SDAP to minimize the risk of apprentice
drivers experiencing coercion, unfair wages, or other practices that
could lead to unsafe behaviors from apprentice drivers.
Finally, there were several clarification questions received on the
notice, which included the following:
<bullet> How will the control group be selected for comparison?
Response: FMCSA will not be collecting data on a specific control
group for this study. FMCSA will be utilizing already existing data on
current CMV operators to compare inspection and crash rates of known
drivers as compared to the data collected on apprentice drivers.
Additionally, FMCSA will analyze the safety performance of apprentices
[[Page 23013]]
before, during, and after their probationary periods.
<bullet> How will FMCSA decide whether the SDAP should be extended,
expanded, or discontinued in the final data analysis?
Response: FMCSA is restricted by the limitations in the IIJA as
well as the limitations in 49 CFR part 381. Therefore, the SDAP will
not be extended or expanded at any point. The study may be discontinued
at FMCSA's discretion at any point.
<bullet> What quantitative safety metrics, if any, will be part of
the final analysis? If crashes and fatalities occur during the program,
will those be made public?
Response: FMCSA will conduct analysis on all data collected, to
include crashes, inspections, and safety events. All analysis will be
peer reviewed and contained in a final report. Crashes and fatalities
occurring during the program will be contained in the analysis but
identifying information on drivers will not be made public to ensure
the research is conducted in an ethical manner that protects the
privacy of participating individuals.
<bullet> Will FMCSA continue gathering data from apprentices once
they begin operating CMVs in interstate commerce unaccompanied by an
experienced driver?
Response: FMCSA will continue gathering data from apprentices until
they turn 21 years old and no longer require an exemption to operate in
interstate commerce.
Title: Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program.
OMB Control Number: 2126-0075.
Type of Request: Renewal of an information collection previously
approved under emergency authority.
Respondents: Motor carriers; drivers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 14,830 total (1,600 motor carriers
and 13,230 CMV drivers); 5,410 annually (1,000 carriers and 4,410 CMV
drivers).
Estimated Time per Response: Application (motor carrier, apprentice
driver, and experienced driver): 20 Minutes; safety benchmark
certifications: 15 Minutes; monthly driving and safety data: 60
Minutes; miscellaneous data submission: 90 Minutes.
Expiration Date: July 31, 2022.
Frequency of Response: Application (motor carrier, apprentice
driver, and experienced driver): Once; safety benchmark certifications:
Twice for each apprentice driver; monthly driving sand safety data:
Monthly; miscellaneous data submissions: Monthly.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 169,344 hours total, or 56,448 hours
annually (motor carriers: 164,934 hours total, or 54,978 hours
annually, which includes a one-time application, two safety benchmark
certifications for each participating apprentice, and monthly driving
and safety data on all participating apprentices as well as
miscellaneous data submissions; drivers: 13,797 hours total, or 4,599
hours annually which includes a one-time application for experienced
and apprentice drivers).
Definitions: N/A.
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. The Agency will summarize or include your
comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this ICR.
Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2022-08229 Filed 4-15-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P
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