Notice2025-00120
Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information Collection: Study of Warning Devices for Stopped Commercial Motor Vehicles
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 8, 2025
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. This notice invites comments on a proposed information collection titled "Study of Warning Devices for Stopped Commercial Motor Vehicles." It is an experimental study that requires data collection for evaluating whether warning devices meaningfully influence crash-relevant aspects of human performance in the presence of a parked or disabled commercial motor vehicle (PDCMV), and if so, how and to what extent. These data collection efforts are expected to require the participation of 256 drivers.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1591-1593]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00120]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA-2024-0255]
Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information
Collection: Study of Warning Devices for Stopped Commercial Motor
Vehicles
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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. This notice invites
comments on a proposed information collection titled ``Study of Warning
Devices for Stopped Commercial Motor Vehicles.'' It is an experimental
study that requires data collection for evaluating whether warning
devices meaningfully influence
[[Page 1592]]
crash-relevant aspects of human performance in the presence of a parked
or disabled commercial motor vehicle (PDCMV), and if so, how and to
what extent. These data collection efforts are expected to require the
participation of 256 drivers.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before March 10,
2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Docket Number FMCSA-
2024-0255 using any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Mail: Dockets Operations; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
<bullet> Hand Delivery or Courier: Dockets Operations, U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building,
Ground Floor, Washington, DC, 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. To be sure someone is
there to help you, please call (202) 366-9317 or (202) 366-9826 before
visiting Dockets Operations.
<bullet> Fax: (202) 493-2251.
To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four methods.
See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion of
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for instructions on submitting
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samuel White, Research Division, DOT,
FMCSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, 6th Floor, Washington,
DC 20590; 202-366-3068; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d083b1bda5b5bcfe87b8b9a4b590b4bfa4feb7bfa6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="ebb88a869e8e87c5bc83829f8eab8f849fc58c849d">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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.
Public Participation and Request for Comments
If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this
notice (FMCSA-2024-0255), indicate the specific section of this
document to which your comment applies, and provide a reason for each
suggestion or recommendation. You may submit your comments and material
online or by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only one of
these means. FMCSA recommends that you include your name and a mailing
address, an email address, or a phone number in the body of your
document so FMCSA can contact you if there are questions regarding your
submission.
To submit your comment online, go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FMCSA-2024-0255/document">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FMCSA-2024-0255/document</a>, click on this notice, click
``Comment,'' and type your comment into the text box on the following
screen.
If you submit your comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them
in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for
copying and electronic filing.
Comments received after the comment closing date will be included
in the docket and will be considered to the extent practicable.
Privacy Act
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the
public to better inform its regulatory process. DOT posts these
comments, 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 (Federal Docket Management System (FDMS)), which can be reviewed
at <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/privacy/privacy-act-system-records-notices">https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/privacy/privacy-act-system-records-notices</a>. The comments are posted without edits and are
searchable by the name of the submitter.
Background
PDCMVs on the road negatively impact traffic operations and
safety.\1\ To increase the conspicuity of PDCMVs and mitigate crash
risk, FMCSA requires specific warning devices to be carried \2\ on all
commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) and, except in the case of necessary
traffic stops, be deployed \3\ near the vehicle whenever it is stopped
on the road or shoulder. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations
(FMCSRs) prescribe specific rules \4\ concerning how and where the
warning devices must be placed, based on road and traffic attributes
(e.g., whether the road is straight or curved, whether the vehicle is
stopped in a business or residential district, whether the road is
divided or undivided, etc.) as well as the presence of conditions
affecting visibility (e.g., time of day, physical obstructions, etc.).
These requirements follow from the basic notion that increasing the
conspicuity of a PDCMV makes it easier to see and recognize, thereby
reducing the risk of a crash involving passing motorists.
In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) prescribes performance and design specifications \5\ for
warning devices under 49 CFR 571.125 of the Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standards. For instance, this standard establishes minimum
specifications for factors affecting the conspicuity (including
reflectivity, color, luminance) of warning triangles, the most commonly
utilized type of warning device (due to their reusability, shelf life,
and fire-risk safety concerns compared to flares or fuses). The purpose
of this standard is ``to assure that the warning devices can be readily
observed during daytime and nighttime lighting conditions, have a
standardized shape for quick message recognition, and perform properly
when deployed.'' \6\
Public interest in warning device requirements for PDCMVs has
increased in recent years for several reasons. For example, advances in
automated driving system (ADS) technology have raised critical
questions regarding potential barriers to regulatory compliance with
warning device safety standards \7\ and regulations \8\ which reference
or require a ``driver.'' In addition, alternative types of warning
devices developed by industry, including those intended to increase
driver safety during device deployment, have resulted in multiple
applications for exemption from the corresponding safety
regulations.<SUP>9 10</SUP> These recent issues related to warning
device requirements also call attention to the historically unresolved
questions of whether the use of such devices improves traffic safety
and, if so, how and to what extent.
Past attempts by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
<SUP>11 12</SUP> and other researchers \13\ to answer those questions
yielded generally inconclusive or inconsistent results, which possibly
influenced NHTSA's past decision not to pursue conducting its own
research on the topic.\14\ FMCSA (previously under FHWA) itself has
never conducted experimental research on the impact of using warning
devices. As the only regulatory authority which still requires CMV
operators to use warning devices, the responsibility to answer these
questions finally and definitively is best charged to FMCSA.
Given the increasing focus on ADS, questions surrounding the safety
of CMV drivers when deploying warning devices, and the availability of
new technology and alternative devices since these questions were last
explored in the 1980s, there is a need to thoroughly evaluate the
effectiveness of warning
[[Page 1593]]
devices under current regulations. In addition, advanced research
instruments unavailable or not in use at the time of all past research
on this topic are now in common use and would permit far more
sophisticated analyses of the effects of warning devices on driver
behavior. This includes sensors which can precisely measure and record
the location of vehicles (e.g., differential GPS), eye-tracking devices
which allow the researcher to determine the precise moment when a
driver first glanced at a PDCMV, and instrumented vehicles which record
accurate, high-frequency data related to drivers' interactions with a
vehicle's controls.
FMCSA plans to implement these modern tools in a controlled
experiment at a closed-course, state-of-the-art driving research
facility that will allow the most comprehensive examination of the
effects of warning devices to date. The results of the study may
support future rulemaking related to warning devices and provide
baseline data necessary to inform Agency decisions on exemption
applications for alternative warning device products.
Title: Warning Devices for Stopped Commercial Motor Vehicles.
OMB Control Number: 2126-00XX.
Type of Request: New ICR.
Respondents: Drivers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 256.
Estimated Time per Response: 2.0 to 2.5 hours.
Expiration Date: This is a new ICR.
Frequency of Response: Once.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 614.40 hours.
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. 2025-00120 Filed 1-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 8, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.