[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 94 (Wednesday, May 15, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28699-28700]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-11528]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA-2011-0279]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Approval of a New
Information Collection: Motorcoach Passenger Survey: Motorcoach Safety
and Pre-Trip Safety Awareness and Emergency Preparedness Information
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 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. An initial emergency
request and 30-day notice was first published on October 18, 2011 for
this ICR. The purpose of this information collection is to assess the
current levels of voluntary compliance by motorcoach operators to
provide pre-trip safety awareness and emergency preparedness
information to passengers and to obtain passenger opinions of the
implementation of the pre-trip program and any recommended
improvements.
This information, along with its conclusions, will be used to
inform future initiatives, policies, and rules as appropriate; will be
presented to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and
Congress; and will contribute to the general literature regarding
practices for improving motorcoach safety in the United States.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before July 15, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket
Management System Number FMCSA 2011-0297 using one of the following
methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251
Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 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 and
additional information on the exemption process, see the Public
Participation heading below. 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.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background
documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, and
follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the
street address listed above.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form
of all
[[Page 28700]]
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 the
Department of Transportation's (DOT) complete Privacy Act Statement for
the Federal Docket Management System published in the Federal Register
on January 17, 2008 (73 FR 3316), or you may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdfE8-794.pdf.
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
``help'' section of the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site. 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: Dee Williams, Strategic Planning and
Program Evaluation Division Chief, Office of Policy, Strategic Planning
& Regulations, (202) 493-0192, [email protected], MC-PRS, Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 6th Floor, West Building, 1200 New
Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 20590.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Due to several recent fatal motorcoach crashes, the Congress, the
Department of Transportation (DOT), specifically the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and other Federal oversight
agencies, including NTSB, have increased their scrutiny over the
motorcoach industry and the enforcement and compliance of the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). On February 26, 1999, NTSB
issued safety recommendation H-99-8 to DOT, requiring motorcoach
operators to provide passengers with pre-trip safety awareness
information. This recommendation resulted from NTSB's investigation of
two motorcoach crashes from the late 1990s which revealed that
passengers felt a general sense of panic not knowing what to do on a
motorcoach in the case of an emergency. The intent of the
recommendation is to empower passengers to take their personal safety
into their own hands in the event of an imminent hazardous or emergency
situation. The FMCSA decided to implement the recommendation through
voluntary adoption and compliance of pre-trip safety briefings in the
motorcoach industry.
The goals and objectives of this survey are to assess the current
levels of voluntary compliance by motorcoach operators and to obtain
passenger opinions of the implementation of the pre-trip safety
awareness and emergency preparedness information. The Form MCSA-5868
will be used to survey motorcoach passengers. This information, along
with its conclusions, will be used to inform future initiatives,
policies, and rules as appropriate; will be presented to NTSB and
Congress; and will contribute to the general literature regarding
practices for improving motorcoach safety in the United States.
Title: Motorcoach Passenger Survey: Motorcoach Safety and Pre-Trip
Safety Awareness and Emergency Preparedness Information.
OMB Control Number: 2126-XXXX.
Type of Request: New information collection.
Respondents: Motorcoach passenger-trips.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,000 motorcoach passenger-trips.
Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.
Form Numbers: Form MCSA-5868, Motorcoach Passenger Survey: Pre-Trip
Safety Awareness and Emergency Preparedness Information--To collect
motorcoach passengers' responses during five, one-shot in-person survey
events.
Expiration Date: N/A. This is a new information collection.
Frequency of Response: One-time.
Estimated Total Burden: 333 hours [2,000 respondents x 10 minutes/
60 minutes = 333 hours].
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 On: May 3, 2013.
G. Kelly Leone,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology
and Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-11528 Filed 5-14-13; 8:45 am]
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