Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved Information Collection: Accident Recordkeeping Requirements
| Published date | 18 August 2020 |
| Record Number | 2020-18013 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,Transportation Department |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 160 (Tuesday, August 18, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 160 (Tuesday, August 18, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50874-50875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-18013]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA- 2019-0271]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved
Information Collection: Accident Recordkeeping Requirements
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA),
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. FMCSA requests approval to renew the ICR titled
``Accident Recordkeeping Requirements.'' This ICR relates to Agency
requirements that motor carriers maintain a record of accidents
involving their commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Motor carriers are
not required to report this data to FMCSA, but must produce it upon
inquiry by authorized Federal, State or local officials.
DATES: Please send your comments by September 17, 2020. OMB must
receive your comments by this date in order to act quickly on the ICR.
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 particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Pearlie Robinson, Driver and
Carrier Operations Division, DOT, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-4325.
Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Accident Recordkeeping Requirements.
OMB Control Number: 2126-0009.
Type of Request: Renewal of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Motor carriers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 89,270.
Estimated Number of Responses: 184,749.
Estimated Time per Response: 18 minutes.
Expiration Date: September 30, 2020.
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 55,425 burden hours (184,749
accidents x 18 minutes per response/60 minutes in an hour = 55,425
hours).
Definitions: ``Accident'' is an occurrence involving a CMV
operating on a highway in interstate or intrastate commerce that
results in (1) a fatality; (2) bodily injury to a person who, as a
result of the injury, receives medical treatment away from the scene of
the accident; or (3) one or more motor vehicles incurring disabling
damage as a result of the accident, requiring the motor vehicle(s) to
be transported away from the scene by a tow truck or other motor
vehicle. The term accident does not include (i) an occurrence involving
only boarding or alighting from a stationary motor vehicle, or (ii) an
occurrence involving only the loading or unloading of cargo (49 CFR
390.5).
Background
Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 390.15(b),
requires motor carriers to make certain specified records and
information pertaining to CMV accidents available to an authorized
representative or special agent of FMCSA upon request or as part of an
inquiry. Motor carriers are required to maintain an ``accident
register'' consisting of information concerning all ``accidents''
involving their CMVs (49 CFR 390.15(b) (see ``Definition: Accident''
below). The following information must be recorded for each accident:
Date, location, driver name, number of injuries, number of fatalities,
and whether certain dangerous hazardous materials were released. In
addition, the motor carrier must maintain copies of all accident
reports required by insurers or governmental entities. Motor carriers
must maintain this information for three years after the date of the
accident. Section 390.15 does not require motor carriers to submit any
information or records to FMCSA or any other party.
This ICR supports the DOT strategic goal of safety. By requiring
motor carriers to gather and record information concerning CMV
accidents, FMCSA is strengthening its ability to assess the safety
performance of motor carriers. This information is a valuable resource
in Agency initiatives to prevent, and reduce the severity of, CMV
crashes.
The Agency has modified several of its estimates for this ICR. The
estimated number of annual respondents has decreased substantially,
while the numbers of responses, burden hours, and annual costs to
respondents have increased. Explanations for these changes are
summarized below.
The previously-approved number of annual respondents is 866,122.
This estimate was based on records of all interstate and intrastate
motor carriers with ``recent activity'' in the Motor Carrier Management
Information System (MCMIS) for calendar year 2015. However, not all of
these motor carriers experience a DOT-reportable crash every calendar
year. To more accurately estimate the annual number of respondents, we
looked at the carriers associated with crashes reported in MCMIS for
calendar years 2016 through 2018 and calculated the annual average.
This gave us a significantly reduced estimate of 89,270 respondents per
year.
The previously-approved burden is 36,157 burden hours. The Agency
increases its estimate to 55,425 burden hours. The text of section
390.15(b) is unchanged; the increase in burden hours does not reflect
changes in the requirements for accident recordkeeping. The adjustment
in annual burden hours is due to a revised estimate of the number of
reportable accidents from 120,522 to 184,749 per year, using interstate
and intrastate DOT-reportable motor carrier crash records in MCMIS for
calendar years 2016 through 2018. In the previous iteration of this
ICR, only crash records for calendar year 2015 were considered, and
only crashes for carriers with a DOT number and ``recent activity'' in
MCMIS were included. In the current iteration of this ICR, we include
recorded crashes in which there is not a recorded DOT number, but the
CRASH_CARRIER_INTERSTATE field in MCMIS is coded as ``Interstate'' or
``Intrastate'' (thus suggesting that they are commercial carriers).
This change in approach has resulted in an increased estimate of annual
crashes subject to the Accident Register reporting requirements, and
thus an increase in the number of responses, as each crash is
associated with one response.
The revised version of this ICR includes estimated labor costs
associated with maintaining the Accident Register. The previous
iteration of this ICR did not include such an estimate; it only
reported the estimated annual burden hours. The estimated annual labor
cost for industry resulting from the Accident Register reporting
requirements is $1,860,617.
Finally, the estimated annual cost associated with accident
recordkeeping (outside of labor costs) is increased from $8,437 to
$106,785. In the previous
[[Page 50875]]
iteration of this ICR, it was assumed that all motor carriers were
storing hard copy records offsite, which is less costly than storing
hard copy records onsite due to reduced space requirements. In the
current iteration of this ICR, FMCSA is assuming that (1) approximately
15 percent of motor carriers are storing their Accident Registers
electronically, at no extra cost, and (2) approximately 85 percent of
motor carriers are storing hard copy versions of their Accident
Registers. FMCSA is further assuming that motor carriers that maintain
paper records are storing their Accident Registers at their principal
place of business, so that they have easy access to such records during
an FMCSA investigation. This change in storage location increases the
cost of storage, from $0.07 to $0.68 per accident recorded. While FMCSA
is now assuming that some motor carriers are storing documents
electronically at no extra cost, the overall number of responses has
increased over prior years, overtaking the reduction in number of
carriers storing hard copy records.
On April 28, 2020, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice
allowing for a 60-day comment period on this ICR. Two comments were
received in response to this notice. The first respondent, Denise
Quinehan, reported that she was involved in a level 4 motorcycle
accident in 2016 and the driver that hit her had no insurance or
registration. Four years after the accident she found that the
reporting officer altered the crash report and that report was being
used in other claims that resulted in identity fraud. She wrote that
some limits of reports should not be released until the involved party
has access to it. Second, the National Motor Freight Traffic
Association, Inc. concluded that ``FMCSA will benefit from greater use
of accident information, such as police accident reports, that support
greater accuracy and fairer portrayal of a carrier's safety practices.
FMCSA could more effectively use its enforcement resources if it can
better identify motor carriers who bore responsibility for commercial
motor vehicle accidents.'' Neither of the respondents addressed whether
the proposed collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's
functions; the accuracy of the estimated burden; nor the ways the
burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected
information.
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 information collection.
Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Kenneth Riddle,
Acting Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2020-18013 Filed 8-17-20; 8:45 am]
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