NHTSA's Activities Under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 1998 Global Agreement: Pedestrian Safety, 55201-55202 [E8-22330]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 186 / Wednesday, September 24, 2008 / Notices DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration Fifth Meeting—RTCA Special Committee 217/EUROCAE WG 44— Airport Mapping Databases Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of RTCA Special Committee 217 meeting: Airport Mapping Databases. AGENCY: SUMMARY: The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of RTCA Special Committee 217 meeting: Airport Mapping Databases. DATES: The meeting will be held on October 21–23, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ADDRESS: The meeting will be held at Novotel-Airport Hotel, Zurich, Switzerland. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: RTCA Secretariat, 1828 L Street, NW., Suite 805, Washington, DC 20036–5133; telephone (202) 833–9339; fax (202) 833–9434; Web site https://www.rtca.org. Or Andreas Paul of Lufthansa Systems FlightNav, Tel: 32–2–729 3194, Fax: 32– 2–729 9008. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92– 463, 5 U.S.C., Appendix 2), notice is hereby given for a Special Committee 217 meeting. The agenda will include: 21 October • Opening Plenary • Chairmen’s remarks and introductions • Review and approve meeting agenda • Discussion • Schedule for this week • Schedule for next meetings • Presentations • Presentations • Report of September Telecon— Jens Schiefele • Additional AMDB Requirements Related to D-Taxi Datalink and Runway Safety—Sam van der Stricht and Christian Bousmanne • Meet to revise documents 22 October • Plenary Session jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES 23 October—Thursday • Closing Plenary Session • Other Business • Determine and agree on action plan • Meeting Plans and Dates Attendance is open to the interested public but limited to space availability. With the approval of the chairmen, VerDate Aug<31>2005 17:26 Sep 23, 2008 Jkt 214001 members of the public may present oral statements at the meeting. Persons wishing to present statements or obtain information should contact the person listed in the ‘‘FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT’’ section. Members of the public may present a written statement to the committee at any time. Issued in Washington, DC, on September 17, 2008. Francisco Estrada C., RTCA Advisory Committee. [FR Doc. E8–22479 Filed 9–23–08; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–13–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [Docket No. NHTSA–2008–0145, Notice 1] NHTSA’s Activities Under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 1998 Global Agreement: Pedestrian Safety National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation. ACTION: Notice of activities under the 1998 Global Agreement and request for comments. AGENCY: SUMMARY: NHTSA is publishing this notice to inform the public that there is a vote scheduled to establish the Global Technical Regulation on Pedestrian Safety at the November 2008 session of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29). In anticipation of the vote NHTSA is requesting comments to inform its decision for the vote. Publication of this information is in accordance with NHTSA’s Statement of Policy regarding Agency Policy Goals and Public Participation in the Implementation of the 1998 Global Agreement on Global Technical Regulations. DATES: Written comments may be submitted to this agency within 30 days of publication of this notice. You may submit comments [identified by DOT Docket No. NHTSA– 2008–0145, Notice 1] by any of the following methods: • Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. • Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001. • Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, ADDRESSES: PO 00000 Frm 00181 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 55201 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Telephone: 1–800–647–5527. • Fax: 202–493–2251. Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and docket number for this proposed collection of information. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below. Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 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 DOT’s complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477–78) or you may visit https:// DocketInfo.dot.gov. Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to https:// www.regulations.gov or the street address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ezana Wondimneh, Division Chief, International Policy and Harmonization (NVS–133), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590; Phone (202) 366–0846, Fax (202) 493– 2280. Pedestrian safety is a key focus worldwide. Data indicate that, annually: in the European Union about 8,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed and about 300,000 injured; in North America approximately 5,000 pedestrians are killed and 85,000 injured; in Japan approximately 3,300 pedestrians and cyclists are killed and 27,000 seriously injured; and in South Korea around 3,600 pedestrians are killed and 90,000 injured.1 The U.S. participated in the International Harmonized Research Activities (IHRA) Pedestrian Safety Working Group (IHRA–PS–WG) as it began to investigate and analyze the latest pedestrian accident data from IHRA member countries in 2001 and continued on to prepare harmonized pedestrian-passenger vehicle test procedures. Following this, separate adult and child head form tests were presented to the World Forum for SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 1 Further discussion of these statistics and data sources is available in the text of the GTR. E:\FR\FM\24SEN1.SGM 24SEN1 jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES 55202 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 186 / Wednesday, September 24, 2008 / Notices Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) at the end of 2002. Initial leg form tests were proposed in 2004. Since then, the U.S. has been working with representatives from WP.29 and IHRA to refine these testing procedures for inclusion in the GTR. NHTSA has also participated in the pedestrian safety technical working group established under the GRSP since 2002. In March 2004, a formal proposal to develop a pedestrian safety GTR was adopted by the Executive Committee for the 1998 Agreement (AC.3) under the sponsorship of the European Commission. The working group is chaired by Japan. This GTR is expected to improve pedestrian safety by requiring vehicle hoods and bumpers to absorb energy more efficiently when impacted in a 40 kilometer per hour (km/h) vehicle-topedestrian impact. These incidents account for more than 75 percent of the pedestrian-injured accidents (AIS 1+) reported by IHRA/PS. Pedestrian fatalities in countries that implement the GTR could be reduced by between 1 and 5 percent depending on the contracting party’s transportation environment. The GTR consists of two sets of performance criteria applying to: (a) The hood top and fenders; and (b) the front bumper. Test procedures have been developed using sub-system impacts for adult and child head protection and adult leg protection. The head impact requirements will ensure that hood tops and fenders provide head protection when struck by a pedestrian. In testing, the hood top and fenders would be impacted with a child headform and an adult headform at 35 km/h. The Head Injury Criterion (HIC) must not exceed 1,000 over one half of a child headform test area and must not exceed 1,000 over two thirds of the combined child and adult headform test areas. The HIC for the remaining areas must not exceed 1,700 for both headforms. The leg protection requirements for the front bumper would require bumpers to subject pedestrians to lower impact forces than result from most current designs. The testing required by this GTR specifies that the vehicle bumper is struck at 40 km/h with a legform that simulates the impact response of an adult’s leg. Vehicles with a lower bumper height of less than 425 millimeters (mm) are tested with a lower legform test device, while vehicles with a lower bumper height of more than 500mm are tested with an upper legform test device. Vehicles with a lower bumper height between 425mm and 500mm are tested with either legform as chosen by the manufacturer. VerDate Aug<31>2005 17:26 Sep 23, 2008 Jkt 214001 In the lower legform-to-bumper test, vehicles must meet limits on lateral knee bending angle, knee shearing displacement, and lateral tibia acceleration. In the upper legform to bumper test, limits are placed on the instantaneous sum of the impact forces with respect to time and the bending moment on the test. More detailed information on these test procedures was provided in previous notices and through the UN Web site as they were considered by WP.29. This GTR is expected to be considered for establishment by vote at the upcoming November 2008 session of WP.29/AC.3. Once a GTR is established through consensus voting at WP.29, Contracting Parties, while not obligated to automatically adopt the regulation, are obligated to initiate the process of rulemaking in their respective jurisdictions. If a GTR is established, it is the agency’s policy to initiate domestic rulemaking to adopt its requirements, including a cost and benefit analysis specific to the U.S. This process provides further opportunity for the public to comment on our proposed regulation for consideration through the usual U.S. rulemaking process. In anticipation of the vote to establish a GTR for pedestrian safety, NHTSA is requesting comment from all interested parties. The draft regulation and associated documents can be found in the docket for this notice and on the UNECE Web site.2 Issued on: September 17, 2008. Stephen R. Kratzke, Associate Administrator for Rulemaking. [FR Doc. E8–22330 Filed 9–23–08; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–59–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [STB Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub-No. 5) (2008– 4)] Quarterly Rail Cost Adjustment Factor AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT. ACTION: Approval of rail cost adjustment factor. SUMMARY: The Board has approved the fourth quarter 2008 rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF) and cost index filed by the Association of American Railroads. The fourth quarter 2008 RCAF (Unadjusted) is 1.199. The fourth quarter 2008 RCAF (Adjusted) is 0.550. The fourth quarter 2008 RCAF–5 is 0.520. 2 ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2007/105 PO 00000 Frm 00182 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 DATES: Effective Date: October 1, 2008. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pedro Ramirez, (202) 245–0333. [Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) for the hearing impaired: 1–800–877–8339.] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Additional information is contained in the Board’s decision, which is available on our Web site https://www.stb.dot.gov. [Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through FIRS: 1–800–877– 8339.] This action will not significantly affect either the quality of the human environment or energy conservation. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), we conclude that our action will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities within the meaning of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Decided: September 18, 2008. By the Board, Chairman Nottingham, Vice Chairman Mulvey, and Commissioner Buttrey. Anne K. Quinlan, Acting Secretary. [FR Doc. E8–22495 Filed 9–23–08; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915–01–P DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request September 18, 2008. The Department of the Treasury will submit the following public information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13 on or after the date of publication of this notice. Copies of the submission(s) may be obtained by calling the Treasury Bureau Clearance Officer listed. Comments regarding this information collection should be addressed to the OMB reviewer listed and to the Treasury Department Clearance Officer, Department of the Treasury, Room 11000, 1750 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20220. DATES: Written comments should be received on or before October 24, 2008 to be assured of consideration. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) OMB Number: 1506–0015. Type of Review: Extension. Title: Suspicious Activity Report by Money Services Business. Form: FinCEN 109. Description: Regulations under 31 CFR 103.20 require Money Services Business’s to report suspicious E:\FR\FM\24SEN1.SGM 24SEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55201-55202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-22330]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0145, Notice 1]


NHTSA's Activities Under the United Nations Economic Commission 
for Europe 1998 Global Agreement: Pedestrian Safety

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of activities under the 1998 Global Agreement and 
request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NHTSA is publishing this notice to inform the public that 
there is a vote scheduled to establish the Global Technical Regulation 
on Pedestrian Safety at the November 2008 session of the World Forum 
for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29). In anticipation of 
the vote NHTSA is requesting comments to inform its decision for the 
vote. Publication of this information is in accordance with NHTSA's 
Statement of Policy regarding Agency Policy Goals and Public 
Participation in the Implementation of the 1998 Global Agreement on 
Global Technical Regulations.

DATES: Written comments may be submitted to this agency within 30 days 
of publication of this notice.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments [identified by DOT Docket No. NHTSA-
2008-0145, Notice 1] by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Telephone: 1-800-647-
5527.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number for this proposed collection of information. Note that 
all comments received will be posted without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. 
Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
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 DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit https://
DocketInfo.dot.gov.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov or the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ezana Wondimneh, Division Chief, 
International Policy and Harmonization (NVS-133), National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, 
DC 20590; Phone (202) 366-0846, Fax (202) 493-2280.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pedestrian safety is a key focus worldwide. 
Data indicate that, annually: in the European Union about 8,000 
pedestrians and cyclists are killed and about 300,000 injured; in North 
America approximately 5,000 pedestrians are killed and 85,000 injured; 
in Japan approximately 3,300 pedestrians and cyclists are killed and 
27,000 seriously injured; and in South Korea around 3,600 pedestrians 
are killed and 90,000 injured.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Further discussion of these statistics and data sources is 
available in the text of the GTR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The U.S. participated in the International Harmonized Research 
Activities (IHRA) Pedestrian Safety Working Group (IHRA-PS-WG) as it 
began to investigate and analyze the latest pedestrian accident data 
from IHRA member countries in 2001 and continued on to prepare 
harmonized pedestrian-passenger vehicle test procedures. Following 
this, separate adult and child head form tests were presented to the 
World Forum for

[[Page 55202]]

Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) at the end of 2002. 
Initial leg form tests were proposed in 2004. Since then, the U.S. has 
been working with representatives from WP.29 and IHRA to refine these 
testing procedures for inclusion in the GTR.
    NHTSA has also participated in the pedestrian safety technical 
working group established under the GRSP since 2002. In March 2004, a 
formal proposal to develop a pedestrian safety GTR was adopted by the 
Executive Committee for the 1998 Agreement (AC.3) under the sponsorship 
of the European Commission. The working group is chaired by Japan.
    This GTR is expected to improve pedestrian safety by requiring 
vehicle hoods and bumpers to absorb energy more efficiently when 
impacted in a 40 kilometer per hour (km/h) vehicle-to-pedestrian 
impact. These incidents account for more than 75 percent of the 
pedestrian-injured accidents (AIS 1+) reported by IHRA/PS. Pedestrian 
fatalities in countries that implement the GTR could be reduced by 
between 1 and 5 percent depending on the contracting party's 
transportation environment. The GTR consists of two sets of performance 
criteria applying to: (a) The hood top and fenders; and (b) the front 
bumper. Test procedures have been developed using sub-system impacts 
for adult and child head protection and adult leg protection.
    The head impact requirements will ensure that hood tops and fenders 
provide head protection when struck by a pedestrian. In testing, the 
hood top and fenders would be impacted with a child headform and an 
adult headform at 35 km/h. The Head Injury Criterion (HIC) must not 
exceed 1,000 over one half of a child headform test area and must not 
exceed 1,000 over two thirds of the combined child and adult headform 
test areas. The HIC for the remaining areas must not exceed 1,700 for 
both headforms.
    The leg protection requirements for the front bumper would require 
bumpers to subject pedestrians to lower impact forces than result from 
most current designs. The testing required by this GTR specifies that 
the vehicle bumper is struck at 40 km/h with a legform that simulates 
the impact response of an adult's leg. Vehicles with a lower bumper 
height of less than 425 millimeters (mm) are tested with a lower 
legform test device, while vehicles with a lower bumper height of more 
than 500mm are tested with an upper legform test device. Vehicles with 
a lower bumper height between 425mm and 500mm are tested with either 
legform as chosen by the manufacturer. In the lower legform-to-bumper 
test, vehicles must meet limits on lateral knee bending angle, knee 
shearing displacement, and lateral tibia acceleration. In the upper 
legform to bumper test, limits are placed on the instantaneous sum of 
the impact forces with respect to time and the bending moment on the 
test. More detailed information on these test procedures was provided 
in previous notices and through the UN Web site as they were considered 
by WP.29.
    This GTR is expected to be considered for establishment by vote at 
the upcoming November 2008 session of WP.29/AC.3. Once a GTR is 
established through consensus voting at WP.29, Contracting Parties, 
while not obligated to automatically adopt the regulation, are 
obligated to initiate the process of rulemaking in their respective 
jurisdictions. If a GTR is established, it is the agency's policy to 
initiate domestic rulemaking to adopt its requirements, including a 
cost and benefit analysis specific to the U.S. This process provides 
further opportunity for the public to comment on our proposed 
regulation for consideration through the usual U.S. rulemaking process.
    In anticipation of the vote to establish a GTR for pedestrian 
safety, NHTSA is requesting comment from all interested parties. The 
draft regulation and associated documents can be found in the docket 
for this notice and on the UNECE Web site.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2007/105

    Issued on: September 17, 2008.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
 [FR Doc. E8-22330 Filed 9-23-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.