Withdrawal of Proposed Enhancements to the Safety Measurement System, 32949-32950 [2018-15109]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 136 / Monday, July 16, 2018 / Notices • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES • • • 138 and 49 U.S.C. 303; 23 CFR part 774 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, 42 U.S.C. 1996 Farmland Protection Policy Act (FPPA), 7 U.S.C. 4201–4209 Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251– 1377, Sections 401, 404, and 319 Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. 403 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 16 U.S.C. 1271–1287 Emergency Wetlands Resources Act, 16 U.S.C. 3921, 3931 Wetlands Mitigation, 23 U.S.C. 103(b)(6)(m), 133(b)(3) FHWA wetland and natural habitat mitigation regulations, 23 CFR part 777 Flood Disaster Protection Act, 42 U.S.C. 4001–4128 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), 42 U.S.C. 300f–300j–6 Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, 23 U.S.C. 138 and 49 U.S.C. 303; and 23 CFR part 774 Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), Public Law 88–578, 78 Stat. 897 (known as Section 6(f)) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9601–9675 Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), 42 U.S.C. 9671–9675 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42 U.S.C. 6901–6992k Landscaping and Scenic Enhancement (Wildflowers), 23 U.S.C. 319 E.O. 11990, Protection of Wetlands E.O. 11988, Floodplain Management (except approving design standards and determinations that a significant encroachment is the only practicable alternative under 23 CFR 650.113 and 650.115) E.O. 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low Income Populations E.O. 11593, Protection and Enhancement of Cultural Resources E.O. 13007, Indian Sacred Sites E.O. 13175 Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments E.O. 13122 and E.O. 13751, Invasive Species Planning and Environmental Linkages, 23 U.S.C. 168, except for those FHWA responsibilities associated with 23 U.S.C. 134 and 135 Programmatic Mitigation Plans, 23 U.S.C. 169 except for those FHWA responsibilities associated with 23 U.S.C. 134 and 135 VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:31 Jul 13, 2018 Jkt 244001 The MOU allows the State to act in the place of FHWA in carrying out the functions described above, except with respect to government-to-government consultations with federally recognized Indian Tribes. The FHWA will retain responsibility for conducting formal government-to-government consultation with federally recognized Indian Tribes, which is required under some of the above-listed laws and Executive Orders. The State may also assist FHWA with formal consultations, with consent of a tribe, but FHWA remains responsible for the consultation. This assignment includes transfer to the State of Nebraska the obligation to fulfill the assigned environmental responsibilities on any proposed projects meeting the criteria in Stipulation 1(B) of the MOU that were determined to be CEs prior to the effective date of the proposed MOU but that have not been completed as of the effective date of the MOU. The FHWA will consider the comments submitted on the proposed MOU when making its decision on whether to execute this MOU. The FHWA will make the final, executed MOU publicly available. (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 20.205, Highway Planning and Construction. The regulations implementing Executive Order 12372 regarding intergovernmental consultation on Federal programs and activities apply to this program.) Authority: 23 U.S.C. 326; 42 U.S.C. 4331, 4332; 23 CFR 771.117; 40 CFR 1507.3, 1508.4. Joseph A. Werning, Division Administrator, Federal Highway Administration. [FR Doc. 2018–15099 Filed 7–13–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–22–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration [Docket No. FMCSA–2015–0149] Withdrawal of Proposed Enhancements to the Safety Measurement System Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: On June 29, 2015 and October 5, 2016, FMCSA proposed enhancements to the Agency’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) and published a preview version of the changes. However, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00118 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 32949 required the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study of FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program and the Safety Measurement System (SMS). NAS published their report titled, ‘‘Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement’’ on June 27, 2017. This notice announces that FMCSA will not complete the enhancements previously proposed and the preview is removed from the SMS website. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Barbara Baker, Compliance Division, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, Telephone (202) 366–3397 or by email at Barbara.Baker@dot.gov. Office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. If you have questions regarding viewing or submitting material to the docket, contact Docket Services, telephone (202) 366–9826. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background June 2015 Notice On June 29, 2015 (80 FR 37037), FMCSA proposed the SMS enhancements and requested initial comments in advance of providing motor carriers with a preview of how their safety performance data would be presented on the SMS website. The proposed changes included: 1. Changing some of the SMS Intervention Thresholds to better reflect the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories’ (BASICs) correlation to crash risk. 2. Two changes to the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance BASIC: a. Segmenting the HM Compliance BASIC by Cargo Tank (CT) and non-CT carriers; and b. Releasing motor carrier percentile rankings under the HM Compliance BASIC to the public. 3. Reclassifying violations for operating while Out of Service (OOS) under the Unsafe Driving BASIC rather than the BASIC of the underlying OOS violation. 4. Increasing the maximum Vehicle Miles Traveled used in the Utilization Factor to more accurately reflect the operations of high-utilization carriers. The Agency’s analysis and explanations were provided in the June 29, 2015, notice. Stakeholders had 30 days to submit comments. The comment period ended on July 29, 2015. October 2016 Notice The October 5, 2016, Federal Register notice (81 FR 69185) announced a E:\FR\FM\16JYN1.SGM 16JYN1 32950 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 136 / Monday, July 16, 2018 / Notices sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES preview of proposed enhancements to the SMS website, responded to comments to the June 2015 Federal Register notice, and advised of additional enhancements. As a result, the preview reflected six potential changes to the SMS methodology for calculating percentiles. 1. SMS Intervention Thresholds were adjusted to better reflect correlation to crash risk. 2. Changes to the HM Compliance BASIC to segment by CT and non-CT carriers and to post motor carrier percentile rankings under the HM Compliance BASIC to the public. 3. Reclassifying violations for operating while OOS under the Unsafe Driving BASIC rather than the BASIC of the underlying OOS violation. 4. Increasing the maximum vehicle miles traveled used in the Utilization Factor to more accurately reflect the operations of high-utilization carriers. 5. Increasing the minimum number of crashes in the Crash Indicator BASIC from two to three. 6. Assigning BASIC percentiles only to carriers that have had an inspection with a violation in the past year. Only 25 comments were received on the preview from 11 individuals, five trucking or bus companies, nine associations and one safety consultant. Eight commenters posted comments regarding determining the preventability of crashes; therefore, these comments were outside of the scope of the notice. Four other commenters made broad comments about the Agency that were not applicable to this notice. In addition, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety provided a copy of their report titled ‘‘Crash Risk Factors for Interstate Large Trucks in North Carolina’’ as support for the Agency’s correlation of vehicle maintenance to crashes. FAST Act Correlation Study Section 5221 of the FAST Act, titled ‘‘Correlation Study,’’ required FMCSA to commission the National Research Council of the National Academies to conduct a study of FMCSA’s CSA program and SMS. On June 27, 2017, NAS published the report titled ‘‘Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement.’’ The report is available at https://www.nap.edu/ catalog/24818/improving-motor-carriersafety-measurement. In preparing the report, NAS collected and analyzed all the quantitative data available to FMCSA in its databases, which contain information on the safety of commercial motor carriers and drivers subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and the HM Regulations. In VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:31 Jul 13, 2018 Jkt 244001 addition, NAS held three public meetings to engage stakeholders from the truck and bus industry, safety advocates, researchers, and other government organizations. The meeting agendas are included in an appendix to the report. FMCSA accepted the NAS report’s recommendations, including the recommendation to develop a new statistical model to support the SMS, and is working to implement the recommended changes. The NAS cautioned the Agency against making changes to the algorithm based on ad hoc analysis and instead to rely on the Item Response Theory model. SMS Preview Site As a result of the ongoing implementation of the NAS recommendations, FMCSA removed the preview from the SMS website and will not be proceeding with the proposed changes at this time. Issued on: July 10, 2018. Raymond P. Martinez, Administrator. [FR Doc. 2018–15109 Filed 7–13–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration [Docket No. FMCSA–2018–0189] Agency Information Collection Activities; New Information Collection: Truck and Bus Maintenance Requirements and Their Impact on Safety Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT. ACTION: Notice and request for comments. AGENCY: 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 new request titled ‘‘Truck and Bus Maintenance Requirements and Their Impact on Safety’’ will allow for a study that focuses on vehicle maintenance and aims to determine the impact of vehicle maintenance requirements on overall motor carrier safety. This information collection supports the DOT Strategic Goal of Safety. DATES: We must receive your comments on or before September 14, 2018. SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00119 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA–2018–0189 using any of the following methods: • Federal eRulemaking Portal: https:// www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. • Fax: 1–202–493–2251. • Mail: Docket Operations; 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: 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 https:// 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 https:// www.regulations.gov, and follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets, 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 www.regulations.gov, as described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL–14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy. 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 website. If you want us to notify you that we received your comments, please include a selfaddressed, 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: Quon Y. Kwan, Program Manager, Technology Division, Department of Transportation, OA, West Building 6th ADDRESSES: E:\FR\FM\16JYN1.SGM 16JYN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 136 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32949-32950]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15109]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2015-0149]


Withdrawal of Proposed Enhancements to the Safety Measurement 
System

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: On June 29, 2015 and October 5, 2016, FMCSA proposed 
enhancements to the Agency's Safety Measurement System (SMS) and 
published a preview version of the changes. However, the Fixing 
America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) required the National 
Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a 
study of FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program and 
the Safety Measurement System (SMS). NAS published their report titled, 
``Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement'' on June 27, 2017. This 
notice announces that FMCSA will not complete the enhancements 
previously proposed and the preview is removed from the SMS website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Barbara Baker, Compliance 
Division, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, Telephone (202) 366-3397 or by email 
at [email protected]. Office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 
ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. If you have 
questions regarding viewing or submitting material to the docket, 
contact Docket Services, telephone (202) 366-9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

June 2015 Notice

    On June 29, 2015 (80 FR 37037), FMCSA proposed the SMS enhancements 
and requested initial comments in advance of providing motor carriers 
with a preview of how their safety performance data would be presented 
on the SMS website. The proposed changes included:
    1. Changing some of the SMS Intervention Thresholds to better 
reflect the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories' 
(BASICs) correlation to crash risk.
    2. Two changes to the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance BASIC:
    a. Segmenting the HM Compliance BASIC by Cargo Tank (CT) and non-CT 
carriers; and
    b. Releasing motor carrier percentile rankings under the HM 
Compliance BASIC to the public.
    3. Reclassifying violations for operating while Out of Service 
(OOS) under the Unsafe Driving BASIC rather than the BASIC of the 
underlying OOS violation.
    4. Increasing the maximum Vehicle Miles Traveled used in the 
Utilization Factor to more accurately reflect the operations of high-
utilization carriers.
    The Agency's analysis and explanations were provided in the June 
29, 2015, notice. Stakeholders had 30 days to submit comments. The 
comment period ended on July 29, 2015.

October 2016 Notice

    The October 5, 2016, Federal Register notice (81 FR 69185) 
announced a

[[Page 32950]]

preview of proposed enhancements to the SMS website, responded to 
comments to the June 2015 Federal Register notice, and advised of 
additional enhancements.
    As a result, the preview reflected six potential changes to the SMS 
methodology for calculating percentiles.
    1. SMS Intervention Thresholds were adjusted to better reflect 
correlation to crash risk.
    2. Changes to the HM Compliance BASIC to segment by CT and non-CT 
carriers and to post motor carrier percentile rankings under the HM 
Compliance BASIC to the public.
    3. Reclassifying violations for operating while OOS under the 
Unsafe Driving BASIC rather than the BASIC of the underlying OOS 
violation.
    4. Increasing the maximum vehicle miles traveled used in the 
Utilization Factor to more accurately reflect the operations of high-
utilization carriers.
    5. Increasing the minimum number of crashes in the Crash Indicator 
BASIC from two to three.
    6. Assigning BASIC percentiles only to carriers that have had an 
inspection with a violation in the past year.
    Only 25 comments were received on the preview from 11 individuals, 
five trucking or bus companies, nine associations and one safety 
consultant. Eight commenters posted comments regarding determining the 
preventability of crashes; therefore, these comments were outside of 
the scope of the notice. Four other commenters made broad comments 
about the Agency that were not applicable to this notice. In addition, 
the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety provided a copy of their 
report titled ``Crash Risk Factors for Interstate Large Trucks in North 
Carolina'' as support for the Agency's correlation of vehicle 
maintenance to crashes.

FAST Act Correlation Study

    Section 5221 of the FAST Act, titled ``Correlation Study,'' 
required FMCSA to commission the National Research Council of the 
National Academies to conduct a study of FMCSA's CSA program and SMS.
    On June 27, 2017, NAS published the report titled ``Improving Motor 
Carrier Safety Measurement.'' The report is available at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24818/improving-motor-carrier-safety-measurement. 
In preparing the report, NAS collected and analyzed all the 
quantitative data available to FMCSA in its databases, which contain 
information on the safety of commercial motor carriers and drivers 
subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and the HM 
Regulations. In addition, NAS held three public meetings to engage 
stakeholders from the truck and bus industry, safety advocates, 
researchers, and other government organizations. The meeting agendas 
are included in an appendix to the report. FMCSA accepted the NAS 
report's recommendations, including the recommendation to develop a new 
statistical model to support the SMS, and is working to implement the 
recommended changes. The NAS cautioned the Agency against making 
changes to the algorithm based on ad hoc analysis and instead to rely 
on the Item Response Theory model.

SMS Preview Site

    As a result of the ongoing implementation of the NAS 
recommendations, FMCSA removed the preview from the SMS website and 
will not be proceeding with the proposed changes at this time.

    Issued on: July 10, 2018.
Raymond P. Martinez,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2018-15109 Filed 7-13-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P

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