Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses, 1577-1579 [2021-00136]

Agencies

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1577-1579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-00136]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2020-0018]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Reducing the 
Illegal Passing of School Buses

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a new information 
collection.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
abstracted below is being submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of 
the information collection and its expected burden. This new 
information collection seeks to assess the knowledge of drivers 
nationwide about the laws governing passing a school bus. A Federal 
Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting public comments 
on the following information collection was published on July 17, 2020. 
By the close of the comment period, NHTSA received six comments.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 8, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, 
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information 
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment'' 
or use the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact Kristin Rosenthal, Highway Safety 
Specialist, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, W44-245, Washington, DC 20590. 
Ms. Rosenthal's phone number is 202-366-8995, and her email address is 
[email protected]. Please identify the relevant collection of 
information by referring to its OMB Control Number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a 
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and 
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a 
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control 
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces 
that the following information collection request has been submitted to 
OMB. A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting 
public comments on the following information collection was published 
on July 17, 2020 (85 FR 43645). NHTSA received six comments by the 
close of the comment period. The National Transportation Safety Board 
(NTSB), the National School Transportation Association (NSTA), and 
David DeVeau provided comments supportive of the proposed information 
collection. Gardian Angel, LLC (which submitted the same comment twice) 
also provided comments regarding the proposed collection but expressed 
concerns about not including the recent NTSB recommendations adopted on 
March 31, 2020. Gardian Angel, LLC raised the concern that the data 
collection should address the NTSB recommendation, which includes 
evaluating various technologies as well as the inclusion of Gardian 
Angel, LLC products. To the comment regarding the inclusion of Gardian 
Angel, LLC products, NHTSA does not endorse specific products. This 
study is focused

[[Page 1578]]

on assessing a high-visibility enforcement approach that includes the 
use of automated cameras on the school bus. NHTSA will take under 
consideration the suggestion to evaluate other technologies at another 
time. One anonymous post asked NHTSA to include pedestrian and 
bicyclist safety; however, this data collection is specific to school 
buses. We appreciate the comments from NTSB, NSTA, Gardian Angel, LLC, 
and the individual who provided comment and thank them for thoughtfully 
considering the described program.
    Title: Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses.
    OMB Control Number: New.
    Form Number: 1559.
    Type of Request: Request for approval of a new information 
collection.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    Length of Approval Requested: Three years from date of approval.
    Affected Public: Drivers in the AmeriSpeak panel run by National 
Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago and driver 
volunteers in two selected communities.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: The National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was established by the Highway 
Safety Act of 1970 to reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses due 
to road traffic crashes on the Nation's highways. Even though every 
State has a law requiring drivers to stop for a stopped school bus 
displaying flashing red lights, illegal passing of stopped school buses 
is a frequent occurrence across the country. Title 23, Section 403 of 
the United States Code gives the Secretary authorization to use funds 
appropriated to conduct research and development activities, including 
demonstration projects and the collection and analysis of highway and 
motor vehicle safety data and related information needed to carry out 
that section. NHTSA seeks to assess the knowledge and attitudes of 
drivers nationwide about the laws governing passing a school bus (under 
the specific State laws where the driver lives) as a function of 
varying roadway configurations, flashing yellow and red light 
deployment on the school bus, and activation of the stop swing arm on 
the bus.
    To make this assessment, NHTSA will conduct a study that consists 
of two new voluntary surveys of drivers in the general public. The 
first survey will collect data from current drivers of motor vehicles 
in the AmeriSpeak panel who volunteer to participate. AmeriSpeak is 
funded and operated by National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the 
University of Chicago and is a probability-based panel designed to be 
representative of the U.S. household population to take part in online 
and telephone surveys. Screening and data collection for this national 
survey will take place in the respondents' homes or wherever 
respondents choose to operate their own computer, laptop, or mobile 
device. The second will evaluate the effectiveness of a high visibility 
enforcement (HVE) program, including the use of automated cameras on 
the school bus in two communities, aimed at reducing violations of the 
school bus passing laws. A survey in each community before and after 
the HVE application will be part of the evaluation. Screening and data 
collection for the community survey will take place on a computer or 
tablet provided by the study at a public venue frequented by drivers 
across the socioeconomic and demographic spectra, such as a mall or 
motor vehicle department office. All collection of data will be 
anonymous.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information: NHTSA's mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and 
reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, 
research, safety standards and enforcement activity. The agency 
develops, promotes, and implements educational, enforcement, 
engineering, and emergency response programs with the goal of ending 
preventable tragedies and reducing economic costs associated with 
vehicle use and highway travel. One highway safety problem NHTSA has 
been following closely involves school children struck by passing 
motorists while entering or exiting a stopped school bus with its red 
lights flashing and its stop arm extended. Even though there have been 
some highly-publicized child fatalities of this type and the annual 
national stop-arm violation count by the National Association of State 
Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) continues to show 
a surprisingly high incidence of these illegal passes, to date, no 
national survey has assessed the levels of driver knowledge and 
understanding of the laws regarding passing of school buses. The 
findings from this proposed collection of information will assist NHTSA 
in designing, targeting, and implementing programs intended to mitigate 
illegal passing of school buses on the roadways and to provide data to 
States, localities, and law enforcement agencies that will aid in their 
efforts to reduce crashes and injuries due to illegal school bus 
passing.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The study anticipates collecting 
3,000 responses to the national survey from members of the AmeriSpeak 
panel. It is estimated that up to 3,400 AmeriSpeak panelists will have 
to be screened to obtain 3,100 qualified volunteers who take the 
national survey (100 of these volunteers are estimated not to complete 
the entire survey). For the community surveys, NHTSA estimates that 400 
volunteers will have to be screened for each wave (400 for the before-
program implementation and 400 for the after-program implementation) 
for each of the two communities. Therefore, a total of 1,600 volunteers 
will have to be screened for the estimated yield of 300 completed 
surveys for each wave for the two communities, or 1,200 total responses 
in the two waves of community surveys at the two selected sites.
    Frequency of Collection: Respondents will only respond to the 
national survey request a single time during the study period. The 
community survey will be conducted twice at the same locations in each 
of the two selected communities over a period of approximately 10 
months. Therefore, an extremely small possibility exists that an 
individual might be invited to participate more than once for the 
community survey. If an individual is asked to participate a second 
time, they will be prompted to decline.
    Estimated Time per Participant: Both the national and community 
surveys will be administered via an internet-hosted survey on a tablet 
or other small computer. The national and community surveys will have 
the same core items related to knowledge of and attitudes towards 
school bus passing laws. The community survey will have additional 
items about awareness of countermeasure program activities and basic 
respondent demographic information. Demographic information for the 
panelists in the national survey is part of their AmeriSpeak profile. 
The intent is for each participant to complete a survey only once. 
However, no identifying information will be collected for the community 
survey, so a slight possibility exists that an individual will 
participate more than once. The estimated average time to complete the 
survey per participant in either the national or community sample is 15 
minutes. The screening involving (1) reading a recruitment 
communication, such as an email or listening to a researcher describe 
the study, and (2) determining an individual's eligibility (e.g., 18+ 
years old, current driver, lives in the community being studied) can 
take up

[[Page 1579]]

to three minutes for the community surveys and two minutes for the 
national survey.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1,268 hours for the total 
study.
    NHTSA estimates that for the 3,400 AmeriSpeak panelists that will 
have to be screened, the estimated total burden is 113 hours (3,400 x 2 
min./60). For the 3,100 qualified volunteers who take the national 
survey, the estimated total burden hours are 775 hours (3,100 x 15 
min./60), yielding at least 3,000 fully completed surveys. Likewise, 
the total estimated burden for the maximum of 1,600 potential 
participants to be screened for the community survey (400 per wave x 2 
communities x 2 waves) is 80 hours (1,600 x 3 min./60). The estimated 
total burden hours for the 1,200 fully completed surveys (300 per wave 
x 2 communities x 2 waves) is 300 hours (1,200 x 15 min./60). Table 1 
provides a summary of the burden hours per survey.

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                                                                     Estimate
                                                     Number of      burden per       Number of     Total burden
       Participant group            Form name     responses  per     response      participants        hours
                                                    participant       (min.)
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National Survey...............  Screening.......               1               2           3,400             113
National Survey...............  Online Survey...               1              15           3,100             775
Community Survey..............  Screening.......               1               3           1,600              80
Community Survey..............  Online Survey...               1              15           1,200             300
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    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,268
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: The only cost to participants 
will be time spent responding to the screening and the subsequent 
survey if they volunteer. Participants who volunteer and begin the 
survey will receive compensation for this time.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways for the 
department to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of responses without reducing the 
quality of the collected information.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.

    Issued in Washington, DC.
Nanda Narayanan Srinivasan,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2021-00136 Filed 1-7-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P