Department of Transportation February 6, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 402 of title 23 of the United States Code requires the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate uniform guidelines for State highway safety programs. NHTSA is seeking comments on proposed amendments to six (6) of the existing guidelines and one (1) new guideline to reflect program methodology and approaches that have proven to be successful and are based on sound science and program administration. The guidelines the agency proposes to revise are as follows: Guideline No. 4 Driver Education; Guideline No. 5 Non-Commercial Driver Licensing (formerly Driver Licensing); Guideline No. 7 Judicial and Court Services (formerly Traffic Courts); Guideline No. 10 Traffic Records; Guideline No. 17 Pupil Transportation Safety; and Guideline No. 21 Roadway Safety. This notice also proposes a new guideline, Guideline No. 12 Prosecutor Training and Outreach. NHTSA has developed Guideline No. 12 because it has found that conducting educational and training outreach to judges and prosecutors is an important element for law enforcement efforts to be truly effective as a deterrent to dangerous driving behaviors. NHTSA believes the proposed revisions and additions will provide more accurate, current and detailed guidance to the States. The guidelines will be made publicly available on the NHTSA Web site.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Air Tractor, Inc. (Air Tractor) Model AT-602 airplanes. This proposed AD would require you to install access holes to do repetitive detailed visual inspections for cracks in the horizontal stabilizer brace tube assembly, and if any cracks are found as a result of a visual inspection, to replace the horizontal stabilizer brace tube assembly with a new design horizontal stabilizer brace tube assembly. The installation of the new design horizontal stabilizer brace tube assembly is terminating action for the repetitive inspection requirement. This proposed AD results from two reports of Model AT-602 airplanes with cracked horizontal stabilizer brace tube assemblies. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracks in the horizontal stabilizer brace tube assembly, which could result in failure of the horizontal stabilizer. This failure could affect the ability to control pitch with consequent loss of control.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A310 airplanes and Model A300-600 series airplanes. This proposed AD would require revising the Airworthiness Limitations section of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness by incorporating new and revised certification maintenance requirements. This proposed AD results from the manufacturer determining that additional and revised certification maintenance requirements are necessary in order to ensure continued operational safety of the affected airplanes. We are proposing this AD to prevent safety- significant latent failures that would, in combination with one or more other specific failures or events, result in a hazardous or catastrophic failure condition of avionics, hydraulic systems, fire detection systems, fuel systems, or other critical systems.

In accordance with 23 U.S.C. 148, as amended by section 1401 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), States are required to submit reports describing at least 5 percent of their public road locations exhibiting the most severe safety needs. In addition, these reports shall be made available to the public through the Department of Transportation's Web site. The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that the reports submitted by the States are now available on the FHWA Web site, https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/fivepercent/index.htm.

FMCSA announces that it has published an opportunity to apply for FY 2007 Safety Data Improvement Program Grant Opportunity funding on the grants.gov Web site (https://www.grants.gov). Section 4128 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (SAFETEA-LU) establishes the Safety Data Improvement Program Grant Program Opportunity. The legislation supports a discretionary grant program that provides funding for States to improve the quality of crash and inspection truck and bus data reported by the States to FMCSA, as defined in Section 31102 of Title 49, United States Code. Eligible awardees can include a State agency located in one of the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. To apply for funding, applicants must be registered with grants.gov. Registration with grants.gov may take two to five days before the system will allow you to apply for grants using the grants.gov Web site (https://www.grants.gov/applicants/getregistered.jsp). Submit application in accordance with the instructions provided. Applications for grant funding must be submitted electronically to the FMCSA through the grants.gov Web site. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for Safety Data Improvement Program is 20.234.

FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemption from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for Scott D. Goalder. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The Agency has concluded that renewing Mr. Goalder's exemption will provide a level of safety that will be equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety maintained without the exemption for this commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and its implementing regulations, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) hereby announces that it is seeking approval of the following information collection activities. Before submitting these information collection requirements for clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities identified below.

We are amending our safety standard on door locks and door retention components in order to add and update requirements and test procedures and to harmonize with the world's first global technical regulation for motor vehicles. Today's final rule adds test requirements and test procedures for sliding doors, adds secondary latched position requirements for doors other than hinged side doors and back doors, provides a new optional test procedure for assessing inertial forces, and extends the application of the standard to buses with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of less than 10,000 pounds, including 12-15 passenger vans. Today's final rule also eliminates an exclusion from the requirements of the standard for doors equipped with wheelchair platform lifts.

The FAA proposes to rule and invite public comment on the release of land at the Pueblo Memorial Airport under the provisions of Section 125 of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR 21).

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a first meeting of RTCA Special Committee 213, Enhanced Flight Vision Systems/ Synthetic Vision System, (EFVS/SVS).

This notice announces a public meeting of the FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) to discuss rotorcraft issues.