National Highway Traffic Safety Administration April 24, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below regarding motorcycle helmet labels has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burden. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published on February 1, 2008 [73 FR 6554]. The docket number is NHTSA-2008-0023. The agency received eight comments on this collection item. Two comments questioned the effectiveness of motorcycle helmet laws. This notice is not intended to address state or local helmet laws and therefore the comments are not relevant to this notice. Three comments were related to testing specifications of FMVSS No. 218. This notice does not change FMVSS No. 218 testing specifications. Consequently these comments are outside the scope of this notice. One comment recommended doing away with motorcycle helmet labels and two other comments suggested that collection of this information by NHTSA was unnecessary. The agency does not agree that motorcycle helmet labels or the information collection should be eliminated. These labels provide consumers with the assurance that the helmet meets FMVSS No. 218 minimum performance requirements. Assurance that a helmet meets FMVSS No. 218 is important to consumers because the standard specifies minimum performance requirements that are designed to reduce deaths and injuries to motorcyclists. The agency believes that it is important for consumers to be able to distinguish between helmets that meet FMVSS No. 218 requirements and those that do not.