Generic Clearance Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2127-0682)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Fast Track Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery for Distracted Driving Online Survey

PURPOSE:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was authorized by the Highway Safety Act of 1966 to carry out a Congressional mandate to reduce the mounting number of deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes on our Nation’s highways. In support of this mission, NHTSA has helped to develop a public service campaign designed to reduce fatalities that result from distracted driving. The campaign specifically addresses texting and driving behavior. The campaign targets 16-49 year old drivers.

NHTSA is seeking approval of an information collection to better understand how 16-49 year olds receive, understand, and respond to our existing communication materials developed under the communications campaign so that we may improve upon them going forward. We plan to survey members of our target audience to identify their level of awareness of distracted driving messages, as well as key attitudes and behaviors related to texting and driving. Knowledge gained from this research will allow us to understand whether or not the texting and driving prevention communications effort is reaching the intended audiences. These results will then be used to inform the most effective strategies and mediums for message dissemination moving forward.

The results from this survey will in no way be used to make policy or resource allocation decisions.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The respondents for this survey will be the target audience for the public service campaign: U.S. teens and adults ages 16-49. We plan to survey 700 16-24 year olds and 700 25-49 year olds to understand reach of the campaign among both of these age segments. Screening criteria will require that all respondents have a valid driver’s license, operate a vehicle at least once per week, and have a mobile phone. The campaign has been distributed nationwide; thus, all respondents participating in the survey have the potential to be exposed to the public service advertising.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [X] Other: Online Survey

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [X] Yes [ ] No

The third party vendor collects information from the survey respondents in order to provide them with the incentive. No PII is reported to NHTSA. No responses will be connected to individual respondents; only aggregate data will be reported.

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [X] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [X] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [X ] Yes [ ] No

It is standard practice to provide a basic incentive in order to avoid bias of receiving responses only from individuals generally predisposed to be helpful. Respondents for this survey will not be offered incentives provided directly by NHTSA. The third-party vendor will employ two sample panels: one for respondents ages 16-17 and one for respondents ages 18-49. Respondents ages 16-17 are rewarded with points, redeemable for cash when enough points are accrued. Respondents ages 18-49 are offered the opportunity to redeem cash or other equivalent non-monetary incentives.

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals or Households (Survey Respondents)	1,400	12 minutes	280 hours
Individuals or Households (Survey Non-Respondents)	6,352	1 minutes	106 hours
Totals	7,752		386 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $14,800.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Convenience samples of test participants are recruited to reflect the target audience. NHTSA plans to work with C+R Research, a third-party vendor, to recruit individuals aged 16-49 years to participate. Data collection will take place using online panels that respondents have opted to join. Respondents will be recruited through an email invitation with a link to the survey. Recruitment quotas will include gender and age. In addition, samples will reflect variety in race/ethnicity, geographic density (e.g. urban, suburban, rural), and region of the country.

In order to achieve 1,400 completed interviews, it is estimated that there will be about 31,500 email invitations sent to individuals. It is estimated that there will be approximately 6,352 non-respondents to the interviews, i.e., individuals who accessed the survey but chose not to participate or did not qualify.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

3