Fast Track Request

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

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Email Assessment of Taglines Supporting National Anti-Distracted-Driving Efforts

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 is developing a new communications tagline to support the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) various initiatives starting in April 2014 to curb distracted driving. Data collected by USDOT report that 3,328 fatalities occurred in 2012 due to distracted driving, in which drivers lost focus on the safe control of their vehicles due to manual, visual and/or cognitive distraction. For assessment of several taglines under consideration, NHTSA seeks to use an e-mail survey, which will provide quantitative metrics for comparison of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each line. Such comparative assessments from third-party points-of-view (in this case, among members of the driving public) will help inform NHTSA and USDOT staff in selection of a final tagline for use. If such information is not collected, it will be more difficult for NHTSA and USDOT staff to know which line best resonates with drivers, so as to affect their potential distracted-driving behavior and to minimize the risk of serious crashes resulting from distracted driving.

For this type of assessment, an email survey is cost-effective, compared to other survey methods (telephone, mail, face-to-face interviews). Further, telephone surveys will not permit visual presentation of the lines in context of exemplary communications materials. Findings from this assessment survey are not intended to be used for policy or resource allocation decisions, are not intended to be published and/or disseminated to the public, will not directly benefit USDOT’s or NHTSA’s service delivery, and are not to be considered to meet statistical rigor. However, the findings will focus on the preferences the driving public will have towards the lines, and knowledge of such preferences will help inform final decision-making as to which line to use. Because it will be an email survey, public participation will be voluntary, and will not be burdensome or intrusive on their time.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

By way of a series of screening questions, respondents will consist of 400 licensed drivers ages 18-49 who operate cars and/or trucks for an average of at least 25 miles per week. This cohort of drivers represents a large portion of the driving public among which distracted driving behaviors are considerably widespread. A gender mix of 50% males, 50% females will be sought.

The initial recipients of the email invitation to participate in the survey will be members of a nationwide panel of people in this age group who have opted-in to receiving such email invitations.

As referenced above, the sample goal will be 400 completed surveys from screened respondents. In order to net this goal of 400, the initial pool of recipients receiving the invitation to participate will consist of approximately 20,000 people.

The consolidator/provider of the survey panel’s email addresses will include in its programming a means to prohibit any person from responding more than once, as well as to prohibit the survey be shared or forwarded to any other person.

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: Email 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.

Name:____Susan McMeen____________________________________________

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

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

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

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

Gifts or Payments:

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

The consolidator/provider of the survey panel’s email addresses will offer an incentive in the form of either a token amount of cash or points (redeemable for cash and/or general merchandise) to individuals who complete the survey. The exact amount of cash or points varies among providers of sample. Such amounts typically are $5 or less (or if points, the points are valued at $5 or less). This form of incentive is in line with the marketing research industry standard for email surveys.

BURDEN HOURS

No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (hours)	Total Burden Hours
600 individuals (opt-in recipients who respond to screening questions)	1	2 minutes (1/30-hours)	20
400 individuals (screened participants who subsequently respond to the complete survey)	1	10 minutes (1/6-hours)	67
			87 hours

TOTAL BURDER HOURS: 87 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $10,000.

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?

The initial recipients of the email invitation to participate in the survey will be members of a nationwide panel of people who have opted-in to receiving such email invitations. There are several U.S. companies who are consolidators/providers of such panels that will be considered, and one will be chosen based on its ability to cost-effectively meet the requirements of this survey.

From that consolidator/provider, 20,000 email addresses will be selected randomly from its database. In the selections, approximately half will be selected from a sub-database of males, the other half from a sub-database of females.

An email invitation to participate in the survey will be sent to all 20,000. It is projected (based on industry averages) that 600 recipients will open the survey and respond to the screening questions. It is expected that of those 600, 400 will meet the screening criteria and respond to the complete survey.

The consolidator/provider of the survey panel’s email addresses will include in its programming a means to prohibit any person from responding more than once, as well as to prohibit the survey be shared or forwarded to any other person.

The survey questionnaire (including screening questions) accompanies this request, beginning on the next page.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[X] Other, Explain – email

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

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