Attachment C - 30-day FR

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exempt the following drivers from the
hearing requirement in § 391.41 (b)(11).
As of October 1, 2023, and in
accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and
31315(b), the following five individuals
have satisfied the renewal conditions for
obtaining an exemption from the
hearing requirement in the FMCSRs for
interstate CMV drivers (88 FR 69679):
Azulita-Jane Camacho (CA)
Robert Culp (FL)
Charles Davis (AL)
Christopher Fisher (WA)
John Price (TX)
The drivers were included in docket
number FMCSA–2018–0139. Their
exemptions were applicable as of
October 1, 2023 and will expire on
October 1, 2025.
As of October 8, 2023, and in
accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and
31315(b), the following five individuals
have satisfied the renewal conditions for
obtaining an exemption from the
hearing requirement in the FMCSRs for
interstate CMV drivers (88 FR 69679):
Judith Badore (VT)
Dareous Glover (IL)
Delroy Hunt (FL)
John Norman (IL)
Kyle Voss (WI)
The drivers were included in docket
number FMCSA–2021–0015. Their
exemptions are applicable as of October
8, 2023 and will expire on October 8,
2025.
As of October 10, 2023, and in
accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and
31315(b), the following two individuals
have satisfied the renewal conditions for
obtaining an exemption from the
hearing requirement in the FMCSRs for
interstate CMV drivers (88 FR 69679):
Kurt Bernabei (IL); and Steven Robelia
(TN).
The drivers were included in docket
number FMCSA–2019–0109. Their
exemptions are applicable as of October
10, 2023 and will expire on October 10,
2025.
As of October 22, 2023, and in
accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and
31315(b), the following four individuals
have satisfied the renewal conditions for
obtaining an exemption from the
hearing requirement in the FMCSRs for
interstate CMV drivers (88 FR 69679):
Richard Carter (MD)
Clinton Homon (IL)
Pete Kujawa (WI)
Jonathan Muhm (KY)
The drivers were included in docket
numbers FMCSA–2014–0387, FMCSA–
2018–0138, or FMCSA–2021–0014.
Their exemptions are applicable as of
October 22, 2023 and will expire on
October 22, 2025.

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In accordance with 49 U.S.C.
31315(b), each exemption will be valid
for 2 years from the effective date unless
revoked earlier by FMCSA. The
exemption will be revoked if the
following occurs: (1) the person fails to
comply with the terms and conditions
of the exemption; (2) the exemption has
resulted in a lower level of safety than
was maintained prior to being granted;
or (3) continuation of the exemption
would not be consistent with the goals
and objectives of 49 U.S.C. 31136, 49
U.S.C. chapter 313, or the FMCSRs.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023–25114 Filed 11–14–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA–2023–0153]

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Request for OMB Approval
To Renew an Information Collection
Request: Truck and Bus Maintenance
Requirements and Their Impact on
Safety
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
FMCSA announces its plan to submit
the Information Collection Request (ICR)
described below to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and approval. The Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
is authorized to study vehicle
maintenance to determine the impact of
vehicle maintenance requirements on
overall motor carrier safety. FMCSA
may fund research, development, and
technology projects that improve the
safety and efficiency of commercial
motor vehicle operations through
technological innovation and
improvement.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be
received on or before December 15,
2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAMain. Find this information
collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under
30-day Review—Open for Public
SUMMARY:

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Comments’’ or by using the search
function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mike Lukuc, Program Manager,
Technology Division, DOT, FMCSA,
West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
20590–0001; (202) 834–6180;
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In this
study, FMCSA will collect, via two
surveys of freight motor carriers and
passenger carrier maintenance
managers, qualitative and quantitative
data to assess the opinions of carrier
representatives to develop an
operational definition of ‘‘systematic
maintenance’’ for trucks and buses,
examine maintenance differences
between vehicle classes, and identify
industry maintenance norms. Survey
results of those carriers with low crash
and vehicle maintenance violation rates
will be combined to provide guidance
on recommended practices.
Additionally, respondents from carriers
with high rates of crashes and violations
may provide useful feedback on the
effect of the interventions within their
maintenance programs or activities, and
an evaluation of adequacy of current
regulations. The information collected
by the survey will be a critical input to
the Recommended Practices Report,
which is a required final product for the
project. Three comments were received
in response to the 60-day Federal
Register notice.
Title: Truck and Bus Maintenance
Requirements and Their Impact on
Safety.
OMB Control Number: 2126–0069.
Type of Request: Renewal of a
currently approved ICR.
Respondents: Freight motor carriers
and passenger carriers.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
578 respondents [578 respondents will
complete the Online Recruitment
Survey. Of those 578 respondents, 289
will also complete the Carrier
Maintenance Manager Survey].
Estimated Time per Response: Varies
[Online Recruitment Survey: 5 minutes.
Carrier Maintenance Manager Survey:
45 minutes].
Expiration Date: November 30, 2023.
Frequency of Response: Annually.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 265
hours [Online Recruitment Survey: 578
respondents × (5 minutes ÷ 60 minutes)
= 48 hours; Carrier Maintenance
Manager Survey: 289 respondents × (45
minutes ÷ 60 minutes) = 217 hours].
Background: FMCSA’s core mission is
to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities
involving large trucks and buses. To aid
in accomplishing this, the Agency uses

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the Compliance, Safety, Accountability
(CSA) enforcement program to prioritize
and target interventions of those motor
carriers who are most likely to be
involved in a future crash. As part of the
CSA program, the Agency deploys the
Safety Measurement System (SMS).
SMS uses inspection, crash, and
investigation data captured in the Motor
Carrier Management Information System
to calculate a percentile for each motor
carrier. A motor carrier’s SMS percentile
is based on its past compliance with a
complete range of safety-based
regulations (such as driver safety, hours
of service, driver fitness, and vehicle
maintenance, among others). The survey
described in this notice focuses on the
vehicle maintenance component of
those safety regulations. The study goal
is to determine what improvements,
ranging from better compliance
interventions to better vehicle
maintenance requirements, would
enhance motor carrier safety.
In 2014, the John A. Volpe National
Transportation Systems Center
conducted a study to assess the
effectiveness of SMS in identifying the
highest risk motor carriers to be targeted
for interventions. One finding from the
study was that motor carriers targeted
for intervention due to ‘‘vehicle
maintenance’’ issues (i.e., violations)
had a 65 percent higher crash rate
compared to the national average. These
violations are based on Federal and
State inspections of components critical
to the safe operation of the vehicle. It is
important to recognize that proper and
regular preventative maintenance (i.e.,
systematic maintenance programs)
among carriers—rather than Federal and
State inspections, which are by nature
limited to the most visible or obvious
safety-related components—should be
the primary activity applied to ensure
safe equipment operation. While these
initial findings are important, they raise
additional questions. One such question
is prompted by the stipulation in 49
CFR 396.3(a), which states that every
carrier must have a program to
‘‘systematically inspect, repair, and
maintain, or cause to be systematically
inspected, repaired, and maintained, all
motor vehicles and intermodal
equipment subject to its control.’’
Though this regulation provides some
direction, there is no supporting
definition of the word systematic, and
because this term is subjective, it is
likely to vary from one carrier to
another. The lack of specificity
regarding standard intervals for
preventative maintenance makes it
difficult for Federal and State personnel
to evaluate the effectiveness of and

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compliance with a carrier’s maintenance
program. Furthermore, the lack of
specificity may make it difficult for
carriers to ascertain and therefore
comply with the regulation’s intent.
The current research effort,
augmented by the proposed survey, is
necessary to improve FMCSA’s
understanding of the safety impact of
preventative vehicle maintenance and to
clarify the requirements of § 396.3(a).
The study objectives are as follows:
1. Develop an operational definition
of systematic maintenance.
2. Evaluate whether current
regulations and the intervention process
could be modified to improve
compliance with vehicle maintenance
requirements. Examples of such
requirements are as follows: (i)
Preventative maintenance intervals, (ii)
preventative maintenance inspections
with adequately trained/equipped
mechanics, and (iii) adequacy of motor
carriers’ maintenance facilities.
However, the results of the survey will
be used only to explore what areas of
rulemaking and/or other areas, such as
policy guidance and training, might be
useful in the future; the results of the
survey will not be used for rulemaking,
per se.
3. Gather information to assist in
establishing minimum standards for
inspection intervals, mechanic
qualifications and training, and
certification of maintenance facilities.
FMCSA is authorized to conduct this
research under 49 U.S.C. 31108, Motor
Carrier Research and Technology
Programs. Under section 31108(a)(3)(C),
FMCSA may fund research,
development, and technology projects
that improve the safety and efficiency of
commercial motor vehicle operations
through technological innovation and
improvement. This information
collection supports the DOT strategic
goal of Safety.
Under contract to FMCSA, the
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
(VTTI) at the Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University will use
online surveys to obtain the data
required to address the study objectives.
The information collection will be
administered in two phases:
Phase I: Online Recruitment Survey.
This voluntary, seven-question survey
will screen carriers and verify their
eligibility for Phase II participation. To
be eligible for Phase II participation,
carriers must fall into one of two groups:
(a) The Recommended Practices (RP)
Group, which includes carriers with the
lowest Vehicle Maintenance and Crash
Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety
Improvement Categories (BASIC)
percentiles (i.e., less than or equal to the

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78455

33rd percentile); or (b) the Intervention
Effects (IE) Group, which includes
carriers that have experienced Federal
or State interventions in the last 24
months due to vehicle maintenance
violations. The BASICs are Unsafe
Driving, Crash Indicator, Hours-ofService (HOS) compliance, Vehicle
Maintenance, Controlled Substances/
Alcohol, Hazardous Materials (HM)
Compliance, and Driver Fitness. More
information on the SMS methodology
can be found at https://
csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/
SMSMethodology.pdf.
Phase II: Carrier Maintenance
Management Survey. This voluntary,
108-question survey will include
questions about demographics;
maintenance practices, intervals,
personnel, and facilities; and State and
Federal inspections, among other things.
The Phase II survey will employ branch
logic; as such, carriers will be prompted
to complete different sections based on
their survey group (and for one section,
carrier size). Consequently, no
participating carrier will be asked to
complete all 108 questions. In the Phase
II survey, carriers (of all sizes) in the RP
Group will be asked to provide
additional information about
maintenance personnel and facilities
(e.g., mechanic training levels, tools
required for adequate inspection, and
certification of facilities) and vehicle
maintenance issues that may impact
safety. Information from the RP Group
will seek to address Objective 1, relating
to development of an operational
definition of systematic maintenance,
Objective 2, relating to potential
regulatory changes, and Objective 3,
relating to establishment of minimum
standards for inspection intervals,
mechanic qualifications and training,
and certification of maintenance
facilities. Carriers in the IE Group will
be asked to complete the section on
intervention effects, which includes
questions about the status of active
interventions or investigations; results
of closed interventions or investigations;
interactions with State versus Federal
agencies; intervention activities
experienced; the accuracy of violations
leading to interventions; actions taken
in response to interventions; changes in
carrier vehicle maintenance practices as
a result of an intervention; significant
benefits of interventions; and ways the
intervention process could be improved.
Information provided by the IE Group
will also address the portion of
Objective 2 regarding sufficiency of
regulations and where interventions
need to be improved to facilitate
complying with these regulations.

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Survey responses will be summarized
and reported using plots, tables, content
analysis, and calculated summary
statistics. Plots and tables will provide
a visual comparison of multiple choice
and checkbox survey responses for
successful carriers (i.e., carriers in the
RP Group) and those receiving
interventions in the last 24 months (i.e.,
carriers in the IE Group). These methods
will also allow researchers to
summarize responses by carrier
operation type (i.e., truck or bus) and
size. Bar charts will be used to plot
responses to many survey questions.
Some survey responses may be
summarized with tables with rows for
each of the carrier operation types (truck
or bus) and each carrier-size subgroup.
To explore and summarize responses to
open-ended survey questions,
researchers will use content analysis
methods. An illustration of an open–
ended question in the survey is ‘‘List
examples of critical safety-related
maintenance activities for trailer vehicle
milestones.’’ The goal of content
analysis of open-ended questions will
be to identify common answers.
The results of this information
collection will be documented in a
technical report to be delivered to and
published by FMCSA. In addition, the
results will be used to create a
‘‘recommended best practices’’ report
that will outline minimum standards for
inspection intervals, mechanic
qualifications and training, and
certification of maintenance facilities.
Finally, VTTI is required under the
contract with FMCSA to compile and
analyze the collected information and
develop a public-use data set.
If this data collection does not take
place, the truck and bus industry would
continue to operate with the uncertainty
of what a ‘‘systematic maintenance’’
program, as currently worded in
§ 396.3(a), consists of. This term’s
ambiguous definition makes it difficult
for Federal and State inspectors to
evaluate the effectiveness of a carrier’s
maintenance program or its compliance
with this provision. Furthermore, this
uncertainty may make it difficult for
carriers to ascertain and therefore
comply with the regulation’s intent.
The 60-day notice for this collection
was published on August 24, 2023 (88
FR 58057). The Agency received three
comments.
The first comment was anonymous
and asserted that fraud within the
industry affected the industry’s ability
to perform maintenance that could
enhance safety. Through the research
enabled by this survey, the Agency
seeks to assess the degree to which
maintenance enhances safety.

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The second comment was from a
maintenance trainer who stated that 49
CFR 396.17 requires that periodic
inspections beyond visual observation
are required on an annual basis to
certify that each vehicle passes
maintenance requirements. The Agency
agrees that periodic maintenance
inspections that go beyond roadside
visual inspections are an important part
of a systematic maintenance program,
and the research is taking into
consideration the elements of periodic
maintenance that impact carrier
preventative maintenance programs.
The third comment was from the
National Waste and Recycling
Association (NWRA). NWRA suggests
that the survey should recruit carriers
that operate vocational short-haul trucks
(e.g., refuse hauler) because of the
differences in duty cycles that affect
maintenance. In particular, waste and
recycling vehicles brake frequently as
part of their duty cycle, which may have
implications for maintenance and
safety. The Agency agrees that a variety
of highway and vocational truck and
bus carriers will be recruited for the
survey, but the recruitment and
collection will be constrained to
identifying carriers based on the
recommended practices group and
intervention effects group criteria.
Public Comments Invited: You are
asked to comment on any aspect of this
information collection, including: (1)
whether the proposed collection is
necessary for the performance of
FMCSA’s functions; (2) the accuracy of
the estimated burden; (3) ways for
FMCSA to enhance the quality,
usefulness, and clarity of the collected
information; and (4) ways that the
burden could be minimized without
reducing the quality of the collected
information.
Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research
and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2023–25196 Filed 11–14–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
[FTA Docket No. FTA 2023–0026]

Agency Information Collection Activity
Under OMB Review: Charter Service
Operations
Federal Transit Administration,
Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of request for comments.
AGENCY:

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In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice announces the intention of the
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to
request the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) to approve the extension
of a currently approved information
collection: Charter Service Operations.
DATES: Comments must be submitted
before January 16, 2024.
ADDRESSES: To ensure that your
comments are not entered more than
once into the docket, submit comments
identified by the docket number by only
one of the following methods:
1. Website: www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting
comments on the U.S. Government
electronic docket site. (Note: The U.S.
Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s)
electronic docket is no longer accepting
electronic comments.) All electronic
submissions must be made to the U.S.
Government electronic docket site at
www.regulations.gov. Commenters
should follow the directions below for
mailed and hand-delivered comments.
2. Fax: 202–366–7951.
3. Mail: U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Docket Operations, M–30,
West Building, Ground Floor, Room
W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001.
4. Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Docket Operations, M–30,
West Building, Ground Floor, Room
W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001
between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
Instructions: You must include the
agency name and docket number for this
notice at the beginning of your
comments. Submit two copies of your
comments if you submit them by mail.
For confirmation that FTA has received
your comments, include a selfaddressed stamped postcard. Note that
all comments received, including any
personal information, will be posted
and will be available to internet users,
without change, to www.regulations.gov.
You may review DOT’s complete
Privacy Act Statement in the Federal
Register published April 11, 2000, (65
FR 19477), or you may visit
www.regulations.gov. Docket: For access
to the docket to read background
documents and comments received, go
to www.regulations.gov at any time.
Background documents and comments
received may also be viewed at the U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, Docket
Operations, M–30, West Building,
Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590–0001 between
SUMMARY:

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