E8-20061. Plan for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Vehicle and Behavioral Programs, 2008-2012

AGENCY:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation.

ACTION:

Request for comments.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces the publication by NHTSA of its Evaluation Program Plan for 2008-2012. The report describes the agency's ongoing and planned evaluations of its existing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards [49 CFR part 571] and other vehicle-safety, behavioral-safety and consumer programs. It also summarizes the results of completed evaluations. The agency's evaluation program responds to Executive Order 12866, which provides for Government-wide review of existing significant Federal regulations. This notice solicits public review and comment on the evaluation plan. Comments received will be used to improve the plan.

DATES:

Comments must be received no later than December 29, 2008.

ADDRESSES:

Report: The Evaluation Program Plan is available on the Internet for viewing online in PDF format at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/​Pubs/​810983.PDF. You may obtain a copy of the plan free of charge by sending a self-addressed mailing label to Charles J. Kahane (NVS-431), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.

Comments: You may submit comments [identified by Docket Number NHTSA-2008-0143] by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: [phone].
• Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
• Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 am and 5 pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

You may call Docket Management at 202-366-9826.

Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see the Procedural Matters section of this document. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Charles J. Kahane, Chief, Evaluation Division, NVS-431, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room W53-312, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail].

For information about NHTSA's evaluations of the effectiveness of existing regulations and programs: Visit the NHTSA Web site at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov and click “NCSA” near the upper right corner on the home page; then click “Regulatory Evaluation” under “Browse Topics” on the “NCSA” page.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

NHTSA has rigorously evaluated its major programs as a matter of policy since 1970. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) began in 1975. The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 and Executive Order 12866, “Regulatory Planning and Review,” issued in October 1993 (58 FR 51735), now oblige all Federal agencies to evaluate their existing programs and regulations. Previously, Executive Order 12291, issued in February 1981 (46 FR 13193), also required reviews of existing regulations. Even before 1981, however, NHTSA was a leader among Federal agencies in evaluating the effectiveness of existing regulations and technologies. There are large databases of motor vehicle crashes that can be analyzed to find out what vehicle and behavioral safety programs work best.

This five-year plan for the Evaluation Division of the Office of Regulatory Analysis and Evaluation (ORAE) in NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis presents and discusses the vehicle and behavioral programs, regulations, technologies, and related areas ORAE proposes to evaluate, and it summarizes the findings of ORAE's past evaluations. Depending on scope, evaluations typically take a year or substantially more, counting initial planning, contracting for support, OMB clearance for surveys, data collection, analysis, internal review, approvals, publication, review of public comments, and the last phase of preparing recommendations for subsequent agency action.

Most of NHTSA's crashworthiness and several crash avoidance standards have been evaluated at least once since 1975. A number of consumer-oriented regulations, e.g., bumpers, theft protection, fuel economy and NCAP also have been evaluated. So have promising safety technologies that were at the time not mandatory under Federal regulations, such as electronic stability control for passenger vehicles. Based on these evaluations, NHTSA estimated that vehicle safety technologies had saved an estimated 328,551 lives from 1960 through 2002 and that the FMVSS added an average of $839 (in 2002 dollars) to the cost of a new passenger car and $711 to an LTV in model year 2001 (70 FR 3975).

ORAE's plan for calendar years 2008-2012 includes evaluations of new and existing vehicle and behavioral safety programs, regulations, technologies and consumer information programs. Vehicle safety evaluations address crash avoidance, crashworthiness, compatibility and recalls. They study passenger cars, LTVs, heavy trucks, and motorcycles. Behavioral safety evaluations address impaired driving, occupant protection, child passenger safety, motorcycle safety, pedestrians and emergency care (injury survivability).

The plan will be periodically updated in response to public and agency needs, with a complete revision scheduled every five years. The most recent plan before this one was published on January 27, 2004 (69 FR 3992).

Procedural Matters

How can I influence NHTSA's thinking on this subject?

NHTSA welcomes public review of the evaluation plan and invites the reviewers to comment about the selection, priority, and schedule of the regulations to be evaluated. The agency is interested in learning of any additional data that may be useful in the evaluations. NHTSA will submit to the Docket a response to the comments and, if appropriate, will supplement or revise the evaluation plan.

How do I prepare and submit comments?

Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the Docket number of this document (NHTSA-2008-0143) in your comments.

Your primary comments must not be more than 15 pages long (49 CFR 553.21). However, you may attach additional documents to your primary comments. There is no limit on the length of the attachments.

Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477) or you may visit http://regulations.gov.

Please send two paper copies of your comments to Docket Management, fax them, or use the Federal eRulemaking Portal. The mailing address is U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Management Facility, M-30, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. The fax number is 1-202-493-2251. To use the Federal eRulemaking Portal, go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting comments.

We also request, but do not require, you to send a copy to Charles J. Kahane, Chief, Evaluation Division, NVS-431, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room W53-312, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590 (or e-mail them to [e-mail]). He can check if your comments have been received at the Docket and he can expedite their review by NHTSA.

How can I be sure that my comments were received?

If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the envelope containing your comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket Management will return the postcard by mail.

How do I submit confidential business information?

If you wish to submit any information under a claim of confidentiality, send three copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim to be confidential business information, to the Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. Include a cover letter supplying the information specified in our confidential business information regulation (49 CFR part 512).

In addition, send two copies from which you have deleted the claimed confidential business information to U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Management Facility, M-30, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, or submit them via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.

Will the agency consider late comments?

In our response, we will consider all comments that Docket Management receives before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To the extent possible, we will also consider comments that Docket Management receives after that date.

Please note that even after the comment closing date, we will continue to file relevant information in the Docket as it becomes available. Further, some people may submit late comments. Accordingly, we recommend that you periodically check the Docket for new material.

How can I read the comments submitted by other people?

You may read the materials placed in the docket for this document (e.g., the comments submitted in response to this document by other interested persons) at any time by going to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. You may also read the materials at the Docket Management Facility by going to the street address given above under ADDRESSES. The Docket Management Facility is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30111, 30168; delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8.

James F. Simons,

Director, Office of Regulatory Analysis and Evaluation.