
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 116 (Monday, June 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27959-27960]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-12694]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0119]


Reports, Forms, and Record Keeping Requirements

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: 30-day notice.

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SUMMARY: Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from 
the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit 
public comment on proposed collections of information. This document 
describes one collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek 
OMB approval.
    This notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
abstracted below will be forwarded to OMB for review and comment and 
describes the nature of information collection and the expected burden. 
The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published 
on January 3, 2017. No public comments were received before the closing 
date of March 6, 2017.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 19, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by the docket number in 
the heading of this document, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on 
the electronic docket site by clicking on ``Help'' or ``FAQ.''
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Regardless of how you submit comments, you should mention the 
docket number of this document.
    You may call the Docket Management Facility at 202-366-9826.
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the rulemaking process, see the Public 
Participation heading of the Supplementary Information section of this 
document. Note that all comments received will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.
    Privacy Act: 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 19477-78) or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, or the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Joyce, Marketing Specialist, 
Office of Communications and Consumer Information (NCO-0200), National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave SE., W52-
238, Washington, DC, 20590. Mike Joyce's phone number is 202-366-5600 
and his email address is Mike.Joyce@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, NHTSA published a 60-day notice for public comment on 
January 3, 2017 announcing the intent to conduct consumer research. No 
public comments were received before the closing date of March 6, 2017. 
This notice announces that NHTSA will be forwarding the ICR to OMB for 
review and comment. NHTSA is seeking approval of this new collection.
    Title: Safety Ratings and Advanced Crash Avoidance Technologies 
Consumer Research.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-new.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Affected Public: For this collection, NHTSA plans to conduct an 
online survey with 1,500 panel member

[[Page 27960]]

respondents that will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. In 
order to identify 1,500 qualified respondents, approximately 18,520 
respondents will be needed to complete a 1.5-minute screener. NHTSA 
plans to administer this study one time, amounting to 963 burden hours.
    Prior to administering the online survey, NHTSA will administer a 
cognitive test of the survey instrument. For the cognitive test, a 
total of eight to 12 potential participants will be recruited via 
dialed telephone screening calls, which are estimated to take 5 minutes 
per response. The recruitment calls will utilize the screening section 
of the survey document to determine qualified respondents. NHTSA 
anticipates needing 55 minutes to allow respondents to navigate the 
survey while also discussing their feedback on survey questions. The 
Agency will conduct interviews with one respondent at a time.
    Based on experience, it is prudent to recruit up to 12 people in 
order to help achieve at least eight participants showing up for the 
cognitive tests. Approximately 600 potential participants will complete 
a 1.5-minute pre-screen in order to identify a pool of potentially 
qualified respondents. Among the 12 selected qualified recruits, the 
total burden per participant is estimated to be 60 minutes (5 minutes 
for the screening/recruiting telephone call, plus 55 minutes for the 
interview). Therefore, the total annual estimated burden imposed by 
this collection of information is approximately 990 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 990 hours.
    Number of Respondents: 1,512 (12 for cognitive interviews and 1,500 
for online survey).
    Abstract: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 
(NHTSA) was established by the Highway Safety Act of 1970 (23 U.S.C. 
101) to carry out a Congressional mandate to reduce the mounting number 
of deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle 
crashes on the Nation's highways. In support of this mission, NHTSA 
previously conducted two comprehensive consumer research studies in 
2012 and 2014 to better understand (1) the type of information 
consumers seek during their vehicle purchase decisions, (2) consumer 
comprehension of vehicle safety ratings, and (3) consumer knowledge and 
interest in advanced crash avoidance technologies in order to guide 
NHTSA communications. Building on that research, NHTSA proposes to 
conduct a quantitative online survey that draws from findings in the 
previous qualitative research studies to further explore consumer 
perception, interest and understanding of the 5-star safety ratings 
(including response to half-stars), overall vehicle scores, and 
advanced crash avoidance technologies information to support the 
development of consumer communications.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: In this collection of 
information, NHTSA is seeking approval to conduct an online survey with 
1,500 consumer respondents. The survey will be used to further support 
findings from previous qualitative research studies and will achieve 
the following objectives:
    (1) Confirm qualitative research findings with regard to vehicle 
purchase decision-making criteria;
    (2) Identify and evaluate sources of vehicle safety information to 
help inform the development of a consumer education program;
    (3) Understand consumer knowledge and interest in communications 
around safety ratings;
    (4) Explore consumer knowledge, interest and engagement with 
advanced crash avoidance technologies;
    (5) Assess consumer response to overall vehicle score; and,
    (6) Evaluate consumer perception of the 5-Star Safety Ratings and 
its components (including potential incorporation of half-star 
ratings).
    Description of the Need for the Information and the Proposed Use of 
the Information: NHTSA will obtain critical information that will 
fulfill a congressional mandate to improve highway traffic safety. 
Specifically, the data from this collection will be used to enhance 
consumer understanding of NHTSA's safety ratings and advanced crash 
avoidance technologies and guide the development of communication 
materials that will help consumers as they factor this information into 
their vehicle purchase decisions. In addition, this data will be used 
to substantiate the effectiveness of communications approaches.
    The results of this research will be used to inform communications 
for the New Car Assessment Program's Government 5-Star Safety Ratings 
program.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from approval 
date.

    Issued in Washington, DC on: June 14, 2017.
Susan Gorcowski,
Associate Administrator, NHTSA NCO-010.
[FR Doc. 2017-12694 Filed 6-16-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-59-P


