73 FR 236 pgs. 74560-74562 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of a Currently-Approved Information Collection: Inspection, Repair and Maintenance
Type: NOTICEVolume: 73Number: 236Pages: 74560 - 74562
Docket number: [Docket No. FMCSA-2008-0343]
FR document: [FR Doc. E8-28945 Filed 12-5-08; 8:45 am]
Agency: Transportation Department
Sub Agency: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA-2008-0343]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of a Currently-Approved Information Collection: Inspection, Repair and Maintenance
AGENCY:
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION:
Notice and request for comments.
SUMMARY:
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 its review and approval and invites public comment on this submission. The information collection concerns records of inspection, repair, and maintenance of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). The FMCSA requests approval to revise and renew an ICR entitled, "Inspection, Repair and Maintenance." FMCSA collects this information to ensure that motor carriers have adequate documentation of their systematic inspection, repair, and maintenance programs necessary to reduce the likelihood of CMV crashes.
DATES:
We must receive your comments on or before February 6, 2009.
ADDRESSES:
You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2008-0343 using any of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
• Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
• Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Each submission must include the Agency name and the docket number for this Notice. Note that DOT posts all comments received without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or Room W12-140 on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The FDMS is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. If you want acknowledgement that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or post card or print the acknowledgement page that appears after submitting your comments on-line.
Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19476). This information is also available at http://docketsinfo.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ms. Deborah M. Freund, Vehicle and Roadside Operations Division, Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-5370.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) is authorized under the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 31502 to prescribe requirements for the qualifications and maximum hours-of-service of employees, and safety and equipment standards for motor carriers that operate CMVs in interstate commerce. Under 49 U.S.C. 31136, the Secretary also has authority to prescribe regulations to ensure that CMVs are maintained, equipped, loaded and operated safely; and, under 49 U.S.C. 31143 to establish standards for annual or more frequent inspections of CMVs under the provisions of U.S.C. 31142. The Secretary's authority to establish improved standards or methods to ensure brakes and brake systems of CMVs are inspected by appropriate employees and maintained properly is provided under 49 U.S.C. 31137(b).
Motor carriers must maintain, or require maintenance of, records documenting the inspection, repair and maintenance activities performed on their owned and leased vehicles. There are no prescribed forms. Electronic recordkeeping is allowed (see § 390.31(d)) of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Documents requiring a signature must be capable of replication (i.e., photocopy, facsimile, etc.) in such form that will provide an opportunity for signature verification upon demand. Also, if electronic recordkeeping is used, all of the relevant data on the original documents must be included in the electronic transmission for the records to be valid.
The motor carrier industry has never questioned the need to keep CMV maintenance records. In fact, most motor carriers would keep some records without any regulatory requirements to do so. Records of inspection, repair, and maintenance; roadside inspection reports; driver vehicle inspection reports; the documentation of periodic inspections; the evidence of the qualifications of individuals performing periodic inspections; and the evidence of brake inspectors' qualifications contain the minimum amount of information necessary to document that a motor carrier has established a system of inspection, repair, and maintenance for its equipment which meets the standards in part 396.
FMCSA and its representatives use these records to verify motor carriers' compliance with the inspection, repair, and maintenance standards in part 396. This ICR supports the Department of Transportation's strategic goal of safety. The ICR also ensures that motor carriers have adequate records to document the inspection, repair, and maintenance of their CMVs, and to ensure that adequate measures are taken to keep their CMVs in safe and proper operating condition at all times. Compliance with the inspection, repair, and maintenance regulations helps to reduce the likelihood of accidents attributable, in whole or in part, to the mechanical condition of the CMV.
The Agency does not intend to revise the contents of this information collection, the frequency of information collection, or how it uses the information. This renewal would update the estimated annual burden and associated costs to reflect changes in the number of drivers and motor carrier entities subject to the part 396 records requirements since the current information collection was approved.
If the recordkeeping were required to be completed less frequently, it would greatly hinder the ability of FMCSA and State officials and representatives to ascertain that CMVs are satisfactorily maintained. The timely documentation of CMV inspection, repair, and maintenance enables FMCSA and State officials to evaluate the present state of a motor carrier's CMV maintenance program and to check the current level of regulatory compliance at any point in a carrier's maintenance schedule or program.
The FMCSA has identified duplicative periodic inspection standards. Periodic inspection programs of 23 States, the District of Columbia, the Alabama Liquefied Petroleum Gas Board, 10 Canadian Provinces, and one Canadian Territory were identified as comparable to, or as effective as, the Federal periodic inspection requirements. The FMCSA does not require Federal periodic inspections and the related recordkeeping for motor carriers that comply with these equivalent periodic inspection programs. In addition, CMVs passing certain roadside inspections are considered to have met the requirements of a periodic inspection; thus, there are no periodic inspection or recordkeeping requirements for these CMVs in most cases. The FMCSA is not aware of any other duplicative standards or recordkeeping requirements that apply to motor carriers.
The FMCSA does not publish this collection of information for statistical use.
Title: Inspection, Repair and Maintenance.
OMB Control Number: 2126-0003.
Type of Request: Revision of a currently-approved information collection.
Respondents: Motor carriers and commercial motor vehicle drivers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 732,038.
Estimated Time per Response: Varies according to the requirements for specific records.
Expiration Date: April 30, 2009.
Frequency of Response: Varies according to requirements for specific records.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 66,267,505 hours [3,991,851 hours for inspection, repair, and maintenance + 59,094,379 hours for driver inspection + 590,933 hours for certification of corrective action + 2,265,280 hours for review of driver inspection reports + 251,629 hours for disposition of roadside inspection reports + 34,798 hours for periodic inspections + 18,301 hours for records of inspector qualifications + 20,334 hours for records of brake inspector qualifications = 66,267,505].
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 the 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. The agency will summarize or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.
Issued on: December 2, 2008.
Terry Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Research and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. E8-28945 Filed 12-5-08; 8:45 am]
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