WASHINGTON — Federal regulators plan to survey 60 motor carriers for insight into the relative risk of crashes and inspection violations based on factors related to driver work schedules.
Results of the effort presumably could lead to either loosening, tightening, or maintaining existing hours-of-service (HOS) restrictions depending on what the risk analysis shows.
“Currently, there is no comprehensive, existing data set that can be used for this project,” FMCSA asserted in a notice published on Friday announcing the agency’s intent to seek Office of Management and Budget approval for the survey.
“Not collecting this data would result in an incomplete understanding of HOS-related factors that impact crash risk and the effect of alternative schedules as they relate to various aspects of HOS provisions on crash risk in CMV [commercial motor vehicle] operations.
“Further, the absence of this information collection would prevent FMCSA from meeting its goal – derived from the 2015 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – of developing a comprehensive, structured database of crash data and driver schedules to benefit future research.”
The primary objectives of the survey are to:
- Examine the relative risk of crashes and inspection violations based on various factors related to the driver’s work schedule and demographics.
- Analyze the relative crash risk by driving hour.
- Assess the impact of changes in HOS provisions.
- Examine differences in crash risk after restarts that include two nights versus those that do not.
The HOS logs and incident/crash data will be collected electronically and obtained by Pulsar Informatics, an FMCSA contractor. All personally identifiable information will be removed from the survey data.
“This deidentified data set will be provided to FMCSA after all relevant statutes of limitations (at both State and Federal levels) pertaining to legal discoverability processes have expired,” FMCSA stated.
The agency also plans to provide access to its Motor Carrier Management Information System database for crash and inspection violation records.
The public will have 60 days to comment on the survey, which FMCSA will include in its OMB approval request. FMCSA wants feedback on:
- Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA’s functions.
- The accuracy of the estimated total burden on respondents (45 hours).
- Ways the burden hours could be minimized without reducing the quality of the information.
- Ways for FMCSA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the information.
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