Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 74 / Monday, April 18, 2011 / Notices 21791 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2008–0312] 

Parts and Accessories Necessary for 

Safe Operation; Exemption Renewal 

for DriveCam, Inc. 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of renewal of exemption; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: FMCSA renews the 

exemption requested by DriveCam, Inc. 

(DriveCam) which allows the placement 

of video event recorders at the top of the 

windshields on commercial motor 

vehicles (CMVs). CMVs may continue to 

use the video event recorders to increase 

safety through (1) identification and 

remediation of risky driving behaviors 

such as distracted driving and 

drowsiness; (2) enhanced monitoring of 

passenger behavior for CMVs in 

passenger service; and (3) enhanced 

collision review and analysis. The 

Agency has concluded that granting this 

exemption renewal will maintain a level 

of safety that is equivalent to or greater 

than the level of safety achieved without 

the exemption. However, FMCSA also 

solicits comments and information on 

the exemption, especially from anyone 

who believes this standard will not be 

maintained. 

DATES: This decision is effective April 

16, 2011. Comments must be received 

on or before May 18, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

bearing the Federal Docket Management 

System (FDMS) number FMCSA–2008– 

0312 by 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, 

Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590– 

0001. 

• Hand Delivery: Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, DOT Building, 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, 

between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

Instructions: Each submission must 

include the Agency name and docket 

number for this notice. For detailed 

instructions on submitting comments 

and additional information on the 

exemption process, see the ‘‘Public 

Participation’’ heading below. Note that 

all comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. Please 

see the ‘‘Privacy Act’’ heading for further 

information. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov or to Room W12– 

140, DOT Building, New Jersey Avenue, 

SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. The Federal 

Docket Management System (FDMS) is 

available 24 hours each day, 365 days 

each year. If you want acknowledgment 

that we received your comments, please 

include a self-addressed, stamped 

envelope or postcard or print the 

acknowledgment page that appears after 

submitting comments on-line. 

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 for the FDMS published in 

the Federal Register on January 17, 

2008 (73 FR 3316) or you may visit 

http://edocket/access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/ 

E8-785.pdf. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Luke W. Loy, Vehicle and Roadside 

Operations Division, Office of Bus and 

Truck Standards and Operations, MC– 

PSV, (202) 366–0676; Federal Motor 

Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, 

DC 20590–0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 

31315(b)(1), FMCSA may renew an 

exemption from the Federal Motor 

Carrier Safety Regulations for a 2-year 

period if it finds ‘‘such exemption 

would likely achieve a level of safety 

that is equivalent to, or greater than, the 

level that would be achieved absent 

such exemption.’’ DriveCam has 

requested a two year extension of the 

current exemption from 49 CFR 

393.60(e)(1). The procedures for 

requesting an exemption (including 

renewals) are set out in 49 CFR part 381. 

Basis for Renewing Exemption 

DriveCam applied for an exemption 

from 49 CFR 393.60(e)(1) to allow the 

use of video event recorders on all 

CMVs. FMCSA published a notice of the 

application, and requested public 

comments, on October 31, 2008 (73 FR 

65008). On April 15, 2009, FMCSA 

published a notice of final disposition 

granting the exemption (74 FR 17549). 

Recently, FMCSA completed a driving 

behavior management system study that 

involved installing video event 

recorders in two commercial carrier 

fleets and collecting data using the 

systems. In June 2010, FMCSA released 

a report titled ‘‘Evaluating the Safety 

Benefits of a Low-Cost Driving Behavior 

Management System in Commercial 

Vehicle Operations,’’ which outlined 

this study and its results. The two 

carriers that participated in the study 

experienced a reduction in safetyrelated events per 10,000 miles of over 

38 percent at one carrier and over 52 

percent at the other. In addition, they 

found that severe safety-related 

incidents decreased by more than 59 

percent and 44 percent, respectively. 

The report is available on FMCSA’ Web 

site at: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/factsresearch/research-/FMCSA-RRR-10- 

033.pdf. 

On September 28, 2010, the National 

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) 

published Highway Accident Report 

NTSB/HAR–10/02, ‘‘Truck-Tractor 

Semitrailer Rear-End Collision into 

Passenger Vehicles on Interstate 44 Near 

Miami, Oklahoma, June 26, 2009.’’ In 

this report, NTSB issued two safety 

recommendations to FMCSA relating to 

the use of video event recorders: 

Safety Recommendation H–10–10: 

‘‘Require all heavy commercial vehicles 

to be equipped with video event 

recorders that capture data in 

connection with the driver and the 

outside environment and roadway in 

the event of a crash or sudden 

deceleration event. The device should 

create recordings that are easily 

accessible for review when conducting 

efficiency testing and systemwide 

performance-monitoring programs.’’ 

Safety Recommendation H–10–11: 

‘‘Require motor carriers to review and 

use video event recorder information in 

conjunction with other performance 

data to verify that driver actions are in 

accordance with company and 

regulatory rules and procedures 

essential to safety.’’ 

In support of these safety 

recommendations, the report noted: 

* * * VERs [video event recorders] can 

provide information not typically available 

through other investigative means, 

potentially allowing a more accurate 

determination of probable cause. In the case 

of the Miami accident, a forward-looking 

video could have provided investigators 

more information on the actions of the 

vehicles ahead of the accident truck and their 

visibility, and an interior video could have 

allowed investigators to entirely rule out 

medical incapacitation or distraction and 


erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
21792 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 74 / Monday, April 18, 2011 / Notices 

identify periods of reduced vigilance. The 

NTSB concludes that had the accident truck 

been equipped with a VER, a more definitive 

assessment of the driver’s precrash condition 

and behavior would have been possible 

* * * 

The NTSB has long advocated the use of 

recording devices as a means of quantifying 

operator and vehicle behaviors in other 

modes of transportation. NTSB investigations 

have benefitted from the presence of data, 

video, and audio recorders in most modes of 

transportation, and it is evident from 

FMCSA-funded research that VER data are 

being used on a routine basis by 

transportation safety managers to reduce 

risky behaviors by their drivers through 

structured safety-performance-monitoring 

programs * * * 

The Miami accident investigation shows 

not only the value of having scientific, 

unbiased data available when investigating 

and reconstructing highway transportation 

accidents but also the value of having videobased event data to correlate with analog and 

digital EDR data to establish a driver’s 

condition and state of attention. Heavy 

commercial vehicle industry members could 

also realize safety, cost, and other benefits by 

installing VERs in all their vehicles. 

Therefore, the NTSB recommends that the 

FMCSA require all heavy commercial 

vehicles to be equipped with VERs that 

capture data in connection with the driver 

and the outside environment and roadway in 

the event of a crash or sudden deceleration 

event. The device should create recordings 

that are easily accessible for review when 

conducting efficiency testing and systemwide 

performance-monitoring programs. Further, 

the NTSB recommends that the FMCSA 

require motor carriers to review and use VER 

information in conjunction with other 

performance data to verify that driver actions 

are in accordance with company and 

regulatory rules and procedures essential to 

safety. 

NTSB/HAR–10/02, at 67, 68. 

Renewal of the existing exemption to 

enable the continued voluntary use of 

video event recorders is consistent with 

the NTSB’s efforts to expand the use of 

such technology as noted above. 

On May 15, 2009, FMCSA received a 

letter from Karen S. Burstein, counsel 

for Transport Workers Union (TWU) 

Local 101 (‘‘Local 101’’), requesting 

temporary suspension of the DriveCam 

exemption. Local 101 expressed 

concerns regarding the use and 

installation of video event recorders on 

CMVs operated by National Grid, a 

utility operator in the northeastern 

United States. A copy of this letter was 

placed in the docket established by 

FMCSA for its notice of the DriveCam 

application for an exemption and 

request for public comments (Docket 

No. FMCSA–2008–0312). 

FMCSA determined that the 

information provided by Local 101 did 

not warrant suspension of the 

exemption. Local 101 did not provide 

specific evidence that safety was 

compromised through use of the video 

event recorders. With respect to drivers’ 

field of view, FMCSA concluded that, 

provided the video event recorders are 

positioned within the top two inches of 

the area swept by the windshield wiper, 

as specified in the 2009 exemption, 

drivers’ vision is not impacted any more 

than when—for example—the sun visor 

is lowered. As noted in the original 

exemption, trucks and buses generally 

have an elevated seating position which 

greatly improves the forward visual 

field of the driver, and any impairment 

of available sight lines is minimal. 

However, as a result of the letter from 

Local 101, FMCSA requested (1) that 

DriveCam place in the docket specific 

mounting instructions for its video 

event recorder unit, and (2) that 

DriveCam representatives visit National 

Grid to review installation of the video 

event recorder units in its vehicles. 

DriveCam satisfactorily addressed both 

of these requests. 

Exemption Decision 

FMCSA is not aware of any evidence 

showing that the installation of video 

event recorders on CMVs, in accordance 

with the conditions of the original 

exemption, has resulted in any 

degradation in safety. FMCSA continues 

to believe that the potential safety gains 

from the use of video event recorders to 

improve driver behavior will improve 

the overall level of safety to the 

motoring public. 

The exemption is renewed subject to 

the requirements that video event 

recorders installed in commercial motor 

vehicles be mounted not more than 

50mm (2 inches) below the upper edge 

of the area swept by the windshield 

wipers, and located outside the driver’s 

sight lines to the road and highway 

signs and signals. The exemption will 

be valid for two years unless rescinded 

earlier by FMCSA. The exemption will 

be rescinded if: (1) Motor carriers and/ 

or commercial motor vehicles fail to 

comply with the terms and conditions 

of the exemption; (2) the exemption has 

resulted in a lower level of safety than 

was maintained before it was granted; or 

(3) continuation of the exemption would 

not be consistent with the goals and 

objectives of 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 

31315. 

The Agency believes that extending 

the exemption for another two years 

will likely achieve a level of safety that 

is equivalent to, or greater than, the 

level of safety achieved without the 

exemption because (1) based on the 

technical information available, there is 

no indication that the video event 

recorders obstruct drivers’ views of the 

roadway, highway signs and 

surrounding traffic; (2) trucks and buses 

generally have an elevated seating 

position which greatly improves the 

forward visual field of the driver, and 

any impairment of available sight lines 

is minimal; and (3) the location within 

the top two inches of the area swept by 

the windshield wiper and out of the 

driver’s normal sightline is reasonable 

and enforceable at roadside. In addition, 

the Agency believes that the use of 

video event recorders by fleets to deter 

unsafe driving behavior is likely to 

improve the overall level of safety to the 

motoring public. Without the 

exemption, FMCSA would be unable to 

continue to test this innovative safety 

management control system. 

Request for Comments 

FMCSA requests comments from 

parties with data concerning the safety 

record of CMVs equipped with video 

event recorders by May 18, 2011. The 

Agency will evaluate any data 

submitted and, if adverse evidence 

suggests that safety is being 

compromised or if continuation of the 

exemption would not be consistent with 

the goals and objectives of 49 U.S.C. 

31136(e) and 31315, FMCSA will take 

immediate steps to revoke the DriveCam 

exemption. 

Issued on: April 13, 2011. 

Larry W. Minor, 

Associate Administrator for Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–9319 Filed 4–15–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2011–0093] 

Qualification of Drivers; Exemption 

Applications; Diabetes Mellitus 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of applications for 

exemption from the diabetes mellitus 

standard; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: FMCSA announces receipt of 

applications from 21 individuals for 

exemption from the prohibition against 

persons with insulin-treated diabetes 

mellitus (ITDM) operating commercial 

motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate 

commerce. If granted, the exemptions 

would enable these individuals with 

ITDM to operate CMVs in interstate 

commerce. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before May 18, 2011. 


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