[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 74 (Monday, April 18, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21791-21792]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-9319]



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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.

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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:
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
    <bullet> Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, 
DC 20590-0001.
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> 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 
safety-related 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/facts-research/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

[[Page 21792]]

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 video-based 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