32950 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 136 / Monday, July 16, 2018 / Notices 

preview of proposed enhancements to 

the SMS website, responded to 

comments to the June 2015 Federal 

Register notice, and advised of 

additional enhancements. 

As a result, the preview reflected six 

potential changes to the SMS 

methodology for calculating percentiles. 

1. SMS Intervention Thresholds were 

adjusted to better reflect correlation to 

crash risk. 

2. Changes to the HM Compliance 

BASIC to segment by CT and non-CT 

carriers and to post motor carrier 

percentile rankings under the HM 

Compliance BASIC to the public. 

3. Reclassifying violations for 

operating while OOS under the Unsafe 

Driving BASIC rather than the BASIC of 

the underlying OOS violation. 

4. Increasing the maximum vehicle 

miles traveled used in the Utilization 

Factor to more accurately reflect the 

operations of high-utilization carriers. 

5. Increasing the minimum number of 

crashes in the Crash Indicator BASIC 

from two to three. 

6. Assigning BASIC percentiles only 

to carriers that have had an inspection 

with a violation in the past year. 

Only 25 comments were received on 

the preview from 11 individuals, five 

trucking or bus companies, nine 

associations and one safety consultant. 

Eight commenters posted comments 

regarding determining the preventability 

of crashes; therefore, these comments 

were outside of the scope of the notice. 

Four other commenters made broad 

comments about the Agency that were 

not applicable to this notice. In 

addition, the Insurance Institute of 

Highway Safety provided a copy of their 

report titled ‘‘Crash Risk Factors for 

Interstate Large Trucks in North 

Carolina’’ as support for the Agency’s 

correlation of vehicle maintenance to 

crashes. 

FAST Act Correlation Study 

Section 5221 of the FAST Act, titled 

‘‘Correlation Study,’’ required FMCSA 

to commission the National Research 

Council of the National Academies to 

conduct a study of FMCSA’s CSA 

program and SMS. 

On June 27, 2017, NAS published the 

report titled ‘‘Improving Motor Carrier 

Safety Measurement.’’ The report is 

available at https://www.nap.edu/ 

catalog/24818/improving-motor-carriersafety-measurement. In preparing the 

report, NAS collected and analyzed all 

the quantitative data available to 

FMCSA in its databases, which contain 

information on the safety of commercial 

motor carriers and drivers subject to the 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Regulations and the HM Regulations. In 

addition, NAS held three public 

meetings to engage stakeholders from 

the truck and bus industry, safety 

advocates, researchers, and other 

government organizations. The meeting 

agendas are included in an appendix to 

the report. FMCSA accepted the NAS 

report’s recommendations, including 

the recommendation to develop a new 

statistical model to support the SMS, 

and is working to implement the 

recommended changes. The NAS 

cautioned the Agency against making 

changes to the algorithm based on ad 

hoc analysis and instead to rely on the 

Item Response Theory model. 

SMS Preview Site 

As a result of the ongoing 

implementation of the NAS 

recommendations, FMCSA removed the 

preview from the SMS website and will 

not be proceeding with the proposed 

changes at this time. 

Issued on: July 10, 2018. 

Raymond P. Martinez, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15109 Filed 7–13–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2018–0189] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; New Information Collection: 

Truck and Bus Maintenance 

Requirements and Their Impact on 

Safety 

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. This new request titled 

‘‘Truck and Bus Maintenance 

Requirements and Their Impact on 

Safety’’ will allow for a study that 

focuses on vehicle maintenance and 

aims to determine the impact of vehicle 

maintenance requirements on overall 

motor carrier safety. This information 

collection supports the DOT Strategic 

Goal of Safety. 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

on or before September 14, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by Federal Docket 

Management System (FDMS) Docket 

Number FMCSA–2018–0189 using any 

of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

• Mail: Docket Operations; U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001 between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include the Agency name and docket 

number. For detailed instructions on 

submitting comments, 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 below. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http://

www.regulations.gov, and follow the 

online instructions for accessing the 

dockets, or go to the street address listed 

above. 

Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 

U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments 

from the public to better inform its 

rulemaking process. DOT posts these 

comments, without edit, including any 

personal information the commenter 

provides, to www.regulations.gov, as 

described in the system of records 

notice (DOT/ALL–14 FDMS), which can 

be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy. 

Public Participation: The Federal 

eRulemaking Portal is available 24 

hours each day, 365 days each year. You 

can obtain electronic submission and 

retrieval help and guidelines under the 

‘‘help’’ section of the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal website. If you want 

us to notify you that we received your 

comments, please include a selfaddressed, stamped envelope or 

postcard, or print the acknowledgement 

page that appears after submitting 

comments online. Comments received 

after the comment closing date will be 

included in the docket and will be 

considered to the extent practicable. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Quon Y. Kwan, Program Manager, 

Technology Division, Department of 

Transportation, OA, West Building 6th 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 136 / Monday, July 16, 2018 / Notices 32951 

Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 

202–385–2389; email quon.kwan@

dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background: FMCSA’s core mission is 

to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities 

involving large trucks and buses. To aid 

in accomplishing this, the Agency uses 

the Compliance, Safety, Accountability 

(CSA) enforcement program to prioritize 

and target interventions of those motor 

carriers who are most likely to be 

involved in a future crash. As part of the 

CSA program, the Agency deploys the 

Safety Measurement System (SMS). 

SMS uses inspection, crash, and 

investigation data captured in the Motor 

Carrier Management Information System 

(MCMIS) to calculate a percentile for 

each motor carrier. A motor carrier’s 

SMS percentile is based on its past 

compliance with a complete range of 

safety-based regulations (such as driver 

safety, hours of service, driver fitness, 

and vehicle maintenance, among 

others). The survey described in this 

notice focuses on the vehicle 

maintenance component of those safety 

regulations. The study goal is to 

determine what improvements, ranging 

from better compliance interventions to 

better vehicle maintenance 

requirements, would enhance motor 

carrier safety. 

In 2014, the John A. Volpe National 

Transportation Systems Center (Volpe) 

conducted a study to assess the 

effectiveness of SMS in identifying the 

highest risk motor carriers to be targeted 

for interventions. One finding from the 

study was that motor carriers targeted 

for intervention due to ‘‘vehicle 

maintenance’’ issues (i.e., violations) 

had a 65 percent higher crash rate 

compared to the national average. These 

violations are based on Federal and state 

inspections of components critical to 

the safe operation of the vehicle. It is 

important to recognize that proper and 

regular preventative maintenance (i.e., 

systematic maintenance programs) 

among carriers—rather than Federal and 

state inspections, which are by nature 

limited to the most visible or obvious 

safety-related components—should be 

the primary activity applied to ensure 

safe equipment operation. 

While these initial findings are 

important, they raise additional 

questions. One such question is 

prompted by the stipulation in 49 CFR 

396.3(a), which states that every carrier 

must have a program to ‘‘systematically 

inspect, repair, and maintain, or cause 

to be systematically inspected, repaired, 

and maintained, all motor vehicles and 

intermodal equipment subject to its 

control.’’ Though this regulation 

provides some direction, there is no 

supporting definition of the word 

‘‘systematic,’’ and because this term is 

subjective, it is likely to vary from one 

carrier to another. The lack of specificity 

regarding standard intervals for 

preventative maintenance makes it 

difficult for federal and state personnel 

to evaluate the effectiveness of and 

compliance with a carrier’s maintenance 

program. Furthermore, the lack of 

specificity may make it difficult for 

carriers to ascertain and therefore 

comply with the regulation’s intent. 

The current research effort, 

augmented by the proposed survey, is 

necessary to improve FMCSA’s 

understanding of the safety impact of 

preventative vehicle maintenance and to 

clarify the requirements of section 

396.3(a). The study objectives are as 

follows: 

1. Develop an operational definition 

of ‘‘systematic maintenance.’’ 

2. Evaluate whether current 

regulations and the intervention process 

could be modified to improve 

compliance with vehicle maintenance 

requirements. Examples of such 

requirements are as follows: (i) 

Preventative maintenance intervals, (ii) 

preventative maintenance inspections 

with adequately trained/equipped 

mechanics, and (iii) adequacy of motor 

carriers’ maintenance facilities. 

[However, the results of the survey will 

be used only to explore what areas of 

rulemaking and/or other areas, such as 

policy guidance and training, might be 

useful in the future; the results of the 

survey will not be used for rulemaking, 

per se.] 

3. Gather information to assist in 

establishing minimum standards for 

inspection intervals, mechanic 

qualifications and training, and 

certification of maintenance facilities. 

FMCSA is authorized to conduct this 

research under 49 U.S.C. 31108, Motor 

Carrier Research and Technology 

Programs. Under section 31108(a)(3)(C), 

FMCSA may fund research, 

development, and technology projects 

that improve the safety and efficiency of 

commercial motor vehicle operations 

through technological innovation and 

improvement. This information 

collection supports the U.S. Department 

of Transportation (USDOT) strategic 

goal of Safety. 

Under contract to FMCSA, the 

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute 

(VTTI) at the Virginia Polytechnic 

Institute and State University (VT) will 

use online surveys to obtain the data 

required to address the study objectives. 

The information collection will be 

administered in two phases: 

Phase I: Online Recruitment Survey. 

This voluntary, seven-question survey 

will screen carriers and verify their 

eligibility for Phase II participation. To 

be eligible for Phase II participation, 

carriers must fall into one of two groups: 

(a) The Recommended Practices (RP) 

Group, which includes carriers with the 

lowest Vehicle Maintenance and Crash 

Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety 

Improvement Categories (BASIC) 

percentiles (i.e., less than or equal to the 

33rd percentile); or (b) the Intervention 

Effects (IE) Group, which includes 

carriers that have experienced Federal 

or State interventions in the last 24 

months due to vehicle maintenance 

violations. The BASICs are Unsafe 

Driving, Crash Indicator, Hours-ofService (HOS) compliance, Vehicle 

Maintenance, Controlled Substances/ 

Alcohol, Hazardous Materials (HM) 

Compliance, and Driver Fitness. More 

information on the SMS methodology 

can be found at https://

csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/ 

SMSMethodology.pdf. 

Phase II: Carrier Maintenance 

Management Survey. This voluntary, 

106-question survey will include 

questions about demographics; 

maintenance practices, intervals, 

personnel, and facilities; and State and 

Federal inspections, among other things. 

The Phase II survey will employ branch 

logic; as such, carriers will be prompted 

to complete different sections based on 

their survey group (and for one section, 

carrier size). Consequently, no 

participating carrier will be asked to 

complete all 106 questions. 

In the Phase II survey, carriers (of all 

sizes) in the RP Group will be asked to 

provide additional information about 

maintenance personnel and facilities 

(e.g., mechanic training levels, tools 

required for adequate inspection, and 

certification of facilities) and vehicle 

maintenance issues that may impact 

safety. Information from the RP Group 

will seek to address Objective 1, relating 

to development of an operational 

definition of ‘‘systematic maintenance,’’ 

Objective 2, and Objective 3, relating to 

establishment of minimum standards for 

inspection intervals, mechanic 

qualifications and training, and 

certification of maintenance facilities. 

Carriers in the IE Group will be asked 

to complete the section on intervention 

effects, which includes questions about 

the status of active interventions or 

investigations; results of closed 

interventions or investigations; 

interactions with State versus Federal 

agencies; intervention activities 

experienced; the accuracy of violations 

leading to interventions; actions taken 

in response to interventions; changes in 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
32952 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 136 / Monday, July 16, 2018 / Notices 

carrier vehicle maintenance practices as 

a result of an intervention; significant 

benefits of interventions; and ways the 

intervention process could be improved. 

Information provided by the IE Group 

will address the portion of Objective 2 

regarding sufficiency of regulations and 

where interventions need to be 

improved to facilitate complying with 

these regulations. 

Survey responses will be summarized 

and reported using plots, tables, content 

analysis, and calculated summary 

statistics. Plots and tables will provide 

a visual comparison of multiple choice 

and checkbox survey responses for 

successful carriers (i.e., carriers in the 

RP Group) and those receiving 

interventions in the last 24 months (i.e., 

carriers in the IE Group). These methods 

will also allow researchers to 

summarize responses by carrier 

operation type (i.e., truck or bus) and 

size. Bar charts will be used to plot 

responses to many survey questions. 

Some survey responses may be 

summarized with tables with rows for 

each of the carrier operation types (truck 

or bus) and each carrier-size subgroup. 

To explore and summarize responses to 

open-ended survey questions, 

researchers will use content analysis 

methods. An illustration of an openended question in the survey is ‘‘List 

examples of critical safety-related 

maintenance activities for trailer vehicle 

milestones.’’ The goal of content 

analysis of open-ended questions will 

be to identify common answers. 

The results of this information 

collection will be documented in a 

technical report to be delivered to and 

published by FMCSA. In addition, the 

results will be used to create a 

‘‘recommended best practices’’ report 

that will outline minimum standards for 

inspection intervals, mechanic 

qualifications and training, and 

certification of maintenance facilities. 

Finally, VTTI is required under the 

contract with FMCSA to compile and 

analyze the collected information and 

develop a public-use data set. 

This ICR is for a one-time data 

collection. If this data collection does 

not take place, the truck and bus 

industry would continue to operate with 

the uncertainty of what a ‘‘systematic 

maintenance’’ program, as currently 

worded in section 396.3(a), consists of. 

This term’s ambiguous definition makes 

it difficult for federal and state 

inspectors to evaluate the effectiveness 

of a carrier’s maintenance program or its 

compliance with this provision. 

Furthermore, this uncertainty may make 

it difficult for carriers to ascertain and 

therefore comply with the regulation’s 

intent. 

Title: Truck and Bus Maintenance 

Requirements and Their Impact on 

Safety. 

OMB Control Number: 2126–XXXX. 

Type of Request: New information 

collection. 

Respondents: Freight motor carriers 

and passenger carriers. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

578 respondents [578 respondents will 

complete the Online Recruitment 

Survey. Of those 578 respondents, 289 

will also complete the Carrier 

Maintenance Manager Survey]. 

Estimated Time per Response: Varies 

[Online Recruitment Survey: 5 minutes. 

Carrier Maintenance Manager Survey: 

45 minutes]. 

Expiration Date: 3 years after 

approval. 

Frequency of Response: Once. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 265 

hours [Online Recruitment Survey: 578 

respondents × (5 minutes ÷ 60 minutes) 

= 48 hours; Carrier Maintenance 

Manager Survey: 289 respondents × (45 

minutes ÷ 60 minutes) = 217 hours]. 

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 

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 under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87 

on: July 10, 2018. 

Kelly Regal, 

Associate Administrator for Office of 

Research and Information Technology. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15151 Filed 7–13–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Notice of Intent To Prepare a 

Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs Housing Loan 

Program 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: Under the authority of the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) and its implementing 

regulations, VA intends to prepare a 

Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement (PEIS) to evaluate the 

potential direct, indirect, and 

cumulative environmental 

consequences of continued operation 

and administration of VA’s Housing 

Loan Program (HLP). VA’s reference to 

the HLP includes federal assistance, 

administered by the Veterans Benefits 

Administration (VBA), in the form of 

loans made, insured, or guaranteed by 

VA. It also includes housing benefits 

that can be used in conjunction with the 

HLP (e.g., the Specially Adapted 

Housing program). Under the HLP, VBA 

is also responsible for the management, 

marketing, and disposition of real estate 

owned (REO) properties that VA 

acquires following the foreclosure of 

certain VA-guaranteed loans and loans 

held in VA’s portfolio. This notice 

opens the public scoping phase and 

invites interested parties to identify 

potential issues, concerns, and 

reasonable alternatives that should be 

considered in the PEIS. Following the 

scoping meeting referenced below, a 

Draft PEIS will be prepared and 

circulated for public comment. 

DATES: All written comments should be 

submitted by August 15, 2018. 

VA invites federal, state, tribal, and 

local entities; non-profit organizations; 

businesses; interested parties; and the 

general public to comment on the 

proposed scope and content of the PEIS. 

VA will consider all scoping comments 

in developing the PEIS. VA will conduct 

a public scoping meeting on Thursday, 

August 2, 2018, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. 

at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel 

and Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli 

Road, Rockville, Maryland 20852. The 

scoping meeting will afford the public 

an opportunity to learn more about the 

project and provide input on the 

environmental analysis process. During 

the meeting, VA will provide an 

overview of the project, as well as 

details regarding the PEIS scope, 

purpose, and need. VA will also outline 

the overall NEPA process. Additionally, 

VA will post a scoping presentation on 

a publicly available website during the 

30-day scoping period. Such 

presentation will be available at http:// 

www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/ 

environmental_impact.asp. 

Proposed Actions and Alternatives: 

VA’s Proposed Action is to continue 

administering the HLP and 

incorporating programmatic changes as 

necessitated by amendments to program 

authorities, Veteran need, market 

conditions, and factors not foreseen at 

the time of this publication. 

VA’s No Action Alternative refers to 

a scenario wherein VA operates the HLP 

in a manner consistent with policies 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES