15452 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 51 / Thursday, March 15, 2012 / Notices 

review of previous studies. In addition, 

the Tier 1 EIS will consider ideas or 

concepts that are suggested by resource 

agencies or the public during the 

scoping process. Potential route 

alternatives for the corridor were 

identified by the MWRRI and the Iowa 

DOT 10 Year Strategic Passenger-Rail 

Plan. The previously established 

primary passenger rail routes are the 

Illinois Central, Chicago & North 

Western, Milwaukee Road, Rock Island, 

and Burlington and are nominally 

oriented from north to south and east to 

west. The MWRRI considered these five 

routes as well as a combination of the 

Rock Island and Burlington routes to 

provide a different approach into 

Chicago, Illinois. Tier 2 component 

projects will also be identified during 

the Tier 1 EIS process. Tier 2 project 

component assessments will incorporate 

by reference the data and evaluations 

included in the Tier 1 EIS. 

Possible Effects: The FRA and Iowa 

DOT will evaluate direct, indirect and 

cumulative changes to the social, 

economic, and physical environment, 

including land use and socioeconomic 

conditions, ecology, water resources, 

historic and archaeological resources, 

visual character and aesthetics, 

contaminated and hazardous materials, 

transportation, air quality, noise and 

vibration. Potential for disproportionate 

and adverse impacts to environmental 

justice communities will be examined 

for all alternatives, and accommodations 

made for limited English proficiency 

and Title VI requirements. The 

evaluation will take into account both 

beneficial and adverse affects and 

identify measures to avoid, minimize, 

and mitigate adverse community and 

environmental impacts. The analysis 

will be undertaken consistent with 

NEPA, CEQ regulations, Section 106 of 

the National Historic Preservation Act, 

the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air 

Act, Clean Water Act, FRA’s 

Environmental Procedures, Iowa DOT 

guidance, and Section 4(f) of the 

Department of Transportation Act of 

1966, along with other applicable 

Federal and state regulations. 

Scoping Process: The FRA and Iowa 

DOT are inviting comments and 

suggestions regarding the scope of the 

Tier 1 EIS from all interested parties, to 

ensure that all issues are addressed 

related to this proposal and any 

significant impacts are identified. 

Comments or questions concerning the 

proposed action and the Tier 1 EIS 

should be directed to the Iowa DOT at 

the address above. Letters describing the 

proposed action and soliciting 

comments will be sent to the 

appropriate Federal, State and local 

agencies, Native American tribes and to 

private organizations who might have 

previously expressed or who are known 

to have an interest in this proposal. 

Federal agencies with jurisdiction by 

law or special expertise with respect to 

potential environmental issues will be 

requested to act as a Cooperating 

Agency in accordance with 40 CFR 

1501.6. 

Iowa DOT will lead the outreach 

activities, beginning with the online 

scoping meeting described above in 

DATES. Public involvement initiatives, 

including public meetings, newsletters, 

and outreach will be held throughout 

the course of this study. Opportunities 

for public participation will be 

announced through mailings, notices, 

advertisements, press releases and a 

project Web site: http:// 

www.iowadot.gov/chicagotoomaha. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 12, 

2012. 

Paul Nissenbaum, 

Associate Administrator for Railroad Policy 

and Development, Federal Railroad 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6304 Filed 3–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2010–0053] 

Visual-Manual NHTSA Driver 

Distraction Guidelines for In-Vehicle 

Electronic Devices 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Announcement of technical 

workshop. 

SUMMARY: On February 24, 2012, 

NHTSA published proposed VisualManual Driver Distraction Guidelines 

for In-Vehicle Electronic Devices. 

NHTSA is announcing a public 

workshop to discuss technical issues 

relevant to these proposed Guidelines. 

The workshop will include brief 

NHTSA presentations outlining the 

content of and basis for the Guidelines 

and will provide opportunities for the 

public to ask questions and present 

information on the technical aspects of 

the proposed Guidelines. 

DATES: Technical Workshop. The 

technical workshop will be held on 

March 23, 2012, at the location 

indicated in the ADDRESSES section 

below. The workshop will start at 9 a.m. 

and is scheduled to continue until 12 

p.m., local time. However, the workshop 

will continue beyond 12 p.m. if there 

are presenters who have not yet had a 

chance to make their presentation or if 

the presiding official believes that 

allowing the discussion to extend 

beyond that time would be beneficial. If 

you would like to attend the technical 

workshop and either make a 

presentation or participate in the 

discussion, please contact the person 

identified under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT no later than 

March 16, 2012. 

Written comments. As announced in 

the proposal, to be assured of 

consideration, written comments on the 

proposed NHTSA Guidelines must be 

received by April 24, 2012 (77 FR 

11200). 

ADDRESSES: The March 23, 2012 

technical workshop will be held at the 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration Vehicle and Research 

Test Center, 10820 State Route 347— 

Bldg. 60, East Liberty, Ohio 43319. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If 

you would like to attend the technical 

workshop and either make a 

presentation or participate in the 

discussion, please contact Elizabeth 

Mazzae, by the date specified under 

DATES section above, at: Applied Crash 

Avoidance Research Division, Vehicle 

Research and Test Center, NHTSA, 

10820 State Route 347—Bldg. 60, East 

Liberty, Ohio 43319; Telephone (937) 

666–4511; Facsimile: (937) 666–3590; 

email address: 

elizabeth.mazzae@dot.gov. 

Please provide her with the following 

information: Name, affiliation, address, 

email address, telephone and fax 

numbers, and indicate whether you 

require accommodations such as a sign 

language interpreter or translator or 

whether you plan to use technological 

aids (e.g., audio-visuals, computer 

slideshows). 

You may learn more about the 

proposed NHTSA Guidelines by visiting 

the Department of Transportation’s Web 

site on distracted driving, 

Distraction.gov, NHTSA’s Web site, 

www.nhtsa.gov, or by searching the 

public docket (NHTSA–2010–0053) at 

www.regulations.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

proposed NHTSA Guidelines are meant 

to promote safety by discouraging the 

introduction of excessively distracting 

devices in vehicles. These NHTSA 

Guidelines, which are voluntary, apply 

to communications, entertainment, 

information gathering, and navigation 

devices or functions that are not 

required to operate the vehicle safely 

and that are operated by the driver 

through visual-manual means (meaning 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 51 / Thursday, March 15, 2012 / Notices 15453 

the driver looking at a device, 

manipulating a device-related control 

with the driver’s hand, and watching for 

visual feedback). 

The proposed NHTSA Guidelines list 

certain secondary, non-driving related 

tasks that, based on NHTSA’s research, 

are believed by the agency to interfere 

inherently with a driver’s ability to 

safely control the vehicle. The 

Guidelines recommend that those invehicle devices be designed so that they 

cannot be used by the driver to perform 

such tasks while the driver is driving. 

For all other secondary, non-drivingrelated visual-manual tasks, the NHTSA 

Guidelines specify a test method for 

measuring the impact of performing 

those tasks on driving safety and timebased acceptance criteria for assessing 

whether a task interferes too much with 

driver attention to be suitable to be 

performed while driving. If a task does 

not meet the acceptance criteria, the 

NHTSA Guidelines recommend that invehicle devices be designed so that the 

task cannot be performed by the driver 

while driving. 

In addition to identifying inherently 

distracting tasks and providing a means 

for measuring and evaluating the level 

of distraction associated with other nondriving-related tasks, the NHTSA 

Guidelines set forth several design 

recommendations for in-vehicle devices 

in order to minimize their potential for 

distraction. 

The proposed NHTSA Guidelines 

were published in the Federal Register 

on February 24, 2012 (77 FR 11200) and 

are available on the Web pages listed 

above under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT and also in the rulemaking 

docket. The notice is also available at 

http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/

rulemaking/pdf/Distraction_NPFG-0216

2012.pdf. 

Background information concerning 

the proposal in particular and the 

problem of distracted driving in general 

is available at http://www.nhtsa.gov/ 

About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/

U.S.+Department+of+

Transportation+Proposes+

’Distraction’+Guidelines

+for+Automakers and at http:// 

www.distraction.gov/. 

The purpose of the public technical 

workshop is to provide interested 

parties with an opportunity to discuss 

issues relevant to the technical aspects 

of NHTSA’s Visual-Manual Driver 

Distraction Guidelines. The workshop 

will include brief NHTSA presentations 

outlining the content and basis of the 

proposed Guidelines. The workshop 

will be held in a lab environment. 

Technical Workshop Procedures. 

Because the technical workshop will be 

located in a lab environment, NHTSA 

requests that the number of those 

attending from each affiliation be held 

to a minimum. For security purposes, 

photo identification is required to enter 

NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Test 

Center. 

NHTSA will conduct the workshop 

informally. Thus, technical rules of 

evidence will not apply. There will be 

an opportunity for attendees to make 

presentations and ask NHTSA staff 

questions related to the technical 

aspects of the proposed Guidelines. 

Once NHTSA establishes how many 

people have registered to make 

presentations at the workshop, we will 

allocate an appropriate amount of time 

to each participant, allowing time for 

necessary breaks. In addition, we will 

reserve a block of time for anyone else 

in the audience who wants to make a 

presentation. 

For planning purposes, each speaker 

should anticipate speaking for 

approximately 15–20 minutes, although 

we may need to shorten that time if 

there is a large turnout. We will 

accommodate your requested 

presentation time to the extent we can, 

consistent with the other requests we 

receive. We request that you bring three 

copies of your statement or other 

material (e.g., film clips and slides) so 

that it can be placed into the docket. 

If you plan to use technological aids 

(e.g., audio-visuals, computer 

slideshows), you must notify the contact 

person in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section above in advance of the 

meeting and make advance 

arrangements with that person regarding 

the use of any aids in order to facilitate 

set-up. 

Presenters wishing to provide 

supplementary information should 

submit it by the April 24th deadline for 

written comments. Written statements 

and supporting information submitted 

during the comment period will be 

considered with the same weight as oral 

comments and supporting information 

presented at the technical workshop. 

Issued on March 9, 2012. 

David L. Strickland, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6266 Filed 3–12–12; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 

Safety Administration 

[Docket No. PHMSA–2011–0342] 

Pipeline Safety: Information Collection 

Activities 

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous 

Materials Safety Administration 

(PHMSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: On December 27, 2011, in 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, PHMSA 

published a notice with request for 

comments in the Federal Register (76 

FR 81013). The notice regards the 

renewal of an information collection 

titled, ‘‘Gas Pipeline Safety Program 

Certification and Hazardous Liquid 

Pipeline Safety Program Certification,’’ 

and identified under Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) control 

number 2137–0584. PHMSA received 

no comments on the notice and is now 

forwarding the information collection 

request to OMB for approval and 

providing an additional 30 days for 

comments. 

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit comments on or before April 16, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding 

the burden estimate, including 

suggestions for reducing the burden, 

directly to OMB, Office of Information 

and Regulatory Affairs, Attn: Desk 

Officer for the U.S. Department of 

Transportation (PHMSA), 725 17th 

Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Angela Dow by telephone at 202–366– 

1246, by fax at 202–366–4566, or by 

mail at DOT, PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., PHP–30, Washington, DC 

20590–0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

1320.8(d), Title 5, Code of Federal 

Regulations, requires PHMSA to provide 

interested members of the public and 

affected agencies an opportunity to 

comment on information collection and 

recordkeeping requests. This notice 

identifies an information collection 

request that PHMSA will be submitting 

to OMB for renewal titled, ‘‘Gas Pipeline 

Safety Program Certification and 

Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety 

Program Certification’’ (OMB control 

number 2137–0584). 

PHMSA notes that the Federal 

Register notice published on December 

27, 2011, contained a clerical error. 

Specifically, the notice inadvertently 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES