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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 225 (Thursday, November 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 92281-92283]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27130]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[DOT-NHTSA-2024-0074]

Speed Measuring Device Conformity--RADAR

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of Transition of the NHTSA managed Down The Road (DTR) 
Radar Speed Measuring Device (SMD) Conforming Products List (CPL) 
program to an industry-based Verification Program.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 
provides notice to the public that the Conforming Products List (CPL) 
maintained and updated by NHTSA for Down The Road (DTR) radar speed 
measuring devices will be discontinued. A new industry-based product 
Verification Program has been developed to confirm that DTR radar speed 
measuring devices conform to certain minimum specifications. The new 
industry-based product Verification Program will provide manufacturers 
the flexibility to confirm conformance with any testing entity as long 
as the entity can fulfill the requirements for testing and verifying 
device compliance with the established performance specifications, 
testing protocols and laboratory accreditation requirements of the 
industry-based Verification Program. To afford manufacturers time to 
transition to the new program, NHTSA will maintain the CPL for one year 
after the date of this notice.
    Under the new Verification Program, a DTR radar speed measuring 
device manufacturer can use an accredited testing entity to verify that 
its speed measuring device conforms to an established performance 
standard and will be placed on a verified products list maintained by 
the Verification Program. Please refer to the NIST website for a list 
of available Verification Programs: https://www.nist.gov/mml/mmsd/security-technologies-group/down-road-dtr-radar. The new Verification 
Program will provide manufacturers with a proven method of 
demonstrating compliance to the minimum performance specifications, 
will empower end-users to make better purchasing decisions, and benefit 
manufacturers as products can quickly gain market acceptance.
    Accordingly, as of the date of this publication, NHTSA will no 
longer perform CPL processing under the Interim Administrative Guide 
for the Traffic Enforcement Technologies Program.

DATES: Comments are due by within 30 days of this announcement.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the docket number in 
the heading of this document by any of the following methods:
     Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 
for submitting comments on the electronic docket site by clicking on 
``Help'' or ``FAQ''.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department 
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone 
is there to help you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Instructions: Each submission must include the Agency name and the 
Docket number for this Notice. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy heading below.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can 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.). DOT's complete Privacy 
Act Statement can be

[[Page 92282]]

viewed on the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 
19477-78) or by visiting https://www.dot.gov/privacy.html.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read comments received, go to 
http://www.regulations.gov, or the street address listed above. Follow 
the online instructions for accessing the dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Keith D. Williams, Enforcement and 
Justice Services Division, NPD-220, National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590; 
Telephone; (202) 366-8137.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The use of enforcement technologies is a major component of many 
traffic safety programs. Traffic Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) 
technology has been used in the United States to detect speeding 
motorists since the late 1940s. Over time, radar speed-measuring 
devices have evolved from large, unwieldy stationary models to compact 
and sophisticated units capable of monitoring the speeds of moving 
vehicles while operating in either a stationary or moving mode. These 
technological advances, as well as the development of other traffic 
enforcement technologies, have greatly enhanced the mobility, 
efficiency, and effectiveness of enforcement of speed limits.
    Speed measuring device performance specifications ensure that 
devices are accurate and reliable when properly operated and 
maintained. Law enforcement agencies have historically been encouraged 
to utilize a CPL as a criteria for determining which speed measuring 
devices they choose to procure.
    Filling a gap for a need of nationally recognized performance 
standards for law enforcement traffic radar speed measuring devices, in 
1977, NHTSA entered into an interagency agreement with the Law 
Enforcement Standards Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards 
(NBS) to develop performance standards for law enforcement speed 
measuring devices. Further, at that time, concurrence between operator 
training requirements and technological advances had not been 
maintained.
    In December 1980, NHTSA published a proposed rulemaking for Down-
the-Road (DTR) Radar performance standards specifications, 49 FR 2097. 
After a thorough review of comments received in response to the 
proposed rulemaking for performance standards for radar speed measuring 
devices (see 46 FR 2097-2120), NHTSA decided not to regulate in the 
area because the benefits of the proposed rule could be achieved 
without the issuance of a federal regulation. Instead of a performance 
standard, NHTSA engaged with the United States Department of Commerce, 
National Bureau of Standards, now known as the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology (NIST), to develop model performance 
specifications. A technical report was published in March 1982 entitled 
``Model Performance Specifications for Police Traffic Radar Devices'' 
under NHTSA report number DOT HS 806-191. States and local law 
enforcement were free to adopt these specifications to guide their 
purchase of DTR radar devises.
    In late 1990s, the International Association of Chiefs of Police 
(IACP), through a Cooperative Agreement with NHTSA, formed the 
Enforcement Technologies Advisory Technical Subcommittee (ETATS), which 
brought together manufacturers, practitioners, law enforcement, and 
other stakeholders to update and/or revise the specifications and 
provide laboratory services to test and validate compliance of DTR 
radar units against the minimum performance specifications. Under the 
cooperative agreement, the IACP/ETATS produced an update to the 1982 
Model Performance Specifications titled Speed Measuring Device 
Performance Specifications: Down the Road Radar Module (DOT HS 812 
266).
    With the conclusion of the cooperative agreement, the ETATS was 
disbanded. Thereafter, NHTSA administered the CPL pursuant to NHTSA 
produced guidance titled Interim Administrative Guide for the Traffic 
Enforcement Technologies Program. See: https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/interim_admin_guide_-_nov_29_2016.pdf.
    Since the conclusion of the IACP cooperative agreement, NHTSA has 
worked with NIST to develop a new industry-based verification program 
by which DTR Radar devices could be tested and verified against a 
minimum performance standard. NIST engaged the Institute of Electrical 
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), who, through its Instrumentation and 
Measurement Society, established the TC-41 Traffic Enforcement 
Technologies technical committee and the DTR Radar Working Group. The 
DTR Radar Working Group brought together manufacturers, scientists, law 
enforcement and other stakeholders to develop, through a consensus 
process, documentary standards, minimum performance specifications and 
associated test methods for DTR radar devices. The DTR Radar Working 
Group was also tasked with preparing a framework for establishing 
criteria, including comprehensive and consistent processes, to address 
conformity assessment through a verification process of DTR Radar 
devices (see https://ieee-ims.org/technical-committee/tc-41). As a 
result of these efforts, IEEE published IEEE Standard 2450, The 
Performance of Down-the-Road Radar Used in Traffic Speed Measurements 
(IEEE Standard) on November 5, 2019. The IEEE Standard specifies the 
baseline performance requirements and associated test procedures for 
DTR radar speed-measuring devices used by law enforcement agencies to 
enforce vehicle speed limit laws.
    Verification processes for DTR Radar devices are focused on product 
effectiveness and include the following primary components: 
Verification, Inspection, Testing, Accreditation, Surveillance, 
Supplier's Declaration of Conformity, Registration, and Quality 
Management Systems.

II. Objective

    This notice supports NHTSA's mission to save lives, prevent 
injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, 
through education, research, safety standards, and enforcement. NHTSA 
has established through research and practice that law enforcement and 
the work of our Nation's law enforcement officers are critical to the 
prevention and reduction of traffic-related fatalities and injuries. 
Traffic enforcement must have equity--the consistent, fair, just, and 
impartial treatment of all people--at its foundation. The use of 
accurate and reliable speed measuring devices to enforce vehicle speed 
limit laws is crucial in reducing speeding-related crashes.
    To ensure that DTR radar devices are reliable and accurate, NHTSA 
has historically supported efforts to maintain and publish a CPL. The 
objective of this notice is two-fold. First, to notify the public that 
a new industry-based verification program, based on the IEEE Standard, 
is available to manufacturers. Second, NHTSA notifies the public that 
the NHTSA Traffic Enforcement Technologies Program will be discontinued 
due to the establishment of the industry-based verification program.

[[Page 92283]]

III. Transition to the Industry-Based Verification Program

    While today NHTSA is announcing that it will discontinue the 
Traffic Enforcement Technologies Program and no longer maintain a CPL, 
it will maintain the CPL for one year after the date of publication of 
this notice to permit manufacturers with devices on the current CPL 
time to enter devices into the industry-based verification program. 
Accordingly, as of November 21, 2025 NHTSA will retire the CPL that it 
maintained through the Interim Administrative Guide for the Traffic 
Enforcement Technologies Program. Manufacturers that prefer a 
verification of DTR radar devices they produce may engage the industry-
based verification program developed by NIST.

IV. Industry-Based Verification Program

    Manufacturers of DTR Radar devices may, at their expense, obtain 
product verification through third-party verification programs 
conducted by entities that are accredited pursuant to the International 
Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical 
Commission (ISO/IEC) Standard 17065 (see https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:17065:ed-1:v1:en to learn more about becoming an 
accredited verification entity). Accredited verification entities must 
perform the required testing in conformance with the standard developed 
by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is 
listed as the 2450-2019--IEEE Standard for the Performance of Down-the-
Road Radar Used in Traffic Speed Measurements, published November 5, 
2019 (see https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/2450/6920/). A list of 
entities that are accredited verification entities to IEEE Standard 
2450-2019 is located here https://www.nist.gov/mml/mmsd/security-technologies-group/down-road-dtr-radar. The IEEE standard is the 
baseline for verification requirements and associated test procedures 
for down-the-road (DTR) traffic radar speed-measuring devices. A DTR 
radar device that is found to meet the IEEE standard will be added to a 
verified product listing, that is a list of product models that have 
demonstrated compliance to applicable performance requirements and 
specifications. Unmanned radar speed-measuring devices, automated speed 
enforcement, or DTR radar range measurements are not covered in this 
standard.
    The industry-based verification program includes initial and 
surveillance performance requirements and the use of the Verification 
Mark to be placed on all verified units. The testing entity will 
provide documentation to the manufacturer that its product meets the 
IEEE standard. The industry-based Verification Program will maintain a 
verified product list on its website for products that meet the 
performance specifications. More information about the Down-the-Road 
Radar Devices verification program, including information related to 
entities that are accredited to IEEE Standard 2450-2019, is located 
here: https://www.nist.gov/mml/mmsd/security-technologies-group/down-road-dtr-radar.
    Authority: 23 U.S.C. 403; 49 CFR 1.95; 49 CFR 501.8.

Nanda Narayanan Srinivasan,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2024-27130 Filed 11-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
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