Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2015 / Notices 6161 

1This action adopted as final rules the interim 

final rules issued by FMCSA’s predecessor in 1998 

(63 FR 67600 (Dec. 8, 2008)), and adopted by 

FMCSA in 2001 [66 FR 49867 (Oct. 1, 2001)]. 

and the quality of information from 

respondents. 

FMCSA Response: The proposed 

study will use current data from the 

FMCSA safety data systems collected 

from carrier investigations and roadside 

activities. This data is driver specific 

and will be used to compare safety 

performance to compensation methods. 

In the case where a motor carrier has 

only one method of pay, a direct 

relationship can be considered. 

However, in the case where multiple 

methods of pay are used by a single 

carrier, then the survey questionnaire 

will expand to solicit individual driver 

compensation characteristics and safety 

history. In this way, the research 

considers drivers and their contribution 

to the safety. Truthful reporting is 

always a concern in any research effort. 

The goal is to remove as much opinion 

and focus on verifiable, quantitative 

data. The FMCSA recognizes the need to 

validate collected information and will 

use all means available to crossreference data where possible. 

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 FMCSA to perform its 

functions; (2) the accuracy of the 

estimated burden; (3) ways for the 

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. 

Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87 

on: January 23, 2015. 

G. Kelly Regal, 

Associate Administrator for Office of 

Research and Information Technology and 

Chief Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02136 Filed 2–3–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2014–0107] 

Qualification of Drivers; Application for 

Exemptions; Hearing 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of applications for 

exemptions; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: FMCSA announces that 10 

individuals have applied for a medical 

exemption from the hearing requirement 

in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Regulations (FMCSRs). In accordance 

with the statutory requirements 

concerning applications for exemptions, 

FMCSA requests public comments on 

these requests. The statute and 

implementing regulations concerning 

exemptions require that exemptions 

must provide an equivalent or greater 

level of safety than if they were not 

granted. If the Agency determines the 

exemptions would satisfy the statutory 

requirements and decides to grant 

theses requests after reviewing the 

public comments submitted in response 

to this notice, the exemptions would 

enable 10 individuals to operate CMVs 

in interstate commerce. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 6, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

bearing the Federal Docket Management 

System (FDMS) Docket No. FMCSA– 

2014–0107 using any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility; 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery: West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

Holidays. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

Instructions: Each submission must 

include the Agency name and the 

docket numbers for this notice. 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 for 

further information. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments, go to http://

www.regulations.gov at any time or 

Room W12–140 on the ground level of 

the West Building, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. The 

FDMS is available 24 hours each day, 

365 days each year. If you want 

acknowledgment that we received your 

comments, please include a selfaddressed, stamped envelope or 

postcard or print the acknowledgement 

page that appears after submitting 

comments online. 

Privacy Act: Anyone may search the 

electronic form of all comments 

received into any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or of the person signing the 

comment, if submitted on behalf of an 

association, business, labor union, etc.). 

You may review DOT’s 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: 

Charles A. Horan, III, Director, Office of 

Carrier, Driver and Vehicle Safety, (202) 

366–4001, fmcsamedical@dot.gov, 

FMCSA, Department of Transportation, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Room 

W64–224, Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration has authority to grant 

exemptions from many of the Federal 

Motor Carrier Safety Regulations 

(FMCSRs) under 49 U.S.C. 31315 and 

31136(e), as amended by Section 4007 

of the Transportation Equity Act for the 

21st Century (TEA- 21) (Pub. L. 105– 

178, June 9, 1998, 112 Stat. 107, 401). 

FMCSA has published in 49 CFR part 

381, subpart C final rules implementing 

the statutory changes in its exemption 

procedures made by section 4007, 69 FR 

51589 (August 20, 2004).1 Under the 

rules in part 381, subpart C, FMCSA 

must publish a notice of each exemption 

request in the Federal Register. The 

Agency must provide the public with an 

opportunity to inspect the information 

relevant to the application, including 

any safety analyses that have been 

conducted and any research reports, 

technical papers and other publications 

referenced in the application. The 

Agency must also provide an 

opportunity to submit public comment 

on the applications for exemption. 

The Agency reviews the safety 

analyses and the public comments and 

determines whether granting the 

exemption would likely achieve a level 

of safety equivalent to or greater than 

the level that would be achieved 

without the exemption. The decision of 

the Agency must be published in the 

Federal Register. If the Agency denies 

the request, it must state the reason for 

doing so. If the decision is to grant the 

exemption, the notice must specify the 

person or class of persons receiving the 

exemption and the regulatory provision 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

6162 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2015 / Notices 

2This report is available on the FMCSA Web site 

at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/

research-technology/publications/medreport_

archives.htm. 

or provisions from which an exemption 

is granted. The notice must also specify 

the effective period of the exemption 

(up to 2 years) and explain the terms 

and conditions of the exemption. The 

exemption may be renewed. 

The current provisions of the FMCSRs 

concerning hearing state that a person is 

physically qualified to drive a CMV if 

that person 

First perceives a forced whispered voice in 

the better ear at not less than 5 feet with or 

without the use of a hearing aid or, if tested 

by use of an audiometric device, does not 

have an average hearing loss in the better ear 

greater than 40 decibels at 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, 

and 2,000 Hz with or without a hearing aid 

when the audiometric device is calibrated to 

American National Standard (formerly ASA 

Standard) Z24.5—1951. 

49 CFR 391.41(b)(11). This standard was 

adopted in 1970, with a revision in 1971 

to allow drivers to be qualified under 

this standard while wearing a hearing 

aid, 35 FR 6458, 6463 (April 22, 1970) 

and 36 FR 12857 (July 3, 1971). 

FMCSA also issues instructions for 

completing the medical examination 

report and includes advisory criteria on 

the report itself to provide guidance for 

medical examiners in applying the 

hearing standard. See 49 CFR 391.43(f). 

The current advisory criteria for the 

hearing standard include a reference to 

a report entitled ‘‘Hearing Disorders and 

Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers’’ 

prepared for the Federal Highway 

Administration, FMCSA’s predecessor, 

in 1993.2

FMCSA Requests Comments on the 

Exemption Applications 

FMCSA requests comments from all 

interested parties on whether a driver 

who cannot meet the hearing standard 

should be permitted to operate a CMV 

in interstate commerce. Further, the 

Agency asks for comments on whether 

a driver who cannot meet the hearing 

standard should be limited to operating 

only certain types of vehicles in 

interstate commerce, for example, 

vehicles without air brakes. The statute 

and implementing regulations 

concerning exemptions require that the 

Agency request public comments on all 

applications for exemptions. The 

Agency is also required to make a 

determination that an exemption would 

likely achieve a level of safety that is 

equivalent to, or greater than, the level 

that would be achieved absent such 

exemption before granting any such 

requests. 

Submitting Comments 

You may submit your comments and 

material online or by fax, mail, or hand 

delivery, but please use only one of 

these means. FMCSA recommends that 

you include your name and a mailing 

address, an email address, or a phone 

number in the body of your document 

so that FMCSA can contact you if there 

are questions regarding your 

submission. 

To submit your comment online, go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and in the 

search box insert the docket number 

‘‘FMCSA–2014–0107’’ and click the 

search button. When the new screen 

appears, click on the blue ‘‘Comment 

Now!’’ button on the right hand side of 

the page. On the new page, enter 

information required including the 

specific section of this document to 

which each comment applies, and 

provide a reason for each suggestion or 

recommendation. If you submit your 

comments by mail or hand delivery, 

submit them in an unbound format, no 

larger than 81⁄2 by 11 inches, suitable for 

copying and electronic filing. If you 

submit comments by mail and would 

like to know that they reached the 

facility, please enclose a stamped, selfaddressed postcard or envelope. 

We will consider all comments and 

material received during the comment 

period and may change this proposed 

rule based on your comments. FMCSA 

may issue a final rule at any time after 

the close of the comment period. 

Viewing Comments and Documents 

To view comments, as well as any 

documents mentioned in this preamble, 

To submit your comment online, go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and in the 

search box insert the docket number 

‘‘FMCSA–2014–0107’’ and click 

‘‘Search.’’ Next, click ‘‘Open Docket 

Folder’’ and you will find all documents 

and comments related to the proposed 

rulemaking. 

Information on Individual Applicants 

Thomas J. Bertling 

Mr. Bertling, 58, holds Class A 

commercial driver’s license (CDL) in 

Oregon. 

Molly R. Bergstrom 

Ms. Bergstrom, 37, holds an operator’s 

license in Iowa. 

John Luegene Huey, Jr. 

Mr. Huey, 50, holds a Class A 

commercial driver’s license (CDL) in 

Texas. 

Jesus L. Javier 

Mr. Javier, 24, holds an operator’s 

license in New Jersey. 

Paul Robert Langlois 

Mr. Langlois, 36, holds an operator’s 

license in Ohio. 

Samuel E. Lovley 

Mr. Lovley, 32, holds an operator’s 

license in Pennsylvania. 

Scott M. Putman 

Mr. Putman, 35, holds a Class A 

commercial driver’s license (CDL) in 

Pennsylvania. 

Laird Lamont Smith 

Mr. Smith, 59, holds a Class A 

commercial driver’s license (CDL) in 

Utah. 

Kirk A. Soneson 

Mr. Soneson, 48, holds an operator’s 

license in Ohio. 

Christopher King Warner 

Mr. Warner, 50, holds a Class A 

commercial driver’s license (CDL) in 

New York. 

Request for Comments 

In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) 

and 31315(b)(4), FMCSA requests public 

comment from all interested persons on 

the exemption petitions described in 

this notice. The Agency will consider all 

comments received before the close of 

business March 6, 2015. Comments will 

be available for examination in the 

docket at the location listed under the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice. The 

Agency will file comments received 

after the comment closing date in the 

public docket, and will consider them to 

the extent practicable. In addition to late 

comments, FMCSA will also continue to 

file, in the public docket, relevant 

information that becomes available after 

the comment closing date. Interested 

persons should monitor the public 

docket for new material. 

Issued on: January 28, 2015. 

Larry W. Minor, 

Associate Administrator for Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02134 Filed 2–3–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2014–0301] 

Qualification of Drivers; Exemption 

Applications; Vision 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of applications for 

exemptions, request for comments. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES