Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; National Traffic Safety Survey

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments on a request for approval of a new information collection.

SUMMARY:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) invites public comments about our intention to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new information collection. Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document describes six collections of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval that would be conducted as part of the National Traffic Safety Survey.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before July 16, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-2023-0062 through any of the following methods:

• Electronic submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: (202) 493-2251.
• 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., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.

Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and docket number 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.

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 in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets via internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For additional information or access to background documents, contact Christine Watson, Ph.D., Office of Behavioral Safety Research (NPD-320), 202-366-7345, Christine.Watson@dot.gov, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, W46-474, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB for approval, it must first publish a document in the Federal Register providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of information. The OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must be included in such a document. Under OMB's regulation (at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must ask for public comment on the following: (a) whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) how to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses. In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks for public comments on the following proposed collection of information for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.

Title: National Traffic Safety Survey.

OMB Control Number: New.

Form Numbers: NHTSA Forms #1805, 1805-S, 1806, 1806-S, 1807, 1807-S, 1808, 1808-S, 1809, 1809-S, 1810, 1810-S.

Type of Request: Request for approval of a new information collection.

Type of Review Requested: Regular.

Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of approval.

Summary of the Collection of Information:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposes to collect information from the public to better understand the public's behavior and attitudes regarding traffic safety issues including seat belts, distracted driving, new and emerging vehicle technologies, and traffic safety and enforcement. Data would be collected by web and mail among a national probability sample of approximately 6,001 adults aged 18 and older per survey administration. NHTSA is proposing to conduct the full survey twice, two years apart, and conduct a pilot survey involving 250 individuals that would occur before the first full administration of the survey. Participation by respondents would be voluntary. Survey topics include key driving behaviors and experiences, behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge around seat belt use, distracted driving, new vehicle technologies, traffic safety, and traffic safety enforcement.

As part of the NTSS, NHTSA will send out six different version of the survey. Each of the surveys will contain a set of core questions that will be asked across all surveys and a combination of two additional sections consisting of questions related to seat belts, distracted driving, new vehicle technologies, or traffic safety and traffic safety enforcement. Based on the target of collecting 6,001 completed surveys, NHTSA estimates that the full administration of the survey will include approximately 1,000 completed surveys for each of the six versions.

In conducting the proposed research, the survey would use computer-assisted web interviewing ( i.e., a programmed, self-administered web survey) to minimize recording errors, as well as optical mark recognition and image scanning for the paper and pencil survey to facilitate ease of use and data accuracy. A Spanish-language survey option would be used to minimize language barriers to participation. Surveys would be conducted with respondents using an address-based sampling design that encourages respondents to complete the survey online. Although web would be the primary data collection mode, a paper questionnaire would be sent to households that do not respond to the web invitations. Any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) would be removed as only a de-identified dataset will be delivered to NHTSA. This collection only requires respondents to report their answers; there are no record-keeping costs to the respondents. Individuals receiving a survey invitation will receive compensation in return for their activities.

Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the Information:

NHTSA was established to reduce the number of deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes on the Nation's highways. As part of this statutory mandate, NHTSA is authorized to conduct research as a foundation for the development of traffic safety programs. Title 23, United States Code, section 403 authorizes the Secretary of Transportation (NHTSA by delegation) to conduct research and development activities, including demonstration projects and the collection and analysis of highway and motor vehicle safety data and related information, with respect to all aspects of highway and traffic safety systems and conditions relating to vehicle, highway, driver, passenger, motorcyclist, bicyclist, and pedestrian characteristics; accident causation and investigations; and human behavioral factors and their effect on highway and traffic safety.

A primary way NHTSA identifies problems and supports the development of effective countermeasures is through conducting nationally representative surveys of public attitudes, knowledge, and self-reported behaviors regarding various traffic safety topics. NHTSA has conducted seven previous iterations of the Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS) to ascertain critical information on driver and passenger attitudes and behaviors related to safety; the MVOSS was most recently administered in 2016. However, recent advances in vehicle safety technologies, increases in portable electronic device use, and changes in attitudes towards enforcement have all changed the driving environment, and there is a need to collect up-to-date information about the public's attitudes and behavior on these traffic safety topics to better inform programs aimed at improving the safety of all road users. The NTSS is the “next generation” of NHTSA's previous MVOSS, expanded across more traffic safety topics to increase relevance to current and future traffic safety issues. NTSS will deliver highly relevant, actionable data on current and future topics in traffic safety that support the agency's mission to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs resulting from traffic crashes.

NHTSA will use the information collected from the NTSS to produce a technical report that presents the results of the survey, as well as a publicly available dataset that does not contain any PII. The technical report will provide aggregate (summary) statistics and tables as well as the results of statistical analysis of the information, but it will not include any PII. The technical report will be shared with State highway safety offices, local governments, policymakers, researchers, educators, advocates, and others who may use the data from this survey to support their work.

Affected Public: Participants will be English- and Spanish-speaking U.S. adults (18 years old and older).

Estimated Number of Respondents:

Participation in this study will be voluntary, with 6,001 participants sampled from all 50 States and the District of Columbia using address data from the most recent U.S. Postal Service (USPS) computerized Delivery Sequence File (DSF) of residential addresses. An estimated 28,700 households will be contacted and invited to participate. No more than one respondent will be selected per household. Prior to the main survey, a pilot survey will be administered to test the survey and the mailing protocol and procedures. Participation in the pilot study will be voluntary, with approximately 250 participants sampled from all 50 States and the District of Columbia using address data from the most recent USPS computerized DSF of residential addresses. An estimated 1,200 households will be contacted and invited to participate in the pilot study. No more than one respondent will be selected per household.

Frequency: The study will be conducted up to two times during the three-year period for which NHTSA is requesting approval, with a small pilot study occurring several months before the study's full launch.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours:

To estimate the annul burden of the information collection request, NHTSA first estimated the total number of respondents that would complete each of the six surveys over the course of the three-year period for which NHTSA is seeking approval. Assuming that there will be 250 respondents to the pilot survey and 6,001 respondents in each of the two full administrations of the survey, NHTSA estimates a total of 12,250 respondents in the three-year period, or approximately 4,084 per year. With this estimate, NHTSA estimates that, on average, approximately 681 respondents will complete each of the six surveys annually.

The first survey administration will be a pilot survey will assess the entire survey administration system prior to launching the full survey and will include an experimental condition examining the effectiveness of different messaging techniques used in contact materials to increase survey response rates. The pilot administration will survey approximately 250 randomly selected respondents. This will be followed by a first administration of the survey with approximately 6,001 randomly selected respondents during the main data collection effort. NHTSA may exercise an option to survey approximately 6,001 randomly selected respondents during a second survey administration. For purposes of this information collection request, NHTSA assumes that it will conduct the second administration.

For the pilot survey, a mass mailing using USPS DSF to 1,200 addresses, of which 1,140 are expected to be valid contact addresses, is expected to reach about 250 willing respondents ages 18 and older. Respondents are expected to take 30 minutes to complete the survey (250 people, 30 minutes average length, 125 hours total).

For each survey administration, a mass mailing using USPS DSF to 28,700 addresses, of which 27,265 are expected to be valid contact addresses, is expected to reach about 6,001 willing participants ages 18 and older. As with the pilot survey, participants are expected to take 30 minutes to complete the survey.

Table 1 provides an overview of the survey administrations.

Since the survey administrations would occur over three years, NHTSA averaged the number of respondents responding to each of the six surveys over the three-year period to estimate that each of the surveys would have approximately 681 respondents per year. The burden estimates are based on this estimate.

NHTSA estimates that each of the six versions of the survey will have approximately 681 respondents each year and estimates that it takes approximately 30 minutes to complete each survey. Accordingly, NHTSA estimates that each of the surveys will have a burden of 341 hours per year, for a total of 2,046 hours of annual burden for all six of the surveys.

NHTSA estimates the opportunity cost to respondents using an average hourly wage. The May 2022 mean hourly wage for all occupations in the United States was $29.76 per hour. Therefore, NHTSA estimates the total annual opportunity cost to be approximately $60,889 ($29.76 × 2,046 = $60,888.96). Table 2 provides a summary of the estimated annual burden hours and labor costs associated with those submissions.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: Participation in this study is voluntary, and there are no costs to respondents beyond the time spent completing the questionnaires.

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Department, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.