Research and Development Programs Meeting

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Research and Development Programs Meeting

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces a public meeting at which NHTSA will

describe and discuss specific research and development projects.

Further, the notice requests suggestions for topics to be presented by

the agency.

DATES AND TIMES: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

will hold a public meeting devoted primarily to presentations of

specific research and development projects on March 17, 1998, beginning

at 1:30 p.m. and ending at approximately 5:00 p.m. The deadline for

interested parties to suggest agenda topics is 4:15 p.m. on February

27, 1998. Questions may be submitted in advance regarding the agency's

research and development projects. They must be submitted in writing by

March 3, 1998, to the address given below. If sufficient time is

available, questions received after the March 3 date will be answered

at the meeting in the discussion period. The individual, group, or

company asking a question does not have to be present for the question

to be answered. A consolidated list of answers to questions submitted

by March 3 will be available at the meeting and will be mailed to

requesters after the meeting.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Clarion Inn, Detroit Metro

Airport, 9191 Wickham Road, Romulus, MI 48174. Suggestions for specific

R&D topics as described below and questions for the March 17, 1998,

meeting relating to the agency's research and development programs

should be submitted to the Office of the Associate Administrator for

Research and Development, NRD-01, National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, Room 6206, 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, DC 20590.

The fax number is (202) 366-5930.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NHTSA intends to provide detailed

presentations about its research and development programs in a series

of public meetings. The series started in April 1993. The purpose is to

make available more complete and timely information regarding the

agency's research and development programs. This twentieth meeting in

the series will be held on March 17, 1998.

NHTSA requests suggestions from interested parties on the specific

agenda topics to be presented. NHTSA will base its decisions about the

agenda, in part, on the suggestions it receives by close of business at

4:15 p.m. on February 27, 1998. Before the meeting, it will publish a

notice with an agenda listing the research and development topics to be

discussed. The agenda can also be obtained by calling or faxing the

information numbers listed elsewhere in this notice or from NHTSA's Web

site under Announcements/Public Meetings at URL http://

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/announce/meetings/. NHTSA asks that the

suggestions be limited to six, in

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priority order, so that the presentations at the March 17 R&D meeting

can be most useful to the audience. Specific R&D topics are listed

below. Many of these topics have been discussed at previous meetings.

Suggestions for agenda topics are not restricted to this listing, and

interested parties are invited to suggest other R&D topics of specific

interest to their organizations. Additionally, if any interested

parties would like to make a presentation regarding technical issues

concerning any of NHTSA's research programs, information concerning the

proposed topic and speaker should be submitted in writing by close of

business February 27, 1998.

Specific R&D topics are:

Fiscal Year 1998 R&D Research Efforts,

International Harmonized Research Activities (IHRA),

On-line tracking system for NHTSA's research projects, and

Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN).

Specific Crashworthiness R&D topics are:

Automatic lifesaving system--improved triage, transport, and

treatment decisionmaking for automatic collision notification

technologies,

Status of advanced air bag research,

Demonstration of CD ROM for child restraint/vehicle compatibility,

Preparation of new dummies for assessment of advanced air bag

technology,

Status of research on restraint systems for rollover protection,

Improved frontal crash protection (program status, problem

identification, offset testing),

Advanced glazing research,

Vehicle aggressivity and fleet compatibility,

Upgrade side crash protection,

Upgrade seat and occupant restraint systems,

Child safety research (ISOFIX),

Child restraint/air bag interaction (CRABI) dummy testing,

Truck crashworthiness/occupant protection,

National Transportation Biomechanics Research Center (NTBRC),

Head and neck injury research,

Lower extremity injury research,

Thorax injury research,

Human injury simulation and analysis,

Refinements to the Hybrid III dummy, and

Advanced frontal test dummy.

Specific Crash Avoidance R&D topics are:

National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS),

Intelligent vehicle initiative,

Cellular phone use in vehicles,

Status and plans for anti-lock brake system (ABS) research and

testing,

Human factors guidelines for crash avoidance warning devices,

Drowsy driver monitoring,

Driver workload assessment,

Rearend collision avoidance system guidelines,

Road departure collision avoidance system guidelines,

Intersection collision avoidance system guidelines,

Lane change/merge collision avoidance system guidelines.

National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) topic is:

Special crash investigation studies of air bag cases.

Separately, questions regarding research projects that have been

submitted in writing not later than close of business on March 31,

1998, will be answered. A transcript of the meeting, copies of

materials handed out at the meeting, and copies of the suggestions

offered by commenters will be available for public inspection at

NHTSA's Technical Information Services, Room 5108, 400 Seventh St.,

S.W., Washington, DC 20590. Copies of the transcript will then be

available at 10 cents a page, upon request to NHTSA's Technical

Information Services. The Technical Information Services section is

open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The transcript will also

be available on NHTSA's Web site under Announcements/Public Meetings at

URL http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/announce/meetings/.

NHTSA will provide technical aids to participants as necessary,

during the Research and Development Programs Meeting. Thus, any person

desiring the assistance of ``auxiliary aids'' (e.g., sign-language

interpreter, telecommunication devices for deaf persons (TTDs),

readers, taped texts, braille materials, or large print materials and/

or a magnifying device), please contact Rita Gibbons on (202) 366-4862

or by telefax on (202) 366-5930 by close of business March 5, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rita Gibbons, Staff Assistant, Office

of Research and Development, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC

20590. Telephone: (202) 366-4862. Fax number: (202) 366-5930.

Issued: February 13, 1998.

Raymond P. Owings,

Associate Administrator for Research and Development.

[FR Doc. 98-4353 Filed 2-19-98; 8:45 am]

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