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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 4 February 2023

Companies pledge millions in fed effort to stem road deaths

By HOPE YEN “Decide to Ride” program
Associated Press run in tandem with MADD
WASHINGTON (AP) — Near- and Anheuser-Busch.
ly 50 businesses and non- The world’s largest ride-
profits including rideshare share company also said it
companies Uber and Lyft, was doubling the availabil-
industrial giant 3M and au- ity of its bike lane alerts this
tomaker Honda are pledg- month from 71 cities to 144
ing millions of dollars in ini- for passengers exiting ve-
tiatives to stem a crisis in hicles near cycling routes
road fatalities under a new and providing a safety
federal effort announced checklist for Uber Eats bicy-
Friday. cle couriers. It also pledged
It’s part of the Department to strengthen its seat belt
of Transportation’s “Call to alerts, such as by increasing
Action” campaign, which their frequency or adding
urges commitments from an audio message along
the private sector, trade with pop-up messages urg-
groups and health and ing riders to “buckle up.”
safety organizations to re- “We were thinking about
duce serious traffic injuries how we could make an
and deaths. impact more broadly how
Traffic fatalities are near his- we can get people to start
toric highs after a surge of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks before the arrival of President Joe Biden at the making better choices,”
construction site of the Hudson Tunnel Project, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in New York.
dangerous driving during Associated Press said Kristin Smith, head of
the coronavirus pandemic. Uber’s road safety policy.
The public-private effort, told The Associated Press. cyclist deaths continued “We can’t solve any of this “We know it’s going to take
unveiled Friday as part of It comes on the heels of the to rise. More than 40,000 on our own,” he added. a broad coalition of people
the department’s multiyear award of 510 transporta- people are killed in road “We also know there isn’t to be tackling the crisis on
strategy started last year to tion grants this week total- crashes a year. one piece that will get this U.S. roadways right now.”
make roads safer, ranges ing more than $800 million “It’s still a crisis,” Buttigieg all down. But if we add all Uber’s investment comes
from investments to im- under the bipartisan infra- said, stressing a need for a this together it can be enor- along with separate com-
prove school crosswalks to structure law to states and national change in mind- mous.” mitments from Lyft, the sec-
enhanced seat belt alerts localities that, for the first set. “We’re looking at road Road travelers will see an ond-largest rideshare com-
in Uber vehicles and a part- time, focus on road safety deaths coming in year after array of safety measures pany, which has partnered
nership between the Cen- such as by adding bike year in a similar proportion this year. Uber told the AP with the Governors High-

ters for Disease Control and lanes, lighting, protected to gun deaths. The problem that it is donating $500,000 way Safety Association in
Prevention and the Nation- left turns and sidewalks. is they’re so widespread its single biggest investment recent years to award tens
al Highway Traffic Safety After a record spike in 2021, and so common that I fear in its effort to reduce drunk- of thousands of dollars in
Administration to promote the number of U.S. traffic as a country we’ve gotten en driving for free and dis- state grants to help reduce
proven injury prevention deaths dipped slightly dur- used to it and perhaps fall- counted rides in Colorado, impaired driving and curtail
strategies, Transportation ing the first nine months of en into the mistaken sense Georgia, Illinois, Missouri speeding.q
Secretary Pete Buttigieg 2022, but pedestrian and they’re inevitable.” and Texas as part of the

Report: Navy ships face growing maintenance delays, costs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Navy delays and costs, a trou- with China’s growing fleet. maintenance noted in pre- ships drives every program
ships are getting fewer bling trend that comes as Operating and support vious reports by the GAO, a and action we take, and
steaming hours because at time when the U.S. is costs grew by about $2.5 congressional agency that across our force, the enter-
of growing maintenance struggling to keep pace billion across 10 ship classes audits federal programs. prise is aligned to reach this
while the number of pro- “Over time this situation has north star,” Vice Adm. Roy
pulsion hours in which ships resulted in worsening ship Kitchener, commander of
were operating or training conditions and increased Naval Surface Forces, said
dipped during a 10-year costs to repair and sustain this month at a Surface
period that ended in 2021, ships,” the GAO said. A Navy Association event.
according to a report by spokesperson for Naval Sur- The Wasp-class amphibi-
the Government Account- face Forces said the Navy ous assault ship and littoral
ability Office.The Navy saw appreciates the GAO’s combat ships experienced
increased maintenance recommendations for im- the greatest number of
delays, breakdowns and proving maintenance de- severe “casualty reports”
cannibalization of parts livery times. The goal is 75 that impair a ship’s abil-

moving them from one mission capable ships this ity to operate effectively,
ship to keep another one figure doesn’t include air- the GAO report said. San
going during the period. craft carriers, sealift ships or Antonio-class amphibious
The analysis shows “persis- submarines among the 164 transport docks and Ar-
In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, sailors aboard the
guided missile destroyer USS Stout handle mooring lines during tent sustainment challeng- ships assigned to the Sur- leigh Burke-class destroyers
the ship’s return to home port at Naval Station Norfolk, in Norfolk, es that have worsened,” face Force, said Cmdr. Arlo experienced the biggest
Va., in this Oct. 12, 2020, photo. compounded by mainte- Abrahamson. “This impera- maintenance delays, the
Associated Press nance delays and deferred tive for 75 mission capable report said.q