Group items tagged

The most dangerous of these activities is texting

which involves all three types of distraction

three

one in three Americans admit to doing something as dangerous: texting and driving.

People who drive while texting are 23 times more likely to have an accident than a non-distracted driver

3,900 people lost their lives in 2010

National Transportation Safety Board recommendation that every state ban all cellphone use while driving

Texting truck drivers are 23 times more likely to crash, according to a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study.

nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said talking on a handheld phone was "very or somewhat unsafe." Yet 77% reported answering calls while driving, and 41% said they made calls.

You get arrested. The authorities run a background check. They need to know if you have outstanding warrants or unpaid tickets, if you jumped bail somewhere, if you're driving a stolen vehicle. To obtain your criminal history, they routinely send your fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which keeps a database of more than a hundred million prints. The F.B.I., under a federal program known as Secure Communities, will share your fingerprints with the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security's core job--the reason it was created--is to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States. Your prints might reveal that you're a suspected terrorist. D.H.S. is also charged with border security. Its Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm, ICE, will run your prints through the D.H.S. database--specifically, its U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (U.S.-VISIT) and Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), which also contain more than a hundred million prints--searching for a match with people wanted for immigration violations. If a match occurs, ICE can issue a "detainer." Now the local authorities, before they release you, may notify ICE, which may elect to transfer you to federal custody in order to begin deportation proceedings.

some oddities and two fateful errors.

Alien. These incorrect entries flagged Lyttle for ICE's Criminal Alien Program. His fingerprints, however, would presumably establish his U.S. citizenship--his criminal history, as kept by the F.B.I., shows his citizenship numerous times. That is one of the beauties of biometrics: its deployment can trump racial profiling.

Consumers drive the economy, and they will see the most positive benefits from the health-care act

create jobs boosting local economies

workforce should be strengthened