Living-Today: Issues of modern living

VICTIM NOTIFICATION SYSTEM

Attorney General John Ashcroft said a national Victim Notification System has been set up to provide all victims of federal crimes and their families with information on their cases.

The computerized VNS is a cooperative effort among several Justice Department components -- including the FBI, the nation's U.S. attorneys' offices, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Office for Victims of Crime.

"The victims of horrific federal crimes and the family members of these victims have a right to be fully informed," Ashcroft said in a prepared statement. "It is important that those who have suffered know as much as possible about the status of these cases."

The Justice Department said VNS is a free, computer-based system with a toll-free number that provides victims with information on scheduled court hearings and an offender's custody status, such as placement in community corrections centers, furlough, release or death.

VNS is also being used to keep victims and victims' families of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks informed of trial events and schedules. The U.S. attorneys offices in Alexandria, Va., and Manhattan have used VNS to send letters to more than 3,000 identified victims and family members of the Sept. 11 attacks. The letters included a description of the charges against accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui as well as information about significant court events scheduled in the Moussaoui case.

Moussaoui has been charged with conspiring to commit the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and is to be tried in Alexandria.

The Justice Department said anyone who has not received a notification letter and who suffered direct physical or emotional injury as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, or is an immediate family member of someone who died during the attacks, should call 1-866-828-1834 for information.

PARTY HARDY

College students continue to binge drink at a high rate despite efforts to curb the practice.

That's according to a Harvard School of Public Health survey of 10,000 students at 119 colleges around the nation. It found that since 1993, the percentage of students who binge drink has remained at 44 percent.

Binge drinking was defined, for men, as having five drinks in a row at least once in the two weeks before the survey and four drinks for women.

Henry Wechsler, the principal investigator of the study and director of the school's College Alcohol Studies, said a major finding was that "binge drinking remains the same ... despite some positive trends that might have driven it down, such as more students living in substance-free dorms and less binge drinking in high school by these college students."

Wechsler said one surprise from the study was a rise in binge drinking in all-women's colleges, from five to 12 percent. "Although women at all women's colleges still drink considerably less than women at coed schools, this finding could be an important shift among female students at these colleges," he said. "Our previous surveys found that attending college at an all women's school was very protective. That seems to be less so now."

"The drinking style on campus is still one of excess," Wechsler said. "If you are a traditional college student and you drink, the odds are 7-in-10 that you are a binge drinker." A traditional college student is defined as one between the ages of 18 and 23 who does not live with his or her parents.

"We consider this to be a serious public health problem," Wechsler said, suggesting authorities do more to crack down on alcohol advertising and increase the availability of substance-free housing.

The study said one encouraging finding was that underage students at colleges in states with extensive laws restricting underage and high-volume drinking were less likely to binge drink.

(Web site: hdph.Harvard.edu)

(Thanks to UPI's Dave Haskell in Boston)

CELL PHONES

Talking on a cell phone while driving is more dangerous than driving while being over the United Kingdom's legal alcohol limit -- even if using a hands-free phone, New Scientist reports.

Driving simulator experiments by researchers at the Transport Research Laboratory found drivers talking on mobile phones had a 30-percent slower reaction time than those who had been drinking, and 50-percent slower times than sober participants.

"In addition, drivers using mobile phones missed significantly more road warning signs than when drunk," the report said.

According to the report, a hand-held mobile phone call could involve all four forms of distraction at the same time -- visual, auditory, mental (cognitive), or physical (biomechanical).

"Most people accept that talking on a mobile phone while driving is distracting, however, many drivers don't appreciate how dangerous it is," says Dominic Burch, road safety campaign manager, for Direct Line, an insurance company in Britain. "In effect, 10 million drivers (in Britain) are partaking in a driving activity that is potentially more dangerous than being drunk."

(Thanks to Alex Cukan, UPI Science Writer)

FRAUD

Americans are worried about someone obtaining their credit, debit or check card numbers -- but don't do too much to ensure that won't happen.

A survey of 800 people commissioned by Paymentech, a company that provides fraud-protection services, found 46 percent said they are most concerned about someone obtaining the numbers of their credit, debit or check card; 14 percent were most worried about losing the keys to their car; 12 percent, losing their checkbook; six percent, someone tapping into their computer files; three percent, losing their personal planner or appointment book; and two percent, losing their cell phone.

Thirty-three percent of those questioned said they tear or shred credit card receipts before throwing them away. But another 13 percent just toss them without tearing or shredding, another 13 percent leave them in the bag they got with the purchase, two percent leave the receipt with the clerk or at the store or restaurant, and 24 percent said they never throw away any receipts.

When pollsters informed them that some receipts expose the entire series of 16 card numbers and expiration dates used to make the purchase, more than half of respondents expressed concern. But another 35 percent said they were "just a little" or "not at all" concerned.

"The fact that there is such a large percentage of people who simply toss receipts away without tearing them up first is alarming," said John Shirey, e-Business Group manager, Product Development, Paymentech. "Would-be thieves can easily find receipts with valid account numbers in trash cans and ashtrays at restaurants, gas stations and retail locations. Once they obtain these numbers, they can go on a shopping spree courtesy of the unsuspecting consumer."