Most of us can probably agree that texting while driving is a dangerous practice, but is it as deadly as we’re being told? Karl Henkel has been looking at the numbers, and what he’s found may surprise you:
A few weeks back I wrote a blog post comparing two data points from two federal agencies: The number of deaths resulting from text messaging while driving and the number of deaths resulting from syphilis.
The conclusion was that more die from syphilis than from texting and driving.
But a new study claims that 3,000 teenagers die annually as a result of texting and driving. Remember, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said in 2011 there were 39 texting and driving “incidents.”
For those scoring at home, the Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York says there were 77 times more deaths as a result of TWD than fatal TWD incidents reported by NHTSA.
Crimes in which the perpetrator used a firearm are actually on the decline, according to the Pew Center. That doesn’t mean that it’s still not a problem, of course. In any case, most Americans think that “gun crime” is actually higher than it has ever been.
Sad statistic of the day from 
The U.S. federal government has long been accused of fudging its consumer price index (CPI) to show more or less growth or decline in prices, depending on political expediencies of the moment. Perhaps this new Google price index will help keep our government a bit more honest. Reported in the 