PROBLEM DRIVERS

Most of us have to drive every day. And the monitoring of problem drivers has a flaw which might one day affect us personally.

Excerpt from this article in the November 2, 2007 Washington Times:

A federal database of more than 40 million "problem drivers" contains hundreds of thousands of phony Social Security numbers, a new report says.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General estimates there are more than 600,000 invalid Social Security numbers — such as 111-22-3333 and 222-33-4444 — in the National Driver Registry. The database also contains about 161,000 duplicate numbers in which different drivers are using the same Social Security information.

The federal government pays $4 million a year for the National Driver Registry, which enables states to share information to prevent "license shopping," where drivers with revoked or suspended licenses try to get licenses in other states.

[...]

The report found that records for millions of problem drivers "were not recorded until at least one year after conviction — and incomplete or inaccurate information on Social Security numbers and drivers' physical attributes such as height, weight and eye color."

The lack of timely reporting by states could allow drivers convicted of drunken driving and other offenses to get licenses in other states, the report found....

Plenty of blame to go around on this story. And Social Security numbers can be used for lots more than getting a driver's license.

Who is watching the watchmen?