It seems texting was not ranked higher than seventh among both men and women.

Most women ranked kids in the car as the most dangerous distraction (26 percent), followed by putting on makeup (17 percent), tuning the radio and the navigation system (both 10 percent), weather related distractions (8 percent), passengers in vehicle and eating/drinking (both 7 percent).

Texting while driving ranked eighth with 4 percent.

Most men ranked road rage as the most dangerous distraction (18 percent), followed by eating/drinking (15 percent), checking out other drivers (11 percent), kids in the car and passengers in the car (both 10 percent), reading paper (9 percent).

Texting ranked seventh with 8 percent.

Top Safety Pick recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rear, and now rollover crashes based on good ratings in Institute tests. Winners also must have electronic stability control, which research shows significantly reduces crash risk. This is the second time the Institute has tightened criteria since announcing the first recipients in 2005.

Subaru is the only manufacturer with a winner in all 4 vehicle classes in which it competes. This automaker earns 5 awards for 2010. Ford and subsidiary Volvo have 6 winners, and Volkswagen/Audi has 5. Chrysler earns 4 awards, continuing a recent trend of improving the crashworthiness of its vehicles. Two new small cars, the Nissan Cube and Kia Soul, join the Top Safety Pick list for 2010.

"With the addition of our new roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all 4 of the most common kinds of crashes," says Institute president Adrian Lund. "Consumers can use this list to zero in on the vehicles that are on the top rung for safety."

A British-built supercar today broke a 103-year-old world land speed record for steam-powered vehicles, according to Britain's Guardian newspaper.

The 7.7-metre British Steam Car, nicknamed the "fastest kettle in the world", reached an average speed of 139.843mph on two runs over a measured mile at the Edwards air force base in California.

The timing beat the previous record of 127mph set by an American, Fred Marriott, in a Stanley steam car at the Daytona Beach road course in 1906.

Marriott's was the longest-standing officially recognised land speed record. It was beaten by the team based in Lymington, Hampshire, with Charles Burnett III at the wheel.

Burnett piloted the car for both runs, reaching a peak speed of 136mph on the first run and 151mph on the second, a team spokesman said.

Record officials recognise a land speed record as the average speed of two passes made across the same measured distance in opposing directions within 60 minutes of each other. The time of the two runs is averaged to obtain the official recorded speed.

The new international record, which is subject to official confirmation by officials from the International Automobile Federation, followed a series of cancellations in the last week due to technical difficulties and bad weather.

Following the success, Burnett said: "It was absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed every moment of it. We reached nearly 140mph on the first run before I applied the parachute. All systems worked perfectly, it was a really good run. The second run went even better and we clocked a speed in excess of 150mph. The car really did handle beautifully.

"The team has worked extremely hard over the last 10 years and overcome numerous problems. It is a privilege to be involved with such a talented crew. What we have achieved today is a true testament to British engineering, good teamwork and perseverance."

Prices at the pump fell 0.4 cents overnight to $2.631 a gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That is down 6 cents from the peak of $2.691 reached Oct. 30.

But the gap between now and a year ago continues to widen. Prices are now 52.6 cents higher than last year at this time when gasoline prices slid along with oil prices as the recession took hold.

The company also says it will begin repaying $6.7 billion in U.S. government loans with a $1.2 billion payment in December. It could pay off the full amount by 2010, five years ahead of schedule, but the money will come from funds loaned by the government.

The driver apparently was startled by a low flying pelican and swerved off the road.

Boy, is it hard to feel sympathy for the super rich!

Peter C.T. Elsworth

Frankly, I don't know but I have an idea. Fact is there is no better form of advertising than word of mouth (just ask any movie producer), and Toyota's whole take on the Avalon is understated class.

And promoting understated class is an oxymoron.

Meanwhile, Rene's call prompted me to pay more attention to Toyota's ads and I was surprised by the dominance of one key factor: reliability. The point is made again and again, to the extent that performance and styling are barely mentioned.

But then it has been reliability which has taken the company - along with Honda - to the top of the global auto industry.

And it is hardly a new idea - is there anyone who is not familiar with Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare?

Norwood, Mass., based Boch's Honda dealership is the biggest in the nation and its Toyota store is No.2.

Boch Jr. is quoted as citing his late father's work ethic, technical savvy, good staff and promotional flair as factors behind their success.

"My father always said if you closed on Sundays, that was 52 days a year that you couldn't do business," he said.

He also cited the company's emphasis on getting good people. "If I'm the sharpest knife in the drawer, we have a problem."

And both Bochs are famous for their advertising antics. But as Boch Jr. put it, "I want to be top of mind when somebody wants to buy a car. That's how I was taught. That's all I know."

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

Specifically, Bernard Kilroy who drove his car into the Hyannis Package Store on the Cape earlier this month, smashing some 2,000 bottles of wine.

Coletta treated the story as a "bright,' as we used to call them when I worked at Reuters' New York office (which had its fair share of alcoholics), or short, amusing story to round out a report.

That is often the case with drunks whose behavior is ridiculous. But if Kilroy had killed someone during his inadvertent drive through, I'm sure Coletta would have treated him as a major jerk rather than a clown.

Yet the difference is merely one of consequence. And while intention may be moot in the case of drunken drivers, isn't that the point?

Peter C.T. Elsworth

And kudos to the General Assembly and Governor Carcieri for respectively passing and signing the bill.

As the Providence Journal's Gregory Smith recently wrote, the law will make Rhode Island the 19th state plus the District of Columbia to prohibit the activity.

At the same time, he added that six states and D.C. go all the way by prohibiting the use of handheld cell phones while driving.

Maybe it's because I'm a Brit, but I believe that's the way to go. Britain has long outlawed the use of handheld cell phones in favor of hands-free alternatives. Drivers caught using hand-helds are ticketed for careless driving.

I know the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety cites research that shows that only a total ban on cell phones for motorists, whether hands-free or not, will reduce traffic accidents.

But I think hands-free is safer than handheld and such a total ban would be unenforceable. I know a lot of you disagree as you have written to tell me so in no uncertain terms.

And last year Britain went even further. According to The New York Times, 2008 British government directives treat prolonged texting as a serious aggravating factor in "death by dangerous driving." And dangerous driving that carries a recommended sentence of four to seven years in prison.

The Rhode Island bill is certainly a step in the right direction and social pressure - texting while driving akin to smoking? - will no doubt further curtail the activity.

But for my money, only the banning of hand-held cell phones will really tackle the problem head on.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

They may glance at their rear-view mirror, checking for the police.

Because texting while driving will soon be a traffic violation.

The General Assembly has passed a bill to make it so, and Governor Carcieri is expected to sign it.

When he does, Rhode Island would become the 19th state plus the District of Columbia to prohibit the activity, as concern grows across the nation about the issue of distracted driving. Nine of those states prohibit texting only by novice drivers or in limited circumstances.

My mission today is to offer my clear-eyed take on the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport. But the price keeps getting in the way,

This removable-roof version of the Veyron coupe costs 1.4 million euros, or roughly $2.1 million. I say roughly, because the Bugatti's price can fluctuate about $14,000 a day simply from one-cent adjustments in exchange rates.

For that price, a rare species of car owner gets a rocket that gleams across the planet's surface faster than any true production automobile that has come before. The Bugatti shifts occupants around like a Star Trek transporter: from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds, to 125 m.p.h. in just over 7 seconds and on to a top speed of 253 m.p.h. -- though 401 kilometers per hour has a better bullet-train ring to it.

Particulars include 1,001 horsepower, 16 cylinders, 8 liters of engine displacement, 4 turbochargers, all-wheel drive and a dual-clutch automatic transmission. Only 150 Grand Sports will be built, tacked onto 300 editions of the Veyron coupe, making the Bugatti the automotive equivalent of a Fabergé egg. A $450,000 deposit gets that egg rolling at Bugatti's atelier in Molsheim, France.

The belts expand like an air bag in the event of a crash and distribute the force of the impact across a wider area of the passenger's chest. The belts, covered in a softer webbing than regular seat-belt material, may also make back-seat passengers more willing to buckle up.

"It feels a lot different; it's softer and more lightly woven," says Sue Cischke, group vice president of sustainability, environmental and safety engineering. "When we asked people to sample them, they said it feels less rigid and more comfortable."

Consistent seat-belt use is lower for rear-seat than front-seat passengers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 83% of front-seat passengers buckled up consistently in 2008, vs. 74% of rear-seat passengers.

Automakers sold a total of 1.2 million cars and trucks, the government-sanctioned China Association of Auto Manufacturers announced.

That was down from September's 1.3 million but well ahead of the 838,000 vehicles sold in the United States in October. China's sales this year rose to 10.9 million vehicles, compared with 8.6 million in the United States, according to Autodata Corp.

Global automakers are looking to China's fast-growing market to drive sales amid slack demand elsewhere. Sales have been spurred by tax cuts and subsidies meant to help nurture China's auto industry and encourage purchases of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

But CEO Fritz Henderson said it would do so only if necessary and would try to finance the $4.5 billion (3 billion euros) restructuring with loans from European countries, money generated by Opel and by reducing royalties that Opel pays GM for use of technology.

Henderson's statements come two days after GM's board shocked German leaders and labor unions by rejecting a plan to sell 55 percent of Opel to a partnership of Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sperbank.