Distracted drivers.

• Position: On The Road

Cell phones are everybody's favorite example of a distraction that could cause a car crash, and some jurisdictions, like New York State, have restricted their use by drivers. But a recent study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that cell phones are not the most common distraction, and may not even be the most serious. Researchers who put video cameras into 70 cars for a week found that only 30 percent of drivers used cell phones while the car was moving. By contrast, 40 percent of those observed were at some point reading or writing, 46 percent were...