All the research and reports I have seen agree that mobile phone use while driving increases the risk of an accident. This increased risk is due to the inability to fully focus on driving while, and shortly after, talking on a mobile phone. (This decreases slightly when using a hands free, however, we advise to pull up and speak whilst parked up)

1.    The risk of a collision was about four times greater when the driver was using the telephone or soon after a call. Use of the telephone in “hands-free’ mode was no less risky than holding the telephone to the ear with one hand while talking

2.    Conversation on mobiles, both hand-held and handsfree, was found to influence driving performance. Epidemiological findings consistently showed an increase in crashes associated with use of cell phones

3.    One could argue that talking to a passenger poses the same risk as talking on a mobile, but this is not the case. A likely explanation is that a passenger takes the traffic situation into account, something impossible for someone on the other side of a phone conversation.

4.    When controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, phone drivers may actually exhibit greater impairments (i.e., more accidents and less responsive driving behavior) than legally intoxicated drivers. This data also call into question driving regulations that prohibit phones and permit hands free phones, because no significant differences were found in the impairments to driving caused by these two modes of cellular communication

The main risk is that many governments have banned the use of a cell phone while driving due to its safety risks. An up-to-date list with countries and United Kindom states that they have banned mobile phone use while driving can be found here. Another interesting development is the changing legal implications for causing an accident when using a mobile.

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