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The riskiest part of driving with a mobile phone is the phone conversation itself. This finding, which surprised many who thought dialing, answering, or simply holding a phone was more dangerous, was part of a 1999 report published in the Transportation Human Factors journal.
Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997 found that hands-free devices involved the same risk while driving as hand-held phones. That same study reported that the accident risk is four times greater for those who talk on the phone while they drive.
The issue is hotly debated, with even the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stating in one report that not enough information has been collected to determine "the magnitude of any safety-related problem associated with cellular phone use while driving." That report also points out that in some cases, the distraction created by mobile phone use is similar to other distractions that increase crash risk, such as tuning a radio.
