Two things of note:
1. While it's not illegal in any jurisdiction, my company has a firm policy against mobile phone use, even hands-free, while driving on company business. It's been pretty solidly established as a company culture thing, and I've been on calls where people — employees, vendors, clients — who were dialed in while on the road were asked to drop off until they could pull over someplace safe to dial back into the conversation.
2. The distraction of talking to someone on a mobile call while driving actually appears to go up the further away the person is. A call with someone in another city or country is more distracting than a call with someone local. That's kind of freaky to consider at first (though it's because the brain is more occupied building context around the other person — "Hmmm, wonder what the weather's like there, what does their office/home look like, what time is it, are people dressed differently …?").
There are very few calls actually so important they must be taken while driving. And, if they are, then I try to pull off someplace to take them (or call them back).
Impactful Distraction | Science & Society | Science News
“Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel.” The late rock and roll singer Jim Morrison was not a poster boy for public safety — and was no authority on safe driving. After all, later in “Roadhouse Blues,” he has beer for breakfast. But the opening line of that Doors’ song still …
I do occasionally get calls while I'm driving. I use Bluetooth, so the calls are hands-free, but I interrupt the caller if I need to focus more on traffic. I have had no complaints (but the callers were always friends).
The problem is that your judgment as to whether you need to interrupt the caller is, itself, impaired by talking with a caller.
The other problem (or saving grace) is that we still do okay. People don't accept phone calls, then immediately veer into a wall or a tree or another car. It's simply more dangerous, to a degree that we can't judge at the time, and for a reason that is almost always much more trivial than the added risk is worth.
I'd really rather you didn't have an accident because you were on the phone, Scott.