Drivers who use a handheld device are four times more likely to get into a crash serious enough to cause injury. The risk to the public is serious. At any given moment during the daylight hours, over 800,000 vehicles in the U.S. are being driven by someone using a handheld cell phone, according to research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).2 The National Safety Council estimates that in a recent year, 21% of vehicular crashes (1,100,000) involved talking on either a handheld or handsfree cell phone.
Both hand-held and hands-free mobile phones impair driving, with no significant difference in the degree of impairment. Researchers have asserted that this well established scientific fact “calls into question driving regulations that prohibited handheld cell phones and permit hands-free cell phones.