Mobile-phone use while driving is common but controversial. While few jurisdictions have banned motorists from using mobile phones while driving outright, some have banned or restricted drivers from using hand-held mobile phones while exempting phones operated in a hands-free fashion. It is generally agreed that using a hand-held mobile phone while driving is a distraction that brings risk of road traffic accidents. However, some studies have found similarly elevated accident rates among drivers using hands-free phones, suggesting that the distraction of a telephone conversation itself is the main safety problem.

Use of handheld mobile phones by drivers is illegal in many European countries and a number of Asian and South American countries and Australia. Use of hands-free mobiles is permitted, although the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria have banned hands free for learner and first year provisional/probationary licence holders. In Greece the use of mobile phone and hands free has been banned, while the use of bluetooth technology is permitted. However some countries like Japan ban mobile phone use while driving completely. Similar laws exist in six U.S. states with legislation proposed in 40 other states. The United States Department of Defense has outlawed the use of all mobile phones while driving on any DOD installation, unless a hands-free device is used. In Israel, it is common practice to pull over to the side of the road where possible to answer a mobile phone. In Croatia law prohibits usage of mobile phones while crossing the road as a pedestrian.