Driving
Mobile phone use while driving is common but controversial. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accident. Because of this, many governments have made the use of a mobile phone while driving illegal. Israel, Japan, Portugal and Singapore ban both hand-held and hands-free use of a mobile phone whilst many other countries –including the UK, France, and many US states– ban hand-held phone use only, allowing hands-free use.
Due to the increasing complexity of mobile phones –often more like mobile computers in their available uses– it has introduced additional difficulties for law enforcement officials in being able to tell one usage from another as drivers use their devices. This is more apparent in those countries who ban both hand-held and hands-free usage, rather those who have banned hand-held use only, as officials cannot easily tell which function of the mobile phone is being used simply by visually looking at the driver. This can mean that drivers may be stopped for using their device illegally on a phone call, when in fact they were not; instead using the device for a legal purpose such as the phones' incorporated controls for car stereo or satnav usage – either as part of the cars' own device or directly on the mobile phone itself.Cases like these can often only be proved otherwise by a check of the mobile operators phone call records to see if a call was taking place during the journey concerned. Although in many countries the law enforcement official may have stopped the driver for a differing offence, for example, for lack of due care and attention in relation to their driving.