Phil, we have similar restrictions in the US but these are done at the state and not the national level. there are large penalties associated with wrongful use but I still see lots of people using their phones in an unsafe manner while driving. My phone synchs up via Bluetooth in my Honda but it's still awkward to use while driving as the controls on the steering wheel are not intuitive (perhaps with use they would be but I don't get many calls on my mobile). Because cellular phones have a time signature if they are in use, the police 'should' be able to identify a driver involved in an accident as in violation of the law.
I still see people doing the wrong thing here, but there's a huge campaign going on at the moment. Road rules are also state matters here, but there is a federal model that they follow to maintain consistency.
To answer a call, I press the "OK" button on my steering wheel. To make a call, I press the "Voice" button and tell Google who to call (like "Call Alan's mobile"). If I want to send a message, I hit the voice button and say, "Send a message to Alan on his mobile" and it then asks me what I want to say and then reads it back to me and then sends it. The phrasing doesn't have to be exactly what I've written, anything similar is fine. An incoming message can be read to me if I click OK at the time it's received. I have no option to read it on a screen or send one by typing, through Android Auto. Not all systems are like that, but that's where the best ones are headed.
Still, just talking hands free on a phone IS distracting, and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. Ideally, calls are short or if the traffic is particularly bad or it's raining and night time and so on, I'll often tell people I'll call them back. If it's critically urgent, make it super quick or I can just pull over (I've had to do that a couple of times for work related matters). Similarly, I often tell people I'll call them back if I call and they're in their cars.
My other pet peeve is people who hang things from their rear vision mirrors or who mount phone cradles that obscure their vision out of the windscreen. Both are technically illegal here but not well enough enforced.
Driving is not easy (and I had 20,000km under my belt on my learner's permit as a just-turned-17-year-old when I took my test to get a provisional licence, having driven from Darwin to Sydney via Perth (Google maps for reference) plus huge all the other city, suburban, and rural driving. I was very lucky. If you get too blase or take it for granted, then accidents happen. I enjoy driving - in good conditions it's fantastic - but always take it seriously and understand it requires application.
