I've been reading a number of 'research' articles following this thread and not one of them even suggests that hands free usage is significantly safer than hand held.

A number have confirmed that talking with passengers, especially the 'screaming kids in the back seat' scenario can be equally distracting! - the problem is that legislating against such an activity is impossible and comes down to individual driver responsibility.

Hand held phone usage can be enforced, more difficult with hands free, impossible person to person!