The UK is about to make it clear that you shouldn’t grab your phone while you’re driving — regardless of what you intend to do. The government is closing a legal loophole (via BBC) that allowed people to pick up their phones while driving as long as they weren’t calling or messaging. When enacted, you’ll have to use hands-free features for just about everything. The lone exception is for contactless payment while you’re stationary, such as paying for a meal at a drive-thru.
The law previously only banned “interactive communication.” Effectively, this let people escape punishment by claiming they were browsing the web, taking a selfie or otherwise doing something that didn’t involve chatting with others.