We're trying to make smarter drivers out of everyone across the nation, especially right here in our backyard of Washington state. I know it's illegal to talk on your phone while driving (with your phone pressed up against your ear) and it's illegal to text and drive, but I see more and more people driving with one hand on the steering wheel and talking to their phone while it's on speaker phone. This can't be legal, can it? Turns out it is, but only under certain circumstances.

Because I had to find out if it was legal or not, I spoke to Rick Johnson of the Washington State Patrol and he said this:

Yes, that is still legal at this point as long as the phone is not being manipulated.

So, basically, yes, you can, but that doesn't make it OK to look away from the road to look for your contacts or manually type in a phone number while driving nor can you look up information while driving. If you have one hand on the steering wheel and you make a phone call (or someone calls you) and then start driving, it's fine so long as it's not a distraction. If you're driving like an idiot while talking on speaker phone, it may win you an infraction.

It's still not recommended, but it's not illegal.

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