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However, it said hands-free communication devices were acceptable.

The law now heads to the National Legislative Assembly for approval.

Prime Minister's Office assistant spokesman Chotechai Suwannaporn said the Cabinet exempted police, Army and rescue vehicles and ambulances from the ban, in line with an April 3 resolution.

The green light on the issue followed a proposal by the National Police Bureau.

Currently, there are no official statistics in Thailand on the number of accidents that occur because of drivers being distracted by speaking on their cell-phone. Drunk driving is blamed as the cause of more than 90 per cent of road accidents.

However, a ban on drivers using mobile handsets in New York reduced the number of crashes, according to Dr Wittaya Chartbanchachai, who heads an accident-prevention centre operated under co-operation between the World Health Organisation and Khon Kaen Hospital.

Wittaya said a report in 2001 concluded that the risk of having an accident was far higher - between 4.3 and 4.6 times - if a driver was speaking on the phone.

"I agree with the Cabinet's decision to bar drivers from using cell-phones," he said. 

But he warned that use of hands-free equipment could still pose a problem because drivers would lose concentration on driving while in conversations on the phone.