It has been established through researches that accidents do frequently occur when taking calls in driving. The accidents rate occurrence is low while the driver is listening to music or getting engage in discussion while driving.
There is an interesting study, which I am unable to locate at the moment, but the main finding of the study is that individuals pay more attention to the area near their hand. In this case, when someone is talking on their cell phone they usually have their hand up to their ear and they are more aware of objects in that side of their perceptual field. The big take away message was that hand location might affect attention and perceptual processes.
The difference between talking to a passenger and talking to someone on a mobile phone is that the passenger is present in the car and thus able to read road conditions, and so understand when the driver's attention needs to be on the road. Pauses during phone conversations may need explaining.
You say 'receiving', and I'm not sure whether you just mean the act of answering, or actually speaking. If just answering, it may depend whether the act of answering is hands free or not.
See also:
Drews, F. A., Pasupathi, M., & Strayer, D. L. (2008). Passenger and cell phone conversations in simulated driving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 14(4), 392.
Neider, M. B., Gaspar, J. G., McCarley, J. S., Crowell, J. A., Kaczmarski, H., & Kramer, A. F. (2011). Walking and talking: dual-task effects on street crossing behavior in older adults. Psychology and aging, 26(2), 260.
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