Marietta PD tweets distracted driver damage scene as teaching moment

"Hopefully changing our habits and getting us to set the cell phone down and either choose one or the other - either be on the phone or drive."

Marietta police officer Chuck ‘McPhilamy says that's the aim of the pictures you see here - the result of what a distracted driver did at 11:30 a.m. Sunday – a crash right into the side of a Papa John's restaurant off of Whitlock Ave.

"(The driver) stated that he was distracted, saw the traffic stopped in front of him, didn't have time to stop himself. He made a split-second decision to jerk the wheel to the left, avoid rear-ending the vehicle that was in front of him. That avoided one collision but caused another," said ‘McPhilamy.

"He didn't state that he was on his phone, but would admit that he was distracted."

There were no injuries in the accident.

On July 1, Georgia’s new "hands free" law for drivers goes into effect, which will ban hand-held use of devices like cellphones. Marietta, like other local jurisdictions and the state, is already underway with its education campaign.

McPhilamy says tweeting pictures of this accident scene serves as a teaching opportunity.

"This is something that can be prevented and we're really hoping that the average driver will start adopting the new rules before July 1."