Simulator shows what happens when you text and drive
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Many of us do it: text and drive.
"We all feel like, oh, we can get away with it, or I'm just going to send a one word text," said UNC trauma surgeon Dr. Bill Adamson.
But distracted driving is one of the leading causes of serious accidents across the country.
That's why UNC Children's Hospital brought a high-tech simulator to its campus Monday to show teens and adults how serious a problem it is.
Participants put on a virtual-reality visor simulating road conditions while trying to text on a cell phone. Most quickly got into accidents.
"I think the thing that tears at us the most lately has been the number of bad injuries that we see and particularly in the older kids that we see, related to automobile accidents," said Dr. Adamson.
Tammy Garlock knows that all too well. In 2008, her son left his job on the south side of Charlotte and tried to make a phone call as he turned out of a neighborhood.
"Ultimately, he was distracted by the act of trying to make that phone call and he was hit, not once, but twice by pickup trucks going 45-50 miles an hour," Garlock said.
Brian Garlock died just a couple of hours later. Now, she tried to warn others about the danger of mixing phones and driving.
"Every occasion, every holiday, every birthday, you're still looking at that empty chair across the table, you know, that empty place, it's always there," she said.
