'C'mon people!' Overland Park police use crash video to scold distracted drivers

Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez used social media and a crash video on Tuesday morning to drive home an important message against distracted driving.

"C'mon people!" Donchez said on Twitter. "Put down the cellphone and pay attention. Nothing on text, Facebook, or even Twitter (not even @OPPD_PIO) is that important."

The message was accompanied by traffic camera video of a crash from the day before at West 103rd Street and Nall Avenue.

In the video, there are cars stopped at a stoplight. Donchez points out that a driver of a white minivan reaches for an item while waiting at the light.

Traffic to the driver's right begins to move and so does the white white van. Unfortunately, a black SUV in front of the white van has yet to move.

The white van rear ends the SUV. Donchez points out that after impact, the driver drops the item.

Overland Park's traffic camera system captures about 27 percent of the more than 5,000 crashes a year in Overland Park.

In a subsequent tweet, Donchez used crash videos of bicyclists being hit at intersections to urge drivers to "Pay attention to bicycles and pedestrians."

This story was originally published May 15, 2018 at 10:53 AM with the headline "'C'mon people!' Overland Park police use crash video to scold distracted drivers."