Highly graphic texting-while-driving ad comes to US

A highly graphic UK texting-while-driving ad has come to the United States.

The original four-minute ad shows three teenage girls getting into a violent traffic accident. The ad caused quite a stir in Britain when it was released last year. Now the American Automobile Association has brought the commercial stateside where it has started airing last week after 9 p.m. on 13 stations in South Carolina.

"It's graphic, but we know that using such images can make a difference," said Tom Crosby, president of the AAA Carolina's Foundation for Traffic Safety, to the AP. 

Crosby spent nearly a year trying to get permission to air the ad, which was produced by a police department in Wales. The ad came to their attention after it went viral on YouTube last year.

The original ad is below (the U.S. version will be cut to 30 seconds) and, warning, it's not for the faint of heart...