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Driver Killed a Pedestrian in Japan While Playing Pokemon Go (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the mad-world dept.

An anonymous reader writes: One woman was killed and another injured. In what police are calling Japan's first death linked to Pokemon Go, a driver playing the smartphone game hit two pedestrians on Tuesday night, officials said. The collision broke the neck of one woman, killing her, and left another woman with a broken hip, the Wall Street Journal reports. Police in Tokushima, on the western Japanese island of Shikoku, told the Wall Street Journal the women were crossing the street when the car struck them. The man driving the car did not see them because was playing Pokemon Go.

10 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. You've captured Manslaughter! by tekrat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Achievement level unlocked!

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    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
  2. Don't blame Pokemon GO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Blame the subclass of humanity that finds it acceptable to operate their devices while driving.

  3. What has Pokemon Go really go to do with this? by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The headline should really be "Unsafe driver kills pedestrian". If it wasn't Pokemon Go, it would have been texting or some other action that caused this muppet to kill someone.

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    1. Re:What has Pokemon Go really go to do with this? by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Talking on the phone, Texting on the Phone, Playing a Game on the Phone, Eating your breakfast, Fiddling trying to read a map, punching in an address in a GPS, yelling at your kids..... All of this falls under distracted driving.

      There is only so much we can do to stop stupid. As stupid people are often ingenious in finding new ways to be stupid.

      The solution for distracted driving is getting rid of drivers. Self Driving Cars, Accessible Public Transit systems. Heck I would love it if there was a flatbed train along the interstate where you can park your car on it. And take the train the next 50 miles.

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  4. Re:They apparently need to add another pop up by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stop contradicting yourself!

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    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  5. Legal services as in-app purchase by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Funny

    Press here to buy two hours of legal consultation after killing someone playing this game.

  6. Re:Darwinism by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Informative

    How is it Darwinism? It was innocent pedestrians that were killed/injured.

    Darwinism would be if the driver died.

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    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  7. Re:They apparently need to add another pop up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can also get it to pop up merely by switching to something else so Pokemon Go is in the background, continue walking, and then switch back to the game so that when it updates your new position it decides you've moved from the old position instantly. The great thing is that once you've dismissed the popup once, I don't think it comes up again in the same session, so if it triggers while walking to your car (since it can easily trigger when you leave a building and the GPS accuracy is just bad so you're bouncing all over the place) it won't trigger while you're driving.

    Other people say "don't blame the game, blame the driver" but I disagree. Niantic has created a game where playing it while moving quickly is an advantage. You can hit more "pokestops" faster, collect more items, and go through more potential Pokemon spawns by playing in a car. Sure, you can argue that's fine if you're a passenger, but what they should have done is make it so that moving "quickly" like that DOESN'T give you an advantage. Make it so that the best way to play is by walking, not driving.

    But Ingress has the same problem, so I'm not surprised Pokemon Go does too. It's even worse in Ingress - the best way to collect what's basically "fuel" that powers every action you take is by driving, since it tends to collect along roads for some reason, and you can still hit portals to get items as long as you don't break 35 MPH.

  8. Re:They apparently need to add another pop up by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or they could be smart and lock out users when they're moving so fast they're obviously not on foot.

    Well, it does throw up messages if you're moving too fast, but if you cut it off completely, they passengers couldn't play, which wouldn't be nice, especially if you have a car load of kids playing. It keeps them busy, you know.

    But really there are ALREADY laws on the books against DISTRACTED DRIVING.....how is this any different?

    Those laws are quite broad enough..and if you get caught doing so, then they should rip your license up in front of you, and point you towards the nearest tricycle shop, or bus pass station.

    But for heaven's sakes, we don't need more laws, etc.

    And no, Nintento should not be liable for individual stupidity.

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  9. Re:They apparently need to add another pop up by Atryn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I disagree entirely. Ingress is much BETTER than Pokemon Go in this respect. In Ingress, things don't move or disappear. If you see something on your scanner, you can pull off the road, park, deal with it, etc. If you miss it you can turn around and drive back and it will still be there. Pokemon, on the other hand, appear and disappear in completely random places with no predictability. This leads to much more sudden actions by the player and pressure to respond. This makes it much MORE dangerous, IMHO.

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