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Second Confirmed Death In Japan Involving Pokemon Go (japantimes.co.jp)
An anonymous reader writes: The Japan Times reports another death. This time a 20 year old woman has died after being hit by a car while riding her bicycle. The man driving the car claimed he was distracted changing the battery because it was nearly flat from playing Pokemon Go. Police have already charged him with negligence resulting in injury. The penalty for causing death is a maximum 7 years jail. The Japanese National Police agency said there have been 79 bicycle and car accidents linked to the game. Another death was reported yesterday
BAN POKEMANS
You joke but this is government logic. 2 people got killed by drivers playing pokemon. Very visible, perfect "think of the children" motivator to rally up support for your campaign. I can see politicians trying to ban pokemon in certain areas or while driving which is just impossible to enforce.
But how many people have actually prolonged their life by playing pokemon? Seriously, this game did something amazing: it got people off the couch and walking around in the park. I have never seen a video game do that before. I have friends that lost weight by doing nothing different except playing pokemon.
It's just like a politician mandating people wear helmets on a bicycle. Sure all else being equal it is safer, and I am sure wearing a helmet has saved some lives, but they don't look at unintended consequences: people dislike going on the bicycle with a helmet and it makes biking more expensive, so less people do it which ends up costing more lives than it saves by virtue of encouraging couch potatoes.