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Pokemon Go Led To Increase In Traffic Deaths and Accidents, Says Study (arstechnica.com)
A new study from Purdue University uses detailed local traffic accident reports to suggest that Pokemon Go caused a marked increase in vehicle damages, injuries, and even deaths due to people playing the game while driving. Ars Technica reports: In the provocatively titled "Death by Pokemon Go" (which has been shared online but has yet to be peer-reviewed), Purdue professors Mara Faccio and John J. McConnell studied nearly 12,000 accident reports in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, in the months before and after Pokemon Go's July 6, 2016 launch. The authors then cross-referenced those reports with the locations of Pokestops in the county (where players visit frequently to obtain necessary in-game items) to determine whether the introduction of a Pokestop correlated with an increase in accident frequency, relative to intersections that didn't have them. While the incidence of traffic accidents increased across the county after Pokemon Go's introduction, that increase was a statistically significant 26.5 percent greater at intersections within 100 meters of a Pokestop, compared to those farther away. All told, across the county, the authors estimate 134 extra accidents occurred near Pokestops in the 148-day period immediately after the game came out, compared to the baseline where those Pokestops didn't exist. That adds up to nearly $500,000 in vehicle damage, 31 additional injuries, and two additional deaths across the county, based on extrapolation from the accident reports.
The study uses a regression model to account for potential confounding variables like school breaks and inclement weather, which could cause variation separate from Pokemon Go. The model also compares Pokestops to Pokegyms (where it was nearly impossible to play while driving) to account for the possibility that generally increased traffic to Pokemon Go locations was leading to more accidents, even among drivers who stopped and parked before playing. In all cases, though, being able to compare to intersections without a Pokestop and to the same dates the year before, helped provide natural control variables for the study.
The study uses a regression model to account for potential confounding variables like school breaks and inclement weather, which could cause variation separate from Pokemon Go. The model also compares Pokestops to Pokegyms (where it was nearly impossible to play while driving) to account for the possibility that generally increased traffic to Pokemon Go locations was leading to more accidents, even among drivers who stopped and parked before playing. In all cases, though, being able to compare to intersections without a Pokestop and to the same dates the year before, helped provide natural control variables for the study.
Fuck these people, I hope they die.
The problem with this attitude, is those engaged in dangerous activities often hurt or kill innocent people. It's best to not be so dismissive of ignorance and stupidity, and instead look to actually punish that activity.
To solidify my point, I no longer fear drunk drivers on the road. I fear the distracted idiots addicted to their cell phones who are becoming FAR more likely to cause harm to me or a loved one.
Yeah, the camera drains the battery faster, but it's just a friggen *game* for crying out loud.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Fuck these people, I hope they die.
If mankind's historical record is of any relevance here, they most likely will, sooner or later, no need to hope.
Ezekiel 23:20
It's an abbreviation for Pokemon Goner, apparently.
Ezekiel 23:20
Yeah. It wouldnâ(TM)t stop drivers from being dumb, because it wouldnâ(TM)t be able to tell the difference between a passenger and a driver, but it could still mitigate pedestrian accidents caused by them not being aware of their surroundings
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Is Tippecanoe County somehow perfectly representative of the USA, as is Tippecanoe County typically used to study federal trends in traffic safety and fatality?
Tippecanoe County is indeed half the equation. But once you combine those statistics with additional data from Tyler, Texas - you get a perfect analog for the United States as a whole.
#DeleteChrome
I probably said "What a f****** $random_bad_word_for_different_cars_stickers_plates_etc" a lot more than normal last summer for a few weeks. I saw people driving the wrong way on the road, stopping in the middle of the road, lots of swerving by oncoming traffic, some people walking in the road as if the it wasn't there, and people generally not paying attention more than normal. They had the town ticketing crew blocking one of the lake side train parking lots, and I had to move the cones to get out leading to a conversation with one of them, but I needed to get home it was Friday and I resisted driving my truck over the curb to get out opting to move the cones. Was all good though and laughs and then some complaining about the crowds and how dangerous it was becoming and how some people were robbed.
It only lasted a few weeks but I would love to see something like this drive people out more often, it really got a lot of people in to parks regardless of the increased dangers of lots of people out and about. Better lightning would solve a lot of the danger problems on the road and in parks. LED's are so much more efficient they should put them all over walk-able parks.
You hatch eggs and get buddy pokemon candy while walking. I have it on during my 2 mile lunch walk. I would not have it on if I had to stare at the screen for the majority of my walk. If I did, I'd probably end my walk with a major headache and possible walking into a few pedestrians or cars.
Somehow karma is broken in a lot of these cases. Often I read news like: “Texting driver kills family of 4, escapes unharmed”. For some reason, the idiots often get to tell the tale.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Also add up all the money lost to all other kinds of fun.
Ban fun for the good of the economy! Everyone must be mindless and willless drones!
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Exactly. What people do to themselves I don't care about, it's when they start affecting the rest of us that it becomes a problem.
America especially is an insanely "addictive" culture, but the afflicted need to recognize their problem and seek help
Sadly, my 39-year-old wife. I've asked her, gently pleaded with her, etc., to put down her phone when she's driving and quit playing Pokemon. But it never fails. Any time she's driving, her phone is in her lap with Pokemon running. I've decided any time I'm in the car with her, I'm driving, or if I'm not, I'll point-blank tell her "please put that down so we don't crash." I haven't (yet) physically taken the phone out of her hands but have definitely been tempted to.
I wish phone use while driving was a primary offense in Nebraska, but unfortunately it is not. One of these days she WILL smash up her car. Again. I'm convinced it's only a matter of time.
I was playing the game for a while (until schedule and loss of interest took the fun out of it). I never walked into the road without looking even once; I will admit to colliding with other players of the same game a few times in a park area when not using the augmented reality feature due to battery-life and ease of playing. On the other hand, while driving, I have had several people walk in front of me while playing (the ball toss "finger-flick" is quite distinctive) without so much as a care in the world; however, I also had similar numbers of people with both thumbs on the phone, apparently composing something, suddenly walk in front of me. My reaction time is not excellent, so if driving conditions were different, there may very have been different outcomes than me stopping and tapping my horn: we (in each case) both were lucky. While the majority were embarrassed and/or apologetic and quickly removed themselves from the right-of-way, one particular case went so far as to showing the center-finger-salute and then repeatedly hitting my vehicle while continuing to yell about it being my fault for them not successfully capturing a Bellspout, at least until I drove off. Fortunately, I never had any incident concerning a younger child running into the right-of-way while apparently playing that game. I did see, however, a few (seemingly) responsible parents taking active measures to prevent disaster, e.g., calling back child before he/she arrives at road, placing themselves between child and road, or at least intercepting the child and extracting mobile device. I strongly hope that of the parents that have children playing the game, those samples are not outliers.
Pokemon Go (and Ingress for that matter), for those immersed in the game, is indeed a distraction in the same way social media and other electronic communications are. That said, I would hesitate to ban it or provide any unnecessary movement restrictions. I am prone to be easily distracted myself; however, I can choose to forgo playing a game, texting, etc for a few moments while it is unsafe to do so. That is my responsibility. I suspect that only a tiny minority of adolescents and adults have such significant developmental, functional, or cognitive conditions that would make it impossible (or at least exceedingly difficult) to train one's self to exercise caution. For those that would have such troubles (or anyone, just for doing so), if wanting to join in playing, go with a group of friends, have fun, and be safe.