Pokemon Go players and driving clearly don't mix. A recent survey showed that many drivers playing Pokemon Go have caused a number of vehicle accidents.
Pokemon Go and Driving
Pokemon Go first debut on July and still managed to become popular despite the huge recent drop of its player base. However, Pokemon Go players who play while driving proved to be dangerous for both motorists and pedestrians.
Nintendo as well as Niantic have already warned Pokemon Go players not to drive their vehicles while playing it. Even pedestrians are also cautioned to be careful and be mindful of the vehicle traffic while playing Pokemon Go.
Survey Reveals Prevalence of Pokemon Go Playing Drivers
The JAMA Internal Medicine survey reveals that there are a lot of Pokemon Go players who drive while playing the game. The study used social network sites such as Twitter to find out the extent of the problem.
The survey noted that many from the 16 to 24 age group die due to vehicular accidents and they are also the primary players of Pokemon Go. The American Automobile Association (AAA) report that more than half of the accidents occur due to the drivers being distracted within the six seconds time frame.
JAMA basically data mined the sites for words involving "Pokemon", "car" and other related items. The message is then reviewed to see if it involves a person playing Pokemon Go while driving. Based on its survey, more than 30 percent of such tweets involved a driver and passenger as well as pedestrian who got distracted while playing Pokemon Go.
During the study, there were at least more than a dozen vehicular accidents that were possibly due to drivers, passengers and pedestrians playing Pokemon Go. The JAMA survey was funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
