Pokémon Go players have caused two deaths this week!

It was obvious before it started becoming illegal, but it’s worth stating yet again: using a phone while driving is incredibly dangerous and can end with the driver seriously injuring or killing someone! And yet, people still do it and continue to cause harm.

The Pokémon Go craze, although dying down, isn’t helping matters and seems to be making drivers forget how dangerous playing while in control of a vehicle travelling at speed is. This week alone, two people have died in Japan in two separate accidents because of drivers focusing on Pokémon Go instead of the road, and a third person remains seriously injured.

The first accident occurred on August 11 in Kasugai. A 29-year-old woman was crossing the street on her bicycle when she was hit by a car causing critical injuries. She sadly passed away. The driver admitted he was playing Pokémon Go while driving, which had drained his phone’s battery. He hit the woman while looking away from the road and trying to plug his phone in to charge.

The second accident occurred on the evening of the 30^th when a 39-year-old driver hit two women crossing the street in Tokushima. He admitted to playing Pokémon Go while driving and didn’t see the pedestrians. The older of the two women (72) died of her injuries soon after reaching hospital, while the younger (60) remains seriously injured.

Obviously, this isn’t the fault of Pokémon Go; of course, it’s the individuals playing the game. But how do you emphasise how dangerous this practice is and overcome that “must play” urge in these situations? The threat of prosecution doesn’t seem to be enough, because I see plenty of people still using their phones in cars to talk without a hands-free kit.

Maybe the solution is more extreme… maybe phones need to automatically not work whenever they detect they are inside a vehicle and not hooked up to a hands-free system. I don’t see that ever happening, though, and even if it did someone would probably create a workaround “for convenience.”

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