The fever caused by Pokémon GO, the video game of Niantic and Nintendo for iOS and Android, left us with endless anecdotes as well as certain behaviors of their players worthy of being framed. However, the rapid adoption of this game for smartphones also has a negative connotation, and Purdue University has been commissioned to translate it into a statistical study.
The danger of Pokémon GO in the car
As we have already indicated, Pokémon GO has left us an infinity of grotesque situations. The rage to capture all the Pokémon took many of its players to the extreme. So that as the fame of the augmented reality video game grew, we witnessed sad news as the deadly abuses of children and adults in Japan because of the distraction behind the wheel in turn caused by playing Pokémon GO in the car.
However, they are not isolated cases, and this is reflected by professors John J. McConnell and Mara Faccio from the University of Purdue. As it has become known through its report, which accounts for accidents caused in the State of Tippecanoe during the first five months since the launch of the Pokémon GO, the accident rate increased significantly during the said period of time with respect to previous dates.
According to the exposed data, during the 148 days after 6 July 2016, the date the game released an increase of 26.5% of the accident rate was recorded on its roads. Curiously in the intermediations of the intersections in which poképaradas were located. In figures of the 12,000 accident reports registered in the region. It was found that 286 accidents, 31 injuries and two deaths were caused by playing Pokémon GO in the car, 47% more than usual. In economic terms, the damages caused by these losses are assessed at around 500,000 dollars.
Accident at the wheel and Pokémon GO in data
Likewise, the report Death by Pokémon GO details how they proceeded to analyze the incidents and how they took into account other variables such as the weather and the relationship between the location of the poképaradas and the gyms. Similarly, in the pages of the report are detailed that July was the most problematic month, as well as the gradual decline in the number of accidents over time, typical of the loss of interest of the Pokémon GO coaches.
Finally, the professors in charge of the publication of the report extended by means of their study method an interpretation of the accident rate caused by Pokémon GO at the wheel in the rest of the country. The result, although this time is the result of data crossing, leaves more striking figures such as 145,000 traffic accidents, more than 29,000 injuries and 256 deaths during the same period of time.
Faced with this type of situation, the company that develops the game Niantic has modified the conditions and requirements of Pokémon GO at the wheel. Initially in the form of warnings and later on restrictions to prevent its use while driving. Despite everything, methods and tricks are used to avoid these obstacles.
