Japan is in shock as a woman in Tokushima Prefecture was reported to be run over by a driver who admitted that he was playing Pokemon Go. This is reported to be Japan's first fatality linked to Pokemon Go as stated by local officers.
The suspect, 39 years of age, Keiji Goo told the local officials that he was too focused with Pokemon Go while driving along Tokushima City on Tuesday. Not too long, he hit 2 pedestrians, both female at approximately 7:35 in the evening.
Tragically, the accident took Sachiko Nakanishi's life, a 72-year-old, and left a badly injured Kayoko Ikawa, 60 years old. Both victims were women who tried to cross the road as reported by Tokushima police.
The driver was on his way home coming from a local farm cooperative where he had a transaction for his produce from his farm. The initial confession was only to check the time on his smartphone as reported by local police officials. After a while, Goo confessed the truth and admitted that he was playing Pokemon Go ergo not paying attention to the road ahead of him, the police added.
This is reportedly the first fatal accident linked to Pokemon Go which has been associated to crimes, accidents, stampedes, and other undesirable happenings around the world. Japan has also experienced these as soon as it was launched in the country.
There have been around 79 traffic related accidents link to Pokemon Go all over Japan since its release on July 22, roughly a month ago.
The National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity or NISC has issued, ahead of the release, a nine-point graphic warning on social media against potential problems that could happen while playing Pokemon Go. Also, the Japan Railway Group expressed deep concern about the potential accidents at train stations considering that rail accidents are very brutal.
Niantic Lab and Nintendo fairly gave a warning on Pokemon Go's startup screen on being always alert and avoid accidents while playing the game.
Everyone, be careful out there while hunting wild Pokemon in Pokemon Go. For thoughts, suggestions, and what not, feel free to drop a comment below.
