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Two women were struck by a truck driver who admitted being distracted while playing Pokémon Go

A truck driver in Japan who struck two women — killing one — has admitted to police his attention had been distracted because he was playing Pokémon Go, according to multiple media reports.

The death, which occurred on Tuesday in the city of Tokushima, is the first known fatality directly related to the video game in Japan.

A police spokesperson told Reuters the driver remains in custody and there has been no decision made on prosecution.

In the same report, a spokesperson for Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go, says the company has built a pop-up which detects the speed of the user. If the player is travelling above a certain speed it will require a confirmation that the user is not driving.

Also Read: Playing Pokemon Go in certain areas in Malaysia could get you arrested

While recent charts suggest Pokémon Go is beginning to wane in popularity, its roll-out completely dominated the mobile gaming industry and with its popularity came concerns about how it would impact society.

While in most places those concerns were overblown, there are individual incidents — such as the fatality in Japan — that do demand attention.

In Taipei this week, a surreal video emerged of a ‘Pokémon Stampede’ in which hundreds of people were seen chasing a rare catch.

From a global perspective, the Japan accident was not the first time a death has been linked to the game.

In San Francisco earlier this month, a man was shot dead while playing Pokémon Go and in Brazil police are investigating whether or not a nine-year old boy drowned in a river while playing the game.

Also Read: How Pokémon Go trainers are changing the world, in stats

On average, 30 million people are playing Pokémon Go across the world per day.

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The post Truck accident fatality is first death attributed to Pokémon Go in Japan appeared first on e27.

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