Road Safety News
This Is What Can Happen When You Play Pokémon Go While Driving
Mark Beth Quirk- Consumerist
For anyone who thinks that warnings like this one from AAA to not play Pokémon Go while driving aren’t necessary, just look at what happened to a New York guy’s car after he peeked at his Pokémon for just a second behind the wheel.
A 28-year-old driver slammed his car into a tree on Tuesday in upstate New York, Auburn City Police said in a news release [PDF]. Police said he “admitted to actively playing the ‘Pokémonn Go’ game while driving causing him to become distracted and run off the roadway into a tree.”
He wasn’t seriously injured, suffering a broken ankle and cuts to his leg, but his car looks like it fought a tree and the tree won, which is exactly what happened. The driver is expected to be cited in the incident.
His mother wrote on Facebook cited by The Smoking Gun that although her son won’t answer a phone call or text behind the wheel, when he saw a “‘special’ Pokémonn on his app… He looked down for a minute and woke up in an ambulance.” She adds that he’s thankful no one was in the now crumpled passenger seat.
As for that wily Pokémon, it’s unclear if the guy caught it or not, and it doesn’t matter now, because his “phone is buried in the twisted plastic and metal that used to be his brother’s car,” his mom writes.
Speaking of which, let’s take a good long look at this thing in all its wrecked glory, just to let it sink in. Because really, this guy is very lucky to be alive. Others might not be so fortunate.
