Japanese truck driver playing Pokemon Go kills pedestrian

[Bradley K. Sperman]

A Japanese truck driver playing Pokemon Go while driving hit two
women, killing one and injuring the other, in Japan's first
death related to the Nintendo Co craze.

The driver said he had been distracted by the game after his
arrest for negligent driving following the accident on Wednesday
evening, a spokesman for the Tokushima prefectural police said.

"The driver is still in custody. No decision has been made yet
on whether to proceed with a prosecution," he added

A spokesman for Niantic, which developed Pokemon GO jointly with
Nintendo affiliate Pokemon Company, said the company had added a
pop-up to the Pokemon Go screen when it detected an increase in
speed asking for confirmation the user was not driving.

He didn't say whether the developer would take further steps to
guard against accidents.

A spokesman for Nintendo offered condolences to the family of
the dead woman.

"Pokemon Company and Niantic endeavour to create an environment
where people can play the game safely and we will continue to do
that," he added when asked whether the company would take any
new measures to guard against accidents.

The popularity of augmented-reality Pokemon Go around the world
has generated crowds of people in parks and other public places
as user search for monsters, but has also been blamed for
injuries and robberies of distracted users.

Signs at parks and other places in Japan have asked users to
avoid creating a nuisance.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nintendo-pokemon-death-
idUSKCN110091?il=0