In a researchers at Purdue University's Krannert School of Management claim the game caused "a disproportionate increase in vehicular crashes and associated vehicular damage, personal injuries, and fatalities in the vicinity of locations, called PokéStops, where users can play the game while driving."
Using data from one municipality, the paper extrapolates what that might mean nationwide and concluded "the increase in crashes attributable to the introduction of Pokémon GO is 145,632 with an associated increase in the number of injuries of 29,370 and an associated increase in the number of fatalities of 256 over the period of July 6, 2016, through November 30, 2016."
The authors extrapolated the cost of those crashes and fatalities at between $2bn and $7.3 billion for the same period in USA only.
We obviously have the same problem with pedestrians walking and watching YouTube or listening to music.
There was a more than 3% increase in the number of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in USA during 2018, totaling 6,283 deaths — the most deaths since 1990.
