Teenager Hit By Car Blames Pokemon Go for Making Her Walk Across Highway

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(Via Instagram/_dark.anime.princess_)

Pokemon Go is a very fun, deeply engaging game that has a lot of good qualities. It gets kids outside the house. It gets adults exercise. It creates an instant bond of shared experience among otherwise isolated strangers who suddenly find themselves chasing the same Pikachu across a Walmart frozen foods’ section. It even has been described as a “game changer” by parents who find their children with autism are suddenly making eye contact and talking to strangers and exploring the world around them. But it does have quite a few drawbacks, too. It is extremely distracting, and even though the startup screen warns users to remain aware of their surroundings, the game does seem to make people inclined to walk into walls or ponds or roads without looking where they’re going.

According to WTAE News, one Pittsburgh teenager is lucky to be alive this week after she was hit by a car while in the process of crossing a four-lane road in search of Pokemon. Fortunately she survived, but she says she does blame the game for the accident.

“To where it is set up, we have to cross roads to go get it. I do, blame it” said 15-year-old Autumn Deiseroth, who was lucky to suffer only minor injuries.

Deiseroth’s mother agrees that the accident was the game’s fault.

“Kids don’t just cross the highway for no reason,” Deiseroth’s mother said. “This thing had her crossing the highway to chase a Pokemon.”

The game is very distracting and it’s pretty addictive, but it doesn’t actually force anyone to go anywhere. If a Pokemon is in an inconvenient or unreachable location, one can always just go somewhere else and get a different one. There is probably a Pokemon at my ex-boyfriend’s house, but I’m not going to go get it.

Also, news reports say that Desieroth crossed the road to get to Pokemon that were stationed at a museum. If putting a museum there isn’t forcing people to run across the road, putting Pokemon in the museum doesn’t seem like it would make it more dangerous.

Deiseroth’s mother in part blames the game because she says her daughter would never have left the house if not for the Pokemon.

“When she called and said she got hit by a car, I blamed the game because she would not have been out of the house. My daughter is a hermit,” she said.

That’s actually one of the things parents and players like best about Pokemon Go. Kids are getting a ton of exercise because of it, and the dogs of the world are being taken on more walks than they’ve ever seen in their lives.

Pokemon Go is a great game, but people still need to remember to watch where they’re going.

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