According to CNN, a driver who was playing the very popular Pokemon Go game on his cell phone, crashed into a parked police car. Fortunately, the police car was unoccupied at the time of the crash and nobody sustained any serious car accident injuries.
Police bodycam video of the car accident shows the SUV colliding with the parked police car. The driver is seen exiting the SUV and admitting that he was playing the game while he was driving. T.J. Smith, a Baltimore police spokesman, pointed out that a pedestrian could have been injured or killed had he or she been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This car accident brings up the risk factors involved with playing a cell phone game while driving, which can be similar to texting while driving. Both are unsafe and cause drivers to take their eyes off the road and focus on the phone. This can result in tragic outcomes.
If there is a death caused by a driver playing Pokemon Go, the heirs of the decedent may decide to make a wrongful death claim against both the driver and the makers of the game, which is already setting download records. It may be argued that the game encourages people to drive while watching their phones instead of the road. The game may include a disclaimer warning users not to play while driving, but the manufacturers may be aware that drivers will play while driving regardless of the disclaimer. It would be up for the courts to decide if such a disclaimer would be binding.
Also, many of us frequently see people walking around Los Angeles and other cities while staring down at their cell phones and playing Pokemon Go. If one of those players gets hit by a car, falls in a hole in the ground, or sustains another type of serious injury or death due to not paying attention to where he or she is going, there may be more claims against the makers of the game.