It has been seen from time to time that some technologies can bring forth some unintended and ugly consequences. Like the impact of robots taking over the industry and leaving millions of workers jobless and the obesity epidemic, one more implementation of technology is accountable for a number of fatalities. Pokémon Go has been largely associated with traffic incidents, but what is the full damage? This answer was sought out by a study led by researchers from Krannert School of Management, Purdue University.
We should know that GPS system, infotainment systems, and cell phone usage during driving has been a major factor in increasing traffic fatalities in the recent years. The proof was provided by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) which reported that the traffic fatalities in 1988 were 42,130 which declined to about 29,850 by 2011. After 2011, instead of declining further, the trend reverse, and the traffic fatalities in 2016 were reported to be at around 37,500.
Professor Mara Faccio and John J. McConnell tried to quantify the damage done by the Pokémon Go application. The researchers collected the data from 1st March 2015 to 30th November 2016. Traffic crashes were investigated near “PokéStops” to see if the rate of accidents was higher where the activity of Pokémon Go app was higher.
After countless hours of collecting data and processing it through the algorithms, the study concluded that Pokémon Go related accidents increased by over 145,000 from the start of July 2016 to the end of November 2016. Injuries increased by over 29,000, and deaths by over 250. The study also mentioned that the spike in traffic incidents cooled down as the craze and hype of the application cooled down.
