Don’t ‘Pokemon Go’ Behind The Wheel, Warns AAA

If you’ve fallen victim to the national obsession to play Pokemon Go, transportation officials are warning pedestrians and drivers to pay attention to the road for their own safety.

AAA of Mid-Atlantic said Tuesday that just as it regularly tells motorists not to text and drive, or not to drink and drive, gamers should not “Pokemon Go and drive. …Playing Pokemon Go behind the wheel is just as dangerous as any other form of distracted driving,” the auto club says.

AAA officials also caution that distracted pedestrians are risking their safety and the safety of other road users as they take their eyes off the sidewalk and roads.

Millions of Americans have downloaded the Pokemon Go app to their Androids and iPhones in the past week. The mobile app game based on Nintendo's popular Pokemon franchise uses your phone's location settings to create a semi-virtual world where the user is surrounded by Pokemon.

The app is a top download on Apple’s App store and has reportedly been downloaded by 5 percent of Android users since its July 6 release.

“Playing games while driving is a distraction just like sending or reading a text while driving. Put your phone down while behind the wheel,” says Ragina Cooper Averella, public and government affairs manager for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “One quick text or glance to see the next PokeStop could end up causing a crash or worse — costing you or someone else their life.”

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AAA offers these tips to help drivers avoid the temptation of texting or gaming while behind the wheel.

• Put your cellphone in the glove compartment or trunk to avoid the temptation.
• Ask for help from the passenger if you need to make a call or text.
• Download a safety app that will lock your phone while you’re driving.

When players are near a Pokemon, their smartphones will vibrate, and the goal is to "catch" the character by throwing a PokeBall and adding it to their PokeDex.

The game uses a phone's GPS and camera to turn the real world into a gigantic scavenger hunt.

There have been reports around the country of people being robbed or injured while playing.

The Baltimore County Police Department also shared safety tips for those playing Pokemon Go after a recent robbery was reported by people playing the game in Parkville.

The app uses a geolocation feature and allows others to anticipate where a crowd may gather, warned the Annapolis Police Department, which said no game-related robberies have happened yet in Annapolis.

"While out and about you should always travel with others, stay in well-lit locations, always stay alert and if you feel uncomfortable you should leave,” police said.

What Is Pokemon Go?

Developers have added PokeStops — from libraries to parks to churches — in each town. Through an in-game item called a “Lure Module,” Pokemon is attracted to a PokeStop for 30 minutes, visible to everyone nearby.

The app led to a series of robberies, say police in O’Fallon, Missouri, where four men reportedly used the game to find players at a specific location and robbed them at gunpoint over the weekend, a spokesperson from the Missouri police department told Gizmodo. The suspects used the Pokemon Go game to find their victims by anticipating where people might go through popular PokeStops — virtual sites in the game that can be designated at any real world location, from businesses to parking lots to churches.

In light of this viral trend, police departments are urging "trainers" to be careful while playing the game, particularly urging people to look both ways when crossing a street.

How to Play Pokemon Go

How does it work? As you move, your smartphone vibrates to let you know you're near a Pokemon. Players then throw a PokeBall to catch it and add it to their PokeDex.

According to Forbes magazine, businesses are jumping on the PokeWagon and advertising that they're a PokeStop on their Facebook pages, which is a great way to entice players to come into their stores.

Have you downloaded Pokemon Go? Tell us where in the comments!

Read more about Pokemon Go here.

Patch Editor Elizabeth Janney contributed to this article.

»Lead photo by Eduardo Woo