Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

CDOT takes pre-emptive stance on Pokemon Go

The Pokemon Go craze may pose a threat on the roads by distracting drivers, so on Wednesday, the Colorado Department of Transportation posted this message on digital boards around the state, including in Durango.

Americans can’t seem to get the message that distracted driving causes crashes, so Colorado Department of Transportation officials decided to take a preventive approach on digital signs across the state Wednesday reminding drivers not to Pokemon and drive.

“It came about probably 10 days ago,” CDOT spokesman Sam Cole said, “when we received some concern from a citizen about Pokemon Go. It’s been picking up steam by the day, and people are starting to get obsessed by it.”

Pokemon Go is a game played on smartphones. People capture Pokemon characters that are overlaid on their environment and the collected characters may be trained to battle. Another aspect of the game has players collecting eggs, which only hatch more Pokemon characters after the gamer has walked a certain distance.

By Wednesday, more than 30 million people around the world had downloaded the app since Ninantic began the rollout July 6. The game has been credited with getting more people, both adults and children, walking.

“I have heard you can play by driving really slowly,” Cole said. “Clearly, that guy playing it down the street in Baltimore was.”

He referred to a crash that occurred Monday, when a driving player crashed into the back of a Baltimore police car.

So far, Pokemon Go does not seem to have created much of a problem on the roads in Southwest Colorado, Colorado State Patrol Capt. Adrian Driscoll said.

“I did a straw poll of troopers at the office,” he said. “No one had seen anything that seemed to be Pokemon Go-related.”

Trooper Josh Lewis, a spokesman for the state patrol based in Denver, said the same is true across the state, but that may be because drivers aren’t close enough to see people’s cellphone screens.

“We get 4,000 to 5,000 calls every month in Denver alone reporting dangerous drivers,” Lewis said, “drunk drivers, yes, but many involve texting. Playing Pokemon Go falls under the same statute as texting. If you take your eyes off the road, stop paying attention, it’s just a recipe for disaster.”

For right now, CDOT’s campaign is only scheduled to run the one time.

“We haven’t decided if we’ll run it again,” Cole said. “There are so many types of distractions, and we don’t want to make Pokemon Go seem like a bigger driving distraction than it is.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

Jul 15, 2016
Play Pokemon Go? ‘Catch’ real animals while you’re at it
Jul 14, 2016
Pokemon Go: Where to ‘catch ’em all’ in Durango


Reader Comments