Japanese truck driver playing Pokemon Go kills pedestrian

A Japanese truck driver playingPokemon Go while driving hit two women, killing one and injuringthe other, in Japan's first death related to thecraze.

The driver said he had been distracted by the game after hisarrest for negligent driving following the accident on Wednesdayevening, a spokesman for the Tokushima prefectural police said.

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"The driver is still in custody. No decision has been madeyet on whether to proceed with a prosecution," he added.

A spokesman for Niantic Inc, which developed Pokemon Gojointly with Nintendo affiliate Pokemon Company, said thecompany had added a pop-up to the Pokemon Go screen when itdetected an increase in speed asking for confirmation the userwas not driving.

He didn't say whether the developer would take further stepsto guard against accidents.

A spokesman for Nintendo offered condolences to the familyof the dead woman.

"Pokemon Company and Niantic endeavour to create anenvironment where people can play the game safely and we willcontinue to do that," he added when asked whether the companywould take any new measures to guard against accidents.

Injuries, robberies

The popularity of augmented-reality Pokemon Go around theworld has generated crowds of people in parks and other publicplaces as user search for monsters, but has also been blamed forinjuries and robberies of distracted users.

Signs at parks and other places in Japan have asked users toavoid creating a nuisance.

Pokemon Go incidents elsewhere have spurned warnings fromauthorities for users to play responsibly.

In Taiwan on Sunday Pokemon Go monster hunters caused astampede in Taipei blocking streets in the capital. Police therehave increased fines on scooter riders found playing the game intraffic.

News reports in July claimed that a Guatemalan teenager wasthe first Pokemon fatality after he was shot breaking into ahouse while playing the game.

Also in July, Pokemon Go players were robbed of theirsmartphones at gunpoint in a north London park in Britain, whilefour teens in Missouri in the U.S. used the game to targetaround a dozen people into armed robberies.

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