For kids and adults alike, the recent Pokémon GO smartphone game has been an exciting activity around Southern California and throughout the country. However, according to a recent report from Inquisitr.com, the game has also resulted in a number of alarming accidents and injuries. You might have heard about pedestrian accidents caused by distracted walking, but Pokémon GO has taken these collisions to a new level, along with serious distracted driving crashes. The problem is not only one affecting people who play the game. Pokémon GO players—due to extreme distractions from the game—are causing serious accidents that are impacting other pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists who are paying attention to the rules of the road.

What should you know about this new smartphone game, and how can you avoid serious accidents and injuries?

Pokémon GO Causes Accidents in Southern California and Across the U.S.

According to the report, the Pokémon GO app contains a warning to its users, encouraging them to “pay attention to your surroundings as you hunt for Pokémon in the real world.” However, as the report makes clear, this new smartphone game “has proven so engrossing that many of its players are ignoring the warning” to the detriment of themselves and others around them. Some of the accidents and injuries caused by distracted players are minor, including sprained ankles or trivial collisions with trees, doors, or curbs. However, some of the accidents are much more severe, and several have even resulted in life-threatening injuries.

For example, in Southern California, two men “actually walked off a cliff in Encinitas” while engaged in the smartphone game. According to a report from NBC San Diego, lifeguards in the area “reported that someone had fallen off a cliff at E Street around 1:12 p.m.” The Encinitas Fire Department arrived at the scene and found that one man had fallen off a cliff, down about 80 feet to the ground. A second man was discovered around 50 feet beneath the cliff and was unconscious. The men were aged 21 and 22 respectively, and both were rushed to Scripps La Jolla Hospital nearby. In other parts of the country, incidents of similar severity have occurred. For example, an ex-Marine reportedly drove into a tree because he was so distracted by Pokémon GO.

Staying Safe While Playing Games on Your Smartphone

No matter how invested you might be in a smartphone game, you should never use your device while you are driving. Distracted driving, according to Distraction.gov, puts many different people at risk of serious injuries, including drivers, passengers, and bystanders. What can you do to help prevent a Pokémon GO-related accident? According to the Inquisitr report, the American Red Cross has offered some important tips for playing the game safely:

• Use battery-saver mode on your smartphone so that you do not have to be looking at your phone constantly; and
• Similar to swimming, use the buddy system when you are playing to avoid dangerous areas and to spot potential hazards that might be in your group’s path.

In addition, do not attempt to play Pokémon GO if you are driving. In addition to putting yourself and others at risk of involvement in a serious or even deadly crash, California law prohibits handheld smartphone use for anyone behind the wheel.

If you or someone you know got hurt as a result of distracted driving or other negligent behavior, an experienced San Diego personal injury lawyer can help. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to discuss your case.

See Related Blog Posts: Pedestrian Hit-and-Run Accidents in San Diego Using Crash-Test Dummies to Make Uber Riding Safer

(photo courtesy of José María Mateos)

Although it’s wintertime, many Californians have the luxury of riding bicycles at any time of the year. However, bicycle accidents can be deadly, especially when they’re caused by distracted or aggressive driving. A recent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that a bicycle advocacy group, People Power, is hoping to create “bikeways near highway interchanges” in order to make those intersections safer for cyclists.

While these changes would only affect the Santa Cruz area in the most immediate terms, it’s very likely that bicycle advocacy groups across the state could push for additional measures to make bicycling a safer activity in the San Diego area.

Making Bicycle Transportation Safer Cycling accidents can happen anywhere—in bike lanes, at interchanges, and even when a cyclist is stopped at a traffic light. However, interchanges pose significant risks for auto accidents, and bicyclists can get caught in the middle. To be sure, the bike community in California “knows these areas as dangerous places to ride.” Why? Most notably, “when motorists are getting on or off the freeway, they’re driving much faster than cyclists.”

Many freeway intersections in California don’t even have cameras, so it’s impossible to know how many times a bicyclist has been cut off or almost involved in an accident with a speeding driver. According to one cyclist in the Santa Cruz area, riders often feel as though they’re risking their safety when they ride through a freeway interchange. “There are a lot of avoided and unreported accidents,” the rider explained.

Without bikeways near highway intersections, numerous California cyclists are dissuaded from riding bicycles as a primary mode of transportation. However, with more bikes on the roads, the safer cycling becomes. Indeed, according to Amelia Conlen, the director of People Power, “with more cyclists, there’s more of a perception of safety.” She went on to explain that, “by making cyclists more visible on the road, it can make them feel like they belong on the road.”

Bicycle Accident Facts and Figures: What You Need to Know

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “bicyclists face a higher risk of crash-related injury and deaths than occupants of motor vehicles do.”

What are some of the risk factors linked to cycling? For one, adolescents aged 15-24 and adults aged 45 and older are at greatest risk of a fatal bicycle accident. Children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old and adolescents between the ages of 15-24 are at greatest risk of injuries in a serious cycling-related accident. And if you’re wondering whether your child’s gender can play a role in his or her risk of a bike accident, males are at much greater risk than females of sustaining serious or fatal injuries in a bicycle crash.

What can you do to prevent a serious or deadly bicycle collision? The CDC recommends the following:

• Wear a helmet, even if it’s not required by law.
• Wear fluorescent clothing, even if you’re riding during daylight hours. It will make you more visible on the road, and if it gets dark while you’re riding, other drivers are more likely to see you.
• Install active lighting on your bicycle, including front white lights and rear red lights. You want to do everything in your power to increase your visibility to other motorists.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a serious bicycle accident or pedestrian accident, don’t hesitate to contact an experienced San Diego personal injury lawyer to discuss your case.

See Related Blog Posts: Auto Accident Leaves Cyclist with Spinal Cord Injury Preventing Bicycle Accidents with San Diego Bike Loop

Deadly Diving Accident Near Catalina

According to a recent article in CBS’s KUTV2, a vacationing physician was recently identified as the victim of a deadly diving accident off the coast of Orange County. The victim, Jared Royer, 40, was on a lobster-diving vacation with a group of other physicians. Royer’s brother-in-law indicated that it was an annual trip, and Royer “was an experienced diver who had been on several similar trips with his colleagues in previous years,” according to a report in The Spectrum. The group was diving in Emerald Bay late in the evening, and around 11p.m., the other physicians noticed that Royer had not returned to the boat.

Royer was an anesthesiologist, and he worked in the operating room and birthing center at a Southern Utah hospital. In addition to his work and prior diving experience, he was an “accomplished triathlete” who had also run the Boston Marathon.

What happened off the coast of Orange County, then? While autopsy results are pending, early indications suggest that Royer “may have run out of air and made a rapid ascent.” The accident happened on the third day of Royer’s dive, and according to the other physicians in the group, he was in about 110 feet of water at the time of the incident.

Royer made it to the surface and called for help, but the other divers could not locate him afterward. After nearly 70 hours in which search and rescue officials from Los Angeles County attempted to locate him, including the Los Angeles County Fire Department dive team, divers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Coast Guard, Royer’s body was found nearly 100 feet underwater at around 11:30a.m.

Diving Accident Trend in Southern California

Since lobster season began on September 27th, Southern California has experienced a striking number of diving-related deaths. While diving fatalities are more common among inexperienced divers or those with existing medical conditions, these dangerous accidents can happen to anyone.

As of October 2nd, five deaths were already been reported, according to Fox 5 San Diego. Four of those deaths occurred at night during lobster-diving excursions, and one of the deaths resulted from a diver’s medical complications. Royer was the fifth fatality reported in just about a week’s time.

What are the primary causes of diving fatalities? According to statistics from the Diver’s Alert Network (DAN), the following represent the top three causes of death resulting from diving accidents:

• A pre-existing medical condition in the diver (such as a disease or other pathology);
• Poor buoyancy control;
• Rapid ascent or violent movement in the water.

While the overall risk of death during scuba diving is low (only 1 in every 211,000 divers suffers a fatal injury, according to the DAN), nighttime diving in Southern California can prove deadly. If you lost a loved one in a diving accident, do not hesitate to contact an experienced San Diego wrongful death lawyer. You may qualify for compensation.

Photo Credit: heirbornstud via morgueFile See Related Blog Posts: Boating Race Accident Fatality Six Children Suffer Near-Drowning Accidents Over a Two-Day Span