Kicker: Distracted driving

NICK EICHER, HOST: A trooper in Washington state pulled over to help what he thought might be a driver in trouble, stopped on the shoulder. 

Sergeant Kyle Smith quickly learned it wasn’t car trouble. It was distracted driver trouble. As in, Pokemon Go. 

Now, in case you don’t know, that’s a game you play on your phone. It puts characters at different points on a real world map. You actually have to visit those locations in real life to play the game. 

The thing is, the driver Sergeant Smith pulled over wasn’t playing on just one phone. He was playing on eight of them. Eight different phones! 

The sergeant didn’t give him a ticket because he was parked and not playing while driving. But he reminded the driver that the shoulder is for emergencies only. And he got the gamer to put the phones in the back seat and to continue safe driving with eight fewer distractions.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Sgt. Kyle Smith/Washington State Patrol via AP) In this Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019 photo provided by the Washington State Patrol, a piece of foam, cut to hold eight mobile phones in place—all of them playing the game Pokemon Go.

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