Ontario Premier Advises Pokémon Go Players to Look Up While Walking

According to a CBC News report, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has advised all Pokémon Go players to keep their eyes off their phones when walking, especially at intersections. She said that looking up from your phone is really about common sense, and people understanding that they can put themselves at risk by focusing on their phone instead of their surroundings.

Wynne says she always advised her children to make eye contact with drivers when crossing the road, and points out you can’t do that if you’re looking down at your phone. 

Last week, the province dismissed a request from the city of Toronto to amend the Highway Traffic Act to ban people from texting while walking on roads, saying the city could pass its own bylaw if it wanted to. Wynne says she’s only interested in regulations and bylaws that are enforceable, suggesting she thinks it’s impossible to actually stop people from texting, emailing or playing games on their phones while walking.

While Pokémon Go has just been officially released in Canada, many users had already figured out (by using this workaround) on how to download the app over a week ago.