What are common pitfalls when accessing a JSON string in PHP due to UTF-8 problems?

When accessing a JSON string in PHP, common pitfalls due to UTF-8 problems include incorrectly encoded characters leading to errors or unexpected behavior. To solve this issue, it is important to ensure that the JSON string is properly decoded using the `json_decode()` function with the `JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE` flag to preserve UTF-8 characters.

$jsonString = '{"name": "John D\u00f3e"}';
$data = json_decode($jsonString, true, 512, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);

// Accessing the decoded data
echo $data['name']; // Output: John Dóe