Posted on 10/03/2023 12:23:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The family of a North Carolina man who died after driving his car off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps directions is suing the technology giant for negligence
The family of a North Carolina man who died after driving his car off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps directions is suing the technology giant for negligence, claiming it had been informed of the collapse but failed to update its navigation system.
Philip Paxson, a medical device salesman and father of two, drowned Sept. 30, 2022, after his Jeep Gladiator plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court. Paxson was driving home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party through an unfamiliar neighborhood when Google Maps allegedly directed him to cross a bridge that had collapsed nine years prior and was never repaired.
“Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words they can understand because, as an adult, I still can’t understand how those responsible for the GPS directions and the bridge could have acted with so little regard for human life," his wife, Alicia Paxson, said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I have no sympathy for GOOGLE, but this lawsuit is ridiculous.
Their maps are screwed up all the time
“Recalculating....Recalculating....Recalculating....”
Were there no signs or roadblocks ?
Did the bridge collapse just happen and no one knew yet?
Medical device salesman drives off a cliff because he was tricked by computer programs? Send that little blue police box/phone booth here QUICKLY
Not Google’s fault....................
Collapsed NINE years prior... no barriers or warning signs. I’m thinking Google is much less at fault than the state.
How about suing the publisher of an old map that you found in the attic which doesn’t show that the bridge over the river is out?
NO map can be guaranteed to be absolutely up to date, ever.
NO town can be expected to block off a bridge that has collapsed in real time. There will be some delay. Could be an hour, but there will be a delay.
Google cannot be expected to have absolutely up to date maps updated in real time. Cannot happen.
The guy should have known this and not assumed that everything on his electronic device was absolutely up to date. Too bad he died, but it’s his fault.
I agree, unless they were notified of the bridge outage and did not update their maps I don't see any liability here.
Let’s start with why DOT didn’t have baricades. As for Google, software gets updated when software gets updated. Personally I’m generally very impressed with how quickly Google Maps recognizes there’s a road problem. I also have no idea how they figure all that out. I’d guess though they’re probably “listening” to the phones of cars in the traffic snarl and figuring out from stoppages and slow downs and diversions what is probably an accident or closure. In the end though you can never trust the machine more than your eyes. Of course bridges tend to arc so it might be hard to eyeball. So again we get back to if somebody could notify Google they probably could have blocked the road.
You are responsible for driving. If you cannot recognize a dangerous curve/bridge/etc and run into something don’t blame the map maker.
Too bad he already spawned, looks like genes might bear part of the blame for this level of stupidity.
Oh, and all those numbnutts out there waiting for self driving cars?? Heh, heh. You will be the ones second in line, right after the fatally stupid crowd.
The question is not who is at fault. The question is who has the deep and easily accessed pockets.
Woh 9 years. I missed that. OK Google definitely screwed up. But DOT screwed up more.
Still.. no barriers? just a road that ends at a drop off?
“I’m thinking Google is much less at fault than the state.”
The state has sovereign immunity, an artifact from English law regarding the divine right of Kings. “The King is never wrong.”
Having said that, not their fault, this time.
The state and local governments who did not put a stinking barricade, they are at fault. Let's not even get into the fact that the bridge fell NINE years ago and has not yet been repaired.
Yep, and it’s much easier to get a jury to find google liable than to find (essentially) themselves liable, since they are taxpayers who will have to foot the bill.
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