Google sued over fatal Google Maps error after man drove off broken bridge
Google sued over fatal Google Maps error after man drove off broken bridge
Google allegedly gave drivers bridge route for years despite correction requests.
How does this can happen?
As a driver if google tells me I should cross a bridge, but there is no bridge I look for a different route. I don't try to cross the nonexistent birdge, that's insane
The article states it was bitchblack at 11pm with no street lights. The issue has been known since 2013 but Google hasn't changed it despite requests.
It's not entirely googles fault, the bridge owner as well but both are being sued per the article
I'm pretty sure "bitchblack" has fallen out of favor as a term to describe something very dark.
"At the conclusion of the party, Mrs. Paxson took her daughters home while Mr. Paxson stayed to help clean up after the party. After Mr. Paxson assisted in the party cleanup, he drove his Jeep Gladiator towards his home in Hickory."
Philip Paxson wasn't familiar with the area and didn't know the bridge was collapsed, the lawsuit said. "Google Maps directed Mr. Paxson to travel home over the Snow Creek Bridge. Unbeknownst to Mr. Paxson, a very large section of the Snow Creek Bridge had collapsed in 2013 and was never repaired," the lawsuit said.
There was no artificial lighting, "and the area was pitch black at 11:00 p.m.,"
Seems pretty simple to me. I have put complete faith in Google maps in poor lighting before and it's literally never occurred to me that it may direct me over a bridge that doesn't exist.
I have put complete faith in Google maps in poor lighting before
And that is a very unsafe way to operate a two ton motor vehicle. As the driver, it is your responsibility to operate your vehicle safely. If you can't operate it safely in the given conditions, you are obligated to not operate it. If lighting conditions are so poor, and your vehicles illumination is insufficient, stop driving.
We test drivers and license them to make sure they know not only the rules of the road but safety measures. Putting "conplete faith" in an automated system is the very definition or irresponsible driving and should be grounds to lose ones license.
You ever see that episode of The Office (US) where Michael drives into a lake because his GPS told him to? It sounds pretty ridiculous, but I have no doubt there's people who put too much faith in their maps
From the article, it sounds like it was too dark to see the bridge was out, but then again you shouldn't be driving where you can't see either
On Lake Livingston in Texas when I was a kid there was one of the roads that went through the valley before it was a lake and was still there. Jsut went straight into the lake. Centerline was still painted on it. It was being used as a boat rampbut I was always surprised I never heard about anyone driving straight into the lake there. At theat time the GPS did show it still as a road straight through the lake which is weird because the lake was made well before GPS existed.
Looks like now they added some artificial land and made a proper boat ramp. I think it was old 190, apparently if you have sonar you can follow the road to the old path of the river and find the old truss bridge still under there.
But it’s a bridge on a road. There’s an expectation that if it’s out there would be barriers blocking it or GPS would be updated. The local government is primarily at fault, but Google is too. It’s negligent and they should do a better job with their incorrect data reports. I’ve had more than one report get denied when I wasn’t wrong.
Once, in the middle of the day when it was bright and shiny, I pulled into a lot. I realized it wasn't attached to the place I wanted to go, so decided to go through the lot and head out another entrance. Except the two lots weren't connected. In fact the lot I was in was raised about a foot higher than the other lot. My tires stopped right on the very edge. Again, this was in the middle of the day with the sun shining. And it was obvious as fuck, as well.
You think you would notice, but the fact is your brain pulls crap like this on you all the time. Right now you can't see the holes in your vision caused by your optic nerves. And it isn't that your visual cortex is merely taking data from one eye to cover a deficiency in another. Close one eye and the hole is still not visible. The visual cortex and the systems it is connected to let you see what they want you to see. I am not asking how could he not notice, but rather, what was his brain doing to make him not realize. Because even in pitch black, with headlights it would still be visible that there is no bridge.
Many people shut off their brain as soon as a computer is involved.
It was dark and rainy
Which is probably how it happened but yea doesn't seem like Google's fault.
So more reasons to be EXTRA careful
Y’know, I just posted about this in a comment chain on the original McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit. Someone was arguing that the lady was responsible and not McDonald’s The court can find more than one entity at fault and by percents, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. In the coffee case, they found the lady 20% at fault and McDonald’s 80% at fault. In this case, if it’s been reported to Google multiple times and they still haven’t fixed it, I can see the court finding them 10% or 20% at fault, and the entity that’s supposed to maintain the road and the sign 80%-90% at fault.
Y’all are arguing like it has to be one and only one party at fault.
Man people are judgy as hell. I like to think that I'd notice and stop too, but at 11pm, tired in the middle of nowhere with no street lights? How many of us know 100% that we would have stopped in time? It's understandable how this happened.
After an entire decade of directing people to drive off a goddamn bridge, Google should apologize to the family and settle. It's shameful. Get a better update team if you're going to provide a mapping service.
It doesn't matter. It should be literally impossible for a map to have any liability under any circumstances.
If the bridge wasn't labeled and blocked properly, all the liability is on the people responsible for it.
I agreed that the bridge owners should be the most responsible. But this bridge has been down for a decade, and with many reports to Google to change the path. The neglect at that side is definitely part of the issue
There is a section of road in my town that I'm guessing was suppose to have a bridge over the local river, but it never happened. The road leads right up to the river bank. In the 30 years I've lived here, there has always been a road block and warning. When a flood wiped out the warning and road block in 2015, they put a new one up. This is 100% the fault of whatever governmental entity is supposed to take care of stuff like that. Whether he was using Google Maps or a Rand-McNally road map is irrelevant because the first line of defense for having kept this from happening is on the local government.
For sure... the city/township/municipality responsible for repairs and upkeep should have clearly marked and coned off this route immediately.
Sure, Google should have updated the route and maybe deserves to pay a small fraction of the total payout depending on how egregious the warnings to them are and specific details of the case...
BUT, whatever entity is responsible for the bridge deserves to pay out most to all of the settlement because it should not have been possible to drive off of the bridge without plowing through a clear barrier.