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Family sues Google after Maps allegedly directed father off collapsed bridge (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
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Tech company faces negligence lawsuit after Philip Paxson died from driving off a North Carolina bridge destroyed years ago

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[+] -6 points 3 years ago (9 children)

The company literally directed this man to his death. Why are all these commenters going to bat for a trillion dollar company that refused to pay a programmer for the ten seconds it would take to fix thee issue?

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  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago*

    I once approached a red light and the satnav commanded me to "go straight". I almost did so, because a robot voice told me to do it. Would it have been the map's fault because it didn't know the traffic light was red? No, it would've been me, because I didn't pay **enough ** attention for a moment, following a command blindly. Drivers have to be aware of their surroundings all the time.

    Here in this case there should have been a road block and hazard signs in front of it.

    This all reminds me of the case where some people sued a weather app because it didn't warn them of bad weather and they completely relied on a single source of information.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago* (3 children)

    Because following a GPS blindly is stupidity...yes in this case it has been out 10 years.. but what if it was out 10minutes or what if it was some other hazard in the road or some road workers fixing somthing... you should be paying attention to the road and signs....now I agree signs should have been there. But just because the satnav says okay doesn't mean driver can just blindly follow, you are a dangerous driver not aware of your surroundings and in wet conditions going too fast for the distance you can safely see.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    If it had only been out for ten minutes, then there would have been no way for Google to update the map. You realize the whole issue is that they've been contacted about it multiple times over around a decade right?

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    That is not the point when we say it could have been out 10 min....the point is there are all sorts of unmapped obstacles in the road so saying driving off a bridge is a maps fault is showing poor driving skills.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    It is simply not the responsibility of google to prevent this tragedy. It is firstly the responsibility of every driver to make sure to be able to see where you are driving and be able to stop in time in case of unexpected. What if there was a person in his path and he could not stop in time for example?

    And secondly it is the responsibility of the local authority/agency to put up signage and block the road.

    Sure, i am not a fan of giant megacorps either, and it makes sense to be angry at google for not correcting the wrong map data. But strictly from a responsibility perspective, i don't think google should be held accountable here.

    I also believe the thinking "directed this man to death" is too extreme. It simply is a map, with route information. There is no automatic driving or compulsion to follow its direction, the driver has to make safe decisions by himself imo.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago*

    What if there was a person in his path and he could not stop in time for example?

    Then that would be on him, because google did not receive multiple reports of a person in the middle of the road for ten goddamn years, and it's easier to spot a person in the middle of the road than it is to spot this

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