These days, we all use Google Maps to get from one place to another. There is a reason for this: The probability of getting wrong directions in the application is very low. However, some exceptional situations can also result in disaster. Let’s take a look at the details of the news.
The family of a US man who fell and drowned while trying to drive across a collapsed bridge claims that Google Maps did not update it and that is why the man died
Philip Paxson died while trying to cross the damaged bridge in Hickory, North Carolina, in September 2022. Paxson’s family will sue the company over Paxson’s death, claiming that Google is still providing directions from the bridge even though it collapsed nine years ago.
The company was sued last Tuesday, and a Google spokesperson said the company was reviewing the allegations.
According to the lawsuit filed by the family, Paxson, a father of two, was returning home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party at a friend’s house and was in an unfamiliar neighborhood when he crashed.
His wife had dropped his two daughters off at home earlier and he had stayed home to help with the cleaning. So it was common for the man to be alone in the car. However, the statements that it was demolished for the bridge in question were torn down by young people. There was no warning.
In the case, three local companies were also sued on the grounds that they were responsible for maintaining the bridge.
His wife, Alicia Paxson, said in a statement: “Our daughters ask how and why their father died and I can’t find the words they can understand because as an adult I still cannot understand how those responsible for the GPS directions and the bridge could act with such little respect for human life” said.
Google spokesperson said in a statement: “We deeply share the pain of the Paxson family. “Our goal is to provide accurate navigation information on Google Maps and we are investigating this case.”
The family’s lawyers said in a statement announcing the case: “Unfamiliar with the local roads, he relied on Google Maps and waited for it to guide him safely home to his wife and daughters” said.
“Tragically, while driving carefully in the dark and rain, he unsuspectingly followed Google’s inaccurate directions to what locals call the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ and fell into the stream and drowned.”
The lawsuit states that local residents repeatedly contacted Google to change their online maps after the bridge collapse in 2013. What are you thinking? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments.