Millions of people use Google Maps daily to help them get to tricky destinations in areas they’re unfamiliar with.
It’s regarded as an excellent service that is massively helpful to drivers and commuters alike.
However, very few things in life are perfect, and an over-dependence on Google Maps led one woman on a traumatic journey that ended up with her being hit by a motorcyclist.
The woman was Lauren Rosenberg of Utah, who then launched a lawsuit against Google after the incident in 2010.
She downloaded Google directions onto her Blackberry from one part of Park City to the other and followed the route.
However, the map guided her onto the Utah State Route 224 – a major road with no sidewalks.
She unquestioningly followed that route and was sadly involved in the crash.
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She sued Google for around $100,000 after the incident for failing to warn her there was no safe place for pedestrians on the route.
Her suit said: “Google Maps led her to walk on a busy road without sidewalks that were not reasonably safe for pedestrians.” I
It also said: “As a direct and proximate cause of Defendant Google’s careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions, plaintiff Lauren Rosenberg was led onto a dangerous highway and was thereby stricken by a motor vehicle.”
The case didn’t go well for her.
It was heard in 2011, and the court dismissed it, with the judge saying: “It is clear that Google was not required to anticipate that a user of the Google Maps service would cross the road without looking for cars . . . and that, absent negligence on the user’s part, an injury while crossing the road would be unlikely.”
This meant Google can’t really be held responsible for its users not looking at a road and realizing they might be in danger.
