Hit by car, woman sues Google for bad walking directions

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-39728-Tech-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m5d29-Hit-by-car-woman-sues-Google-for-bad-walking-directions

We've warned in the past that you shouldn't blindly rely on your GPS unit to give you directions, as people have been led astray (and nearly off cliffs) before. What about walking directions? If led onto a busy highway and hit by a car, can you sue?

That's the question being raised in a lawsuit by Lauren Rosenberg. She claims that after using Google Maps' "Walking Directions" feature on her BlackBerry (there's the problem: not Android or iPhone), she was led onto a busy highway and hit by a car.

Rosenberg has sued both Google and the car driver, Patrick Harwood, for damages in excess of $100,000. The events occurred January 19, 2009, when Rosenberg, using her Blackberry, got directions between 96 Daly Street and 1710 Prospector Avenue in Park City, UT.

Google's directions led her to “Deer Valley Drive.” Unfortunately, that's also an alternate name for the highway known as Utah State Route 224, which lacks sidewalks. Since Google didn't warn her about that fact, she claims Google is at fault.

A Mormon being that stupid is very plausible.

Though the jury is still out on whether I am stupid.

I think that might sway the jury, one way or the other.

YOU GET NOTHING!!

With that said, I'd never sue Google for my stupidity.

Yahoo better lawyer up.

Non-Mormons in Utah are one of the most politically liberal White demographics in the United States, believe it or not. They're more liberal than atheists as a whole but more conservative than Jews as a whole. Pretty sure it's almost unanimously non-religious types and liberal Protestants though.

I have the right to Mormon-bash though; they stole my cousin's kids.

She should have to pay Google for being a dumbass.

Stupidity at its finest.

highway, or for not installing a pedestrian bridge, EXACTLY where she tried to cross, come on lady why are you being so careless and lazy with your lawsuit...oh wait nevermind.

Walking directions are in beta.
Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

Or they did before and she missed it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=1710+Prospector+Avenue,+Park+City,+UT&daddr=96+Daly+Ave,+Park+City,+UT+84060&geocode=FRNzbAIdCqha-SklNRqTXW1ShzFgleT-h7NYoQ%3BFZ0WbAId07Za-SkHMelxv3JShzEhedu1VMYxdw&gl=us&hl=en&mra=ls&dirflg=w&sll=40.65007,-111.498065&sspn=0.038616,0.066175&ie=UTF8&ll=40.650039,-111.498699&spn=0.038616,0.066175&z=14

Edit: If she'd clicked the "Turn left at Deer Valley" instruction, she'd see the street view for that intersection, and Deer Valley's unsuitability for pedestrians. She should learn to use her Google. Or learn to turn back when a street is unsafe.

on the BlackBerry. "We have confirmed that version of Google Maps installed on our Nexus One displays the same warning information. However, the version we have on our iPhone 3GS does not."

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-39728-Tech-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m5d29-Hit-by-car-woman-sues-Google-for-bad-walking-directions

Well, we know what issue of liability her lawyer will be banging on, then.

I had my first GPS send me into a brick wall a couple of years ago. I have learned to update regularly.

What idiot walks into oncoming traffic?

FAIL.

Was she wearing "teabags" on her hat? If so then that could explain the whole thing! :evilgrin:

I had a 30 minute walk from the bus stop to his place and a couple of the streets were pedestrian-unsuitable. I just treated it as a choice I made. I could have called a cab or tried public transit, though my not knwoing the city at all would have made the latter difficult.

While it is true that the "suggested" walking directions DO stupidly advise walking on a highway with no sidewalks, it's also easy to see clearly from the Satellite view that there is some sort of bike/walking path running parallel to this entire stretch of highway, and if Ms. Rosenberg was following her walking directions, as printed, she would have noticed this path when she came to the intersection of Main Street and Deer Valley Drive (the highway).

So while Google should make an effort to include the bike path in their directions, it doesn't excuse the stupidity of someone ignoring what's clearly in front of their face.

Last summer when I asked it to give me a walking route from an address in San Francisco to one in Marin it tried to route me up to Stockton, 100+ miles out of the way. No direction-finding program is any better than its underlying database.