Lady Walks Onto a Busy Highway Thanks to Google Maps, Gets Hit by a Car
Google added walking directions to their Maps application a while ago, but it’s rare that we hear about anybody using it. The story Gizmodo reported on earlier this past weekend, though, wasn’t as pleasant as some of the success stories that come out of driving directions users who don’t seem to have a good grasp on navigating.
Lauren Rosenburg was the unlucky user that followed Google’s directions turn-for-turn and ended up getting hit by a car. Maps told Lauren to walk onto a busy freeway to get to where she needed to go. The end result? A lawsuit delivered straight to the Googleplex asking them to pony up $100,000.
Whether or not you agree that she has cause to sue, Google reminds users of their navigation and direction features – which are still in beta – to use caution due to missing sidewalks and pedestrian pathways. I just can’t help but question why you would walk onto a busy highway just because Google Maps tells you it’s the best way to go. That’s almost as bad as jumping off of a bridge because you saw someone else do it.
Anyway, you should use caution when using GPS navigation of any kind – whether it be from Google, Garmin, TomTom, etc. – and it’ll go a long way in making sure you don’t walk blindly into 70 miles-per-hour of oncoming traffic.
[note]: Lauren was using Google Maps on her Blackberry, but the same caution applies no matter which platform you’re using Google maps on, including Android.