# Google maps sued for drowning death
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 26, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720 "2023-09-26T12:58:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/41 "2023-09-26T15:01:56Z")
Someone destroyed the barricades.
If there were barricades and someone unaffiliated with the property recently removed them, that changes things significantly
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/42 "2023-09-26T15:04:28Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> I remember reading in one news report that the absence of barricades was attributed to “vandalism”,
Interesting! The street view shows “jersey barricades”. You can’t haul them off without a forklift.
Here’s the view from the other side. I don’t see the jersey blocks here, just a fence.
> **[Google Maps](https://maps.app.goo.gl/HxSCGJL8K24Cx31E8)**
>
> Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
I just noticed the image with the Jersey barricade are May 2023, but the fence one was 2019! The accident was 2022.
And to weigh in on the OP, I don’t fault google at all. This is all on local authorities who left a hazard. If the bridge was left unblocked, you wouldn’t need a GPS to send you over it, you could do that by yourself.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/43 "2023-09-26T15:08:27Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Interesting! The street view shows “jersey barricades”. You can’t haul them off without a forklift.
Yes, that’s why I took that report of “vandalism” with a pinch of salt, it didn’t give any details. You’d certainly think that if this dangerous situation had persisted for years the barricade _should_ be very substantial, not something that stupid pranking teenagers could destroy.
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> I just noticed the image with the Jersey barricade are May 2023, but the fence one was 2019! The accident was 2022.
I think they are probably not going to evade liability at all by claiming that vandals are reponsible.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/44 "2023-09-26T15:12:31Z")
> [@griffin1977](#):
>
> I’ve seen plenty of cases where bridges have been closed for years after they were found to be unsafe (e.g. this [one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor%27s_Bridge_(Patuxent_River)) by my in-laws house in Maryland that’s been closed since 2015), but in my experience are barricaded like they have an exploded nuclear bomb balanced on them (that one has two sets of massive concrete barriers and innumerable warning signs).
Agreed. While the Division Street bridge in Blue Island was closed, [**Division Street Bridge**](http://www.chicagotalks.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/13883989017_84e974389b_z.jpg), there was no doubt!
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/45 "2023-09-26T15:13:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> And to weigh in on the OP, I don’t fault google at all. This is all on local authorities who left a hazard.
It’s not all one or the other. Most jurisdictions have contributory liability: that two or more actors may have contributed to the accident, and therefore are all liable.
If Google is showing a non-existent bridge, that could well be contributory negligence.
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/46 "2023-09-26T15:14:57Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Your pin is pointing at a house. The “bridge” is buried in some trees.
The link goes to the bridge location. The pin is to the house that was the route’s destination (or start point).
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/47 "2023-09-26T15:23:07Z")
I use Google Maps on my phone all the time to go to places I know well. I used it Friday night to navigate to a brewery we visit several times a month. Along the route there are several turns I could make that have similar ETAs, but Friday night several of those turns told me they’d add 10 minutes to my trip. I chose the quickest course.
I also use it to select similar (or close) ETAs without tolls. Why spend $1.25 when I can instead drive an extra minute?
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/48 "2023-09-26T15:26:59Z")
As soon as I saw that article, I texted it to my wife.
Back in May, I’d booked us a cabin in the North Carolina mountains, not too far from this incident, for our twentieth wedding anniversary weekend getaway. We followed Google Maps to the address.
If you’re not familiar with backwoods Appalachia, I’ll have none of your “I can find my way without GPS!” nonsense.
I’d deliberately chosen a cabin away from civilization. But I wasn’t anticipating the route. First, it took us down a private road, which, okay. Then it took us to a dead-end in a small family graveyard. As we turned around, we saw a street sign peppered with buckshot.
We got back on route, a tiny gravel road next to a railroad track. And by “next to,” I mean “five feet from.” Like, if a train had come, it woulda blown our Prius off the road.
We reached a point where Google maps said to continue straight for a half mile. Only problem was, that wasn’t a choice. To the left was a small cattle bridge going across the river. To our right was a railroad crossing that ended in a gated private driveway. Continuing straight would take us into the kudzu: there was no road.
It was getting on toward nightfall, and I stopped the car and got out and wandered around that intersection for about five minutes, hoping that maybe a road would appear, like some sort of enchanted mirage would clear or I’d realize the kudzu was a holographic projection or something. It was completely irrational, but I just couldn’t accept that the road was done and Google thought it wasn’t.
Eventually we called the cabin’s owner, and he was like, “I have no idea why you’re that way, here are the real directions.” We ignored Google, followed his directions, and showed up just fine.
But I’m convinced that Google AI is exploring the limits of human willingness to follow insane directions; and when I saw this article, realized that Google wants to kill Appalachians in particular.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/49 "2023-09-26T15:31:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> If you’re not familiar with backwoods Appalachia, I’ll have none of your “I can find my way without GPS!” nonsense.
Yeah - think how hard it was for those generations of Appalachians who were housebound while awaiting the invention of computers and satellites! 😉
This was 4 freaking miles from the guy’s home. Perhaps he just moved in, but I saw nothing to suggest that.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/50 "2023-09-26T15:33:22Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Why spend $1.25 when I can instead drive an extra minute?
That’s what a lawyer who earns $20 a minute would say.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/51 "2023-09-26T15:39:12Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> Yeah - think how hard it was for those generations of Appalachians who were housebound while awaiting the invention of computers and satellites!
They would sometimes travel as far a _cousin_’s house for a date.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/52 "2023-09-26T15:40:08Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> **Actual Conditions; Assumption of Risk**
> When you use Google Maps/Google Earth’s map data, traffic, directions and other content, you may find that actual conditions differ from the map results and content, so exercise your independent judgment and use Google Maps/Google Earth at your own risk. You’re responsible at all times for your conduct and its consequences.
Does that have the same legal standing as truck stickers that say you have to stay 150 feet back because they are not liable if stuff falls out of their truck and hits your car if you are closer?
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/53 "2023-09-26T15:46:11Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> If you’re not familiar with backwoods Appalachia, I’ll have none of your “I can find my way without GPS!” nonsense.
>
> I’d deliberately chosen a cabin away from civilization…
If you want to survive a trip like this, always travel with a jerk, a Black guy and some promiscuous teenagers.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/54 "2023-09-26T15:47:58Z")
It’s not just Google Maps. GPSs have been known to direct drivers – those who follow instructions blindly – to strange places, some of them very wet. I love my GPS and use it whenever I’m driving to or from unfamiliar locations. The Speaking Lady is reassuring and usually very accurate, and her little chimes announcing upcoming turns are very helpful. But on one occasion in Downtown Big City the Speaking Lady directed me to make a turn onto a side street, which I did, only to discover that it was a **former** side street and was now part of a dedicated LRT right-of-way. I managed to get the hell out of there before being hit by a train.
I’m not sure of the moral of the story except that life is fraught with peril, but on the subject of the OP, although Google may or may not share some responsibility, whoever was responsible for that road and/or bridge should bloody well be charged with manslaughter.
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/55 "2023-09-26T15:49:48Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> This was 4 freaking miles from the guy’s home. Perhaps he just moved in, but I saw nothing to suggest that.
You keep repeating that in a thread about this person’s death, which seems pretty distasteful to me.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/56 "2023-09-26T15:57:19Z")
I recently had a milder version of that story on some back roads on Hawai’i Island. There are certain areas that the County doesn’t maintain - signs will tell you when you are entering privately maintained roads (which are usually pretty rough, but sometimes nice if people pitch in the cash to keep them up).
Anyway, I had to pick up a friend who lives back in one of those unmaintained areas; I followed Google Maps and the roads were so bad I thought I was going to bottom out and wreck my car. Eventually I got to the intersection where she was waiting, and she just laughed when she saw the road I was approaching on. “You went THAT way? Why didn’t you take [other road name]?”
As I explained, I went the way Google directed me. But apparently there is a much less harrowing route to her place.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/57 "2023-09-26T16:10:16Z")
> [@Babale](#):
>
> You keep repeating that in a thread about this person’s death, which seems pretty distasteful to me.
What is distasteful? My wonder that a person with a 9 yr old child would apparently be somewhat unaware of how to navigate his neighborhood?
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> As I explained, I went the way Google directed me. But apparently there is a much less harrowing route to her place.
Yeah - we had a similar experience the first time we drove to our friends’ in MI referred to upthread. But even using paper maps, at times a “shortcut” has proven anything but.
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/58 "2023-09-26T16:14:25Z")
We encountered a similar incident last March, while driving eastbound I-40 just east of Galllup, NM. There was a massive traffic backup due to construction, of which Google Maps was aware. Google told us to turn exit the interstate and turn onto a secondary road, but that route had obviously been previously attempted, as there was a big hand-painted sign that said something to the effect of ‘GPS is Wrong! Dead End! Don’t go this way!’ When we saw other cars coming back on that road, we consulted an atlas (you know, one of those big books of maps), and decided to drive on 2-lane state highways. It was an hour out of our way, but we saw some gorgeous country and encountered very little traffic.
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/59 "2023-09-26T16:18:46Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> What is distasteful? My wonder that a person with a 9 yr old child would apparently be somewhat unaware of how to navigate his neighborhood?
Yes, that - you’re framing the fact that he used a map app to navigate somewhere he’d apparently never been before as if it is some kind of moral falling.
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-sued-for-drowning-death/990720/60 "2023-09-26T16:19:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Eventually we called the cabin’s owner, and he was like, “I have no idea why you’re that way, here are the real directions.” We ignored Google, followed his directions, and showed up just fine.
I’ve had this a few times in remote holiday cabins in Virginia and California. Though normally its in teh description (I assume after learning the hard way) something like “Don’t follow Google maps! Take the creepy single track road on the left by the shamshackle barn, for one mile, then turn right on the the dirt track, the cabin is at the top of the hill through the deep dark wood”
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