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Google accused of directing motorist to drive off collapsed bridge (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Philip Paxson's family are suing the company over his death, alleging that Google negligently failed to show the bridge had fallen nine years earlier.

Mr Paxson died in September 2022 after attempting to drive over the damaged bridge in Hickory, North Carolina.

A spokesperson for Google said the company was reviewing the allegations.

The case was filed in civil court in Wake County on Tuesday.

Mr Paxson, a father of two, was driving home from his daughter's ninth birthday party at a friend's house and was in an unfamiliar neighbourhood at the time of his death, according to the family's lawsuit.

His wife had driven his two daughters home earlier, and he stayed behind to help clean up.

"Unfamiliar with local roads, he relied on Google Maps, expecting it would safely direct him home to his wife and daughters," lawyers for the family said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

"Tragically, as he drove cautiously in the darkness and rain, he unsuspectingly followed Google's outdated directions to what his family later learned for nearly a decade was called the 'Bridge to Nowhere,' crashing into Snow Creek, where he drowned."

Local residents had repeatedly contacted Google to have them change their online maps after the bridge collapsed in 2013, the suit claims.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (20 children)

I am not a guy who blindly trusts technology. Why go forward when you cannot see what's in front of you? How can that happen?

AFAIK Google makes a disclaimer about it. A bridge can also be destroyed on the same day, so...

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (16 children)

Tragically, as he drove cautiously in the darkness and rain, he unsuspectingly followed Google's outdated directions to what his family later learned for nearly a decade was called the 'Bridge to Nowhere,' crashing into Snow Creek, where he drowned

From the picture I could easily imagine myself falling into the hole if it was dark and rainy.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (15 children)

Presumably the road to the bridge would've been blocked off with signs and stuf? Is there any information about whether the signage was inadequate? Doesn't excuse Google for but updating the map in almost a decade, but it seems either council or the driver have more responsibility here.

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