Lawsuit: Google Maps Sent Man to Collapsed Bridge

[@keithe2150]

Unbelievable how many comments are here nobody’s ever going to read this one :-)

[@GENXJOPLIN]

STEVE YOU CHEEKY BOI

[@keithe2150]

@@GENXJOPLIN my guess is that googles map lead him to this busted comment with the bridge being out and then he crashed off the end of the comment. I thought for sure nobody would ever read this. Thank you Steve you’re still the best. Your favorite blind viewer.

[@keithe2150]

@@Jack_Russell_Brown thank you for not taking the time to read this. I greatly appreciate it. This world is full of enough clutter as it is take care, but really thanks you’re the best.

[@NishraRama]

What comment?

[@DeIeted]

Now mine can be seen by extension, thanks for your sacrifice.

[@RichardGreuel]

Google maps, waze, etc. reads a public database of the status of roads. If the database isn't updated then they would have no way to know if the road is closed / open / or nonexistent. If Google showed roads closed based on citizen complaints, every homeowner that didn't want people in front of their homes would send anonymous reports saying the road is damaged. My bet is there is more to this story regarding updates to the database, failure to properly close the road, or both.

[@Razmoudah]

And even more sadly, there are times when said databases are decades out of date, and you can easily tell from the Google Maps Satellite View that the road isn't there, but Google Maps still refuses to remove said road. There's a section like that just down the block from my house.

[@antisoda]

One of the best parts of Waze is the utilization of volunteer map editors. An error like this _should_ not persist for long if any map editors in the area noticed it. It would be very interesting to know if the bridge was marked as closed in Waze at the time of the accident, though. Google Maps _used_ to have a similar system, but it got shut down years ago, of course.

[@graysonwagner1855]

From non verified info, Google was advised of this bridge in 2020

[@Razmoudah]

@@graysonwagner1855 The problem is that until the info is verified against a publicly available government database Google has absolutely no legal or technical duty to udpate their maps. Even when it is verified there is a rather generous window to them to update their maps, to the point that it is mostly meaningless.

[@guri256]

@@Razmoudah 10 years ago I ran into that and reported that a mess of roads had been bulldozed and replaced with an apartment complex. I specifically mentioned that it was trivial to see on the satellite view. (Street map was showing streets that have been bulldozed about three years ago) A couple weeks later they actually fixed it. Maybe this isn’t usual, but it does happen sometimes. I would guess that it was fixed so quickly because the satellite view showed just how different the area was

[@isthattrue1083]

In my home county in Ohio, we had something similar happen involving a bridge, but it was before Google was a company. A bridge on Canal Road by my parent's house, collapsed and five cars drove off it and landed on top of each other stacked. There was only two or three survivors. An infant that was at the bottom in a car seat that was too low to be crushed and I think two people on the very top. Everyone else died, unfortunately. A friend of my mother's lived almost right next to the bridge and had complained to the county that the bridge was going to collapse and would sway and shake every time a car went over it. They apparently ignored her numerous complaints. At some point the bridge collapsed, but it's on sort of on an incline. So coming up the road you wouldn't be able to see the bridge was out. The side rails didn't collapse, but the rest of the bridge did. So if you were coming up on the bridge at any decent speed you wouldn't be able to tell it was out until it was too late.

[@MB-ig6gl]

It is hard to believe until you see it. I always shake when I see the video of the person driving across the Bay Bridge after the 1989 earthquake. All of a sudden the car just disappears. The angle of the bridge made the gap from the bridge collapse hidden. It is so scary - as I drove that bridge. Saw another picture of a road washout next to a river. Sherriff was driving at night during flooding to help people. With the darkness he could not see the section that was washed out (similar to the bridge) and sadly his patrol car fell into the river. They did a picture from the side where you could clearly see the road missing. Then another POV view and it looks good and continuous.

[@itatane]

That was over in Paulding County back in the early 80s, wasn't it? I have family in the Henry and Fulton areas, and they were reminiscing about that a while back, during a family history chat. I'm on the other edge of the state, we've had a couple intersections that had to be redesigned, because some bright bulb thought it would be a good idea to put an intersection at the bottom of a blind hill (i.e. you can't see people coming over the hill, and the people coming over the hill cannot see the intersection). The farmer who gave the county the easement back in the day had told them to place the intersection at the top of the hill, but they didn't listen at the time. (Farmer owned the land on both sides of the road, so it wasn't like he stood to gain or lose based on road placement.)

[@SayAhh]

"Infrastructure week" is important for a reason. Except everyone says it (and might even fund it!) but sadly no one starts fixing old* bridges and overpasses until it's too late. *also new bridges with design flaws, discovered or not, like the I-35W Mississippi River bridge that collapsed in 2007.

[@TruthHurts2u]

@@itatane Sounds like a common problem in Ohio. There was 2 accidents just like that when I lived there in the late 90's to mid 2000's. One near Carroll and one near Canal Winchester. The one I remember the baby was found inside the car and the mother was washed downstream and found the next day.

[@jasonbourne1596]

They never listen to the people. In New Orleans they kept telling them that levy was going to break and they did nothing to fix it.

[@sarabellam7922]

From what i understand from other social media lawyers, this was on a private road, on private property. There was a very interesting and lengthy debate regarding liability. A tragedy for the family. At a minumum, that bridge should have been barricaded and signs posted.

[@toolbaggers]

Signs and barricades were posted but vandals stole them.

[@ohsweetmystery]

Don't trespass on private property and this won't happen.

[@devinnall2284]

Google is liable for not updating their maps and the bridge owner is liable for not blocking access to the bridge

[@bocephusbirchcull4044]

@@devinnall2284Google is not liable for anything. Unless all satnav providers are also liable. Which would make the owner of the property primarily liable. ‘Bridge keeper’? Wait I thought it was Google‘a fault. Which one is it?

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I read a comment elsewhere by someone claiming to live in the area. According to the commenter, the bridge HAD been marked as being out, several times, with signs and temporary barriers which were rather quickly stolen and/or vandalized. Now, were it me, I would have dumped some piles of dirt and/or dead trees about 4-5 feet tall, but I have no horse in that race.

[@allenpardon8211]

As a truck driver for 29 years, you learn quickly that you must be smarter than the equipment that you use.

[@johnmicheal3547]

The driver task is to make decision. You cannot delegate that task to anyone or anything. The equipments and tools around the driver is to help the driver make informed decision. The driver have to make blind decisions too. Like a blind curve, usually the driver take risk by proceeding, slow but still proceeding. Same with covid. We have to make blind decisions and it is wrong for gov to force their blind decision on us risking our lives as they see fit.

[@KlodFather]

I'm EXTRA Dumb 😜👍

[@allenpardon8211]

@@KlodFather lol

[@matts417]

The way I look at it is if the equipment you use steers you in the wrong direction, use alternative methods to get there.. aka street signs, but issue here lies that there were no signs telling this person what was going on.. I never follow a gps blindly, especially as a fellow truck driver, but if I'm following detour signs, they better be right... there were a few I've followed and they lead me to a dead end before.. call police to get me out and I ask about it and they simply say oh those are old detour signs and should be removed.. like ummm....alright then..

[@allenpardon8211]

@@matts417 I read that these folks just moved to hickory nc which by all means, watch the road. I hate that it happened but sometimes you just can’t fix ---

[@unoriginalname4321]

You're assuming that Google's "deepest sympathies" email wasn't an automated reply for lawsuits

[@arbiter1]

Its called lawyers wrote it.

[@DellikkilleD]

google bears zero responsibility lol

[@kurthanushek5520]

That is still a much better look than "couldn't be reached for comment".

[@peteengard9966]

Ultimately it's the operator of the vehicle that is responsible for the safe operation of said vehicle. The government agency in charge of the bridge is responsible for blocking off the disabled bridge.

[@BlackJesus8463]

Thanks Captain Obvious.

[@jeromethiel4323]

Exactly. Google maps or any GPS system cannot know the state of every road at all times. They need to be told that the bridge is out, etc. If that doesn't happen, it's not the fault of the GPS system, it's the fault of the driver. If a GPS system causes a plane crash, it's still the pilots fault. Same thing with a private vehicle. This screams out "go after the deep pockets for a payout."

[@mikep490]

Agreed, but Google has deeper pockets. You'd think the road being half overgrown, a heavy collection of leaves on the road, and the cab high trees growing across the road would be a hint. But it was a rainy night and he was driving a Jeep. I wonder how they know he was using Google Maps. If he was using the onboard maps, they would only be as recent as the latest update. (Maybe why the reporter couldn't recreate the map error?)

[@jeromethiel4323]

I needed to watch further. Seems the state knew the bridge was out, but didn't do anything about it. The state is responsible if anybody is.

[@Razmoudah]

Not necessarily blocking it off, I have seen bridges that were out and didn't have any barricades blocking them off, but definitely for posting warning signs that the bridge is out (and in the case of the afore mentioned bridges, they all had signs at the intersection warning that the bridge was out, legally, at that point, it's all on you if you drive off of the bridge).

[@AeroGuy07]

When I started driving for a living I had a briefcase full of maps. City maps, county maps, state maps. Mapquest made things easier, and then Google jumped miles ahead of Mapquest. But sometimes I was looking for brand new streets in subdivisions that weren't mapped yet. If I couldn't find a street I had two go-tos, the post office and the Fire department. I finally bought a GPS in 06 when I was living in Denmark and I bought it because it had European and North American maps. It worked great in Europe, but when I got back to Cincinnati I tried to use it to go downtown to a place I hadn't been in a few years, and I found the US map was a little out of date. It tried to route me to an exit that hadn't existed, at that point, for 10 years.

[@absurdengineering]

Well, you had a map over a decade old, right? A navigation is like a paper map in that respect. Old data = old maps. One would hope it’s widely understood?

[@Razmoudah]

I know that problem all to well. Google Maps absolutely refuses to believe that there's a block of roadway that doesn't exist near my house, despite Satellite View showing said road going through a house as well as a tree that's got to be well over 40 years old. I informed Google of the problem nearly a decade ago (when I was still new to this address), and earlier today I verified they still haven't gotten around to updating it. It's why I say that the only people who should use GPS are those who are willing to pay attention to where it is directing them and be willing to tell it where to shove its directions when they are wrong.

[@FireStormOOO_]

Those old pre-smartphone nav units could be updated with new maps though it's clunky enough I'm not surprised few people bothered.

[@wtf1185]

I was going to a job site in Mississippi some years ago and a state road paralleled the interstate for many miles and went through several towns. Garmin kept telling me to take the state road instead of staying on the interstate, I had referenced a map before starting out and knew that would be a mistake. Another time Garmin wanted me to cut across a gravel parking lot when the road I needed to turn on was only about 10 feet farther. Yet another time it took me right past my destination and in the middle of nowhere with nothing but trees all around it said I had reached my destination on the right. And yes, I did do regular updates.

[@Razmoudah]

And those are all great examples of why you should be willing, and able, to tell your GPS where to shove its directions when it is giving you bad ones instead of blindly doing what it tells you.

[@ohioplayer-bl9em]

It is just guidance. You have to use your head. It shows me in the middle of corn fields sometimes.

[@Crash8668]

I know one company and they say don’t use Google Maps to find them. There are 2 roads that meet at about a 30 degree angle. Google maps says take a small abandoned road about one 1 Km before they meet if approaching from the west. (East end is where they meet) if you take that road it leads to a high gravel pit that has been abandoned for over 20 years and the road does not go through the pit. The trees are overgrown and the branches are about 5 ft from the ground. You have to back up about half a Km before there is any room to turn your vehicle around.

[@Razmoudah]

@@Crash8668 Yep, I've seen Google Maps do that quite a bit. Any time the public government database still lists the road, even if it technically hasn't been used since the 1950s or earlier, Google Maps will have it and try to use it. Note: Edited for a type that wasn't noticed until much later.

[@Splarkszter]

Depending on what GPS is accurrate by 100 to 20 meters

[@oldretireddude]

I don't see this being a Google issue (other than deep pockets) but I agree that a government entity has the ultimate responsibility.

[@MLeoDaalder]

If Google can update routes/maps within minutes of an accident (or other traffic jam), then why would it take more than 2 years to mark the bridge as being blocked? Even after multiple notifications.

[@oldretireddude]

@@MLeoDaalder Why isn't Rand McNally part of this law suit, I doubt they have these updates on their maps. Google maps is a courtesy not my protector.

[@MLeoDaalder]

@@oldretireddude If they were notified of the collapse and are still publishing that the bridge is fine and drivable, then they should be.

[@karlrovey]

​@@MLeoDaalderI would say it depends on how they verify crashes, road construction, and road closures. They identify bad traffic based off of location data. Everything else can be verified by the government. Given the multiple complaints to Google and whoever is responsible for the bridge, I would guess the bridge was never officially closed following its collapse. They may have even contacted whoever was responsible for the bridge in reasons to the complaints and been told, "the bridge is open."

[@oldretireddude]

@@MLeoDaalder... always somebody else's fault.

[@jessecarliner7733]

From what I have found in my internet search There is a picture of the bridge and at night it would be very difficult to see that the paved road suddenly ends to a drop off. The road is PRIVATELY OWNED. How much the town/county/state is responsible would depend on how much power they have to compel the owner to put up a barricade or repair the bridge.

[@Razmoudah]

As a privately owned road, none at all. The fact that the private owner hasn't put up signage or a barrier that indicates the bridge is out and leaves it open to the public does leave them wide open to a Wrongful Death lawsuit, especially if the bridge is difficult to tell that it is out even in broad daylight (though it being difficult to tell at night, and this happening at night, doesn't give them much protection). Now, if the private owner had a gate or something closing off the road, and the driver would've had to get out and open said gate to drive down the road, then the blame is entirely on the driver and no one else.

[@prioris55555]

private property owner is clearly guilty town should pass law requiring something

[@Razmoudah]

@prioris55555 Technically, that isn't the duty of the city/county/state. Allowing the private property owner to be sued in civil court, and charged in criminal court, for the man's death, followed by claiming his property, reverting the road to government property, and putting up the relevant signs, is a power they already have and should be exercised.

[@jordanwardle11]

Quite a lot honestly. Fines or seizure

[@Razmoudah]

@@jordanwardle11 That depends a great deal from state to state, and in every state if it is labeled as a private road and not open to the public then the government has no power whatsoever. Here, the question becomes was the road clearly and obviously indicated as private property and trespassers weren't welcome? And even if the road is open to the public the government still has reduced powers, until something happens. That's when most of the government's power comes into play.

[@2preach]

this happens to us truckers all the time you have to make a good decision yourself before you make that turn or go that direction

[@SchererProductionServices]

Maybe if GPS manufacturers were mandated to allow the user to select what kind of vehicle, this would decrease that problem. My first Garmin GPS asked what kind of vehicle I was driving. If I selected truck, it wouldn't route me onto "Passenger cars only" roads.

[@additudeobx]

Any navigation system, use at your own risk. Every adult person is their own responsibility, believe it or not.

[@BlackJesus8463]

Truth is a human right.

[@Razmoudah]

Isn't that just a terrible thing? People having to be responsible for their own actions? /s In all seriousness, I find it disgusting that people just won't own up to their mistakes, and even more so that in a legal sense it's frequently worse for them if they do.

[@mikep490]

Agreed. Maybe Google needs to have people "sign up" to use their products. "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."

[@Razmoudah]

@mikep490 Wait, you mean that Google Maps doesn't have that disclaimer very prominently shown when you first use it? I'll admit, I've been using it for long enough that I don't remember if it did or not when first started using it. I do know that many dedicated GPS systems give such a disclaimer something like once a week at the minimum when you're using them.

[@mikep490]

@@Razmoudah The only time I recall seeing a Google message was when creating a new use ID. I found that on Google Guidelines, then followed a link to liabilities.

[@DaddyBeanDaddyBean]

My friend was driving on a new highway that had been cut through the Rocky Mountains, that was not on the GPS unit's map; it thought they were off the road, and tried to get them back on it (the old road in the valley below). The GPS kept telling rhem to turn right... over a 600-foot sheer cliff. 😳

[@SchererProductionServices]

Our Garmins did something similar when Super 7 opened between Brookfield & New Milford, CT. Updated GPS regularly, but it took over a year before the new road finally showed up.

[@OfAHigherClass]

We have 3 towns named Spring Branch here in Texas. Very far away from one another. Always zoom out before starting the route. I worked for a lawn service and once Google maps told us to go to the coast, buy a ticket and take a ship to Africa across the Atlantic Ocean to go cut a yard.

[@pansepot1490]

😂

[@nojuanatall3281]

I imagine this would also happen if you were trying to get to Egypt TX.

[@unoriginalname4321]

How was Africa?

[@rockyroad7345]

I grew up in Spring Branch in Houston (it's a part of Houston, not a town) and now live just south of Spring Branch in the Hill Country...200 miles apart. Haha. I'm a map nut. Have never used computer navigation...I trust my internal navigator better than Google.

[@OfAHigherClass]

@@rockyroad7345 I live in the Spring Branch in the Hill country north of SA. People come to my gas station telling me this isn't Spring Branch haha.

[@hbhb7900]

This is a ridiculous lawsuit. The people in charge of the road, are responsible for posting that the bridge is out. Or posting if it’s private property.

[@davidchristensen811]

Several people stating it's private property, but it clearly shows up on maps as a public road, connecting to other public roads.

[@torbar9603]

What Steve read as the ladys message to Google did not say "The bridge collapsed" it just said "it is not a through road" .. to me that gives a different urgency to the request..

[@Razmoudah]

Eh, it still means that Google should not direct people down that road. I know of a single block of road near my home that hasn't existed for over 40 years, yet it is still listed on Google Maps. I even told them about it, and used a Satellite View screenshot which clearly showed the decades old tree in the middle of the 'road', nearly a decade ago, yet nothing has been done about it.

[@jordanwardle11]

And looking at the bridge, you wouldn't know that something is wrong until you are falling

[@Razmoudah]

@@jordanwardle11 The problem is that technically, and legally, that isn't Google's fault. It is the fault of whomever is responsible for maintaining the road and bridge, but not Google, regardless of any warnings or alerts they've gotten from the people in the area.

[@jordanwardle11]

@@Razmoudah they can make an argument that Google knew so they were negligent. But that depends on the judge

[@Razmoudah]

@@jordanwardle11 Nope, only a jury could convict Google of that, as Google quite explicitly doesn't have a legal responsibility or duty to NOT navigate people down a road that is open to the public, regardless of any hazards associated with taking that road. It is the responsibility of the driver to remain aware of any potential hazards they may encounter while driving and to react accordingly. Now, if there were no signs or barricades that the road was out, and from others have reported it isn't something that you can tell when driving at night (which is when he went off the bridge) then the entirety of the responsibility shifts to whomever is responsible for maintaining that road and bridge, and unless Google owns it it isn't Google. Now, if someone wanted to argue a moral or ethical duty (which is separate from negligence) for Google to provide safe directions to a location, then they might have a chance at getting a judge to agree with them, but that's mostly because Google has those cars that go around getting the street view pics and can verify reports of non-existent roads, closed roads, closed bridges, and other potentially hazardous discrepancies with the government databases that Google 'verifies' their maps against (this is why it can take so long for it to be properly updated at times, and a leading cause of some things not being updated).

[@AccountInactive]

Google maps still routes down a logging road which has a bridge that's been sitting in a creek bed for near 10 years near where I grew up. The road is a private road and is barely a goat trail at this point. You can make it several miles before realizing you now have to reverse several miles to get out of there. Only one car every couple months gets stuck, but it still happens. They will not accept our reports of road does not exist because people carry their phones with them on ATVs so the data looks like people are actively using the road for vehicles.

[@suedenim9208]

GPS data (sometimes inaccurate) may be the reason Google hasn't made some of the corrections I've submitted. I've submitted dozens of road corrections and most have been fixed, but a few don't get changed. I've submitted hundreds of corrections for photos that obviously aren't of the place, and those seem to be routinely ignored. In some cases the photo may have been taken *at* the place, but it's not of the place, and in other it's very obviously no where near the location. If Google is relying on automation and EXIF data that's incorrect they'll never agree that there's an error to be fixed. Still, none of that makes them liable for any plans somebody makes based on the map.

[@christrotter3052]

That's interesting great point...about current & active GPS data.... Good insight to how all of this works

[@alekorgruene313]

There may be negligence with the people responsible for the bridge but isn’t the man ultimately responsible for not paying attention.

[@brazilnut8898]

JFK was ultimately responsible for not ducking.

[@EmeryJude]

He certainly is but, I can understand it was dark, poorly lit, and had no signs or barricades. Also he was in an unfamiliar area.

[@afriedrich1452]

If the government ignored complaints, they are PARTIALLY responsible. If Google ignored complaints, they are also PARTIALLY responsible. Juries may breakdown fault percentages as follows: Driver: 10%, Gov: 20%, Google: 70%, depending on how much they hate government and Google.

[@jonathanj8303]

@@EmeryJude All true, but it's entirely on you to drive according to the road conditions, including visibility and your knowledge of the location.

[@sky_skipper]

Would you expect a bridge to just stop? Apparently it also happened in some bad weather. Looking at the bridge, looks like the vegetation on both sides is pretty thick.

[@PasleyAviationPhotography]

They are called driver "assistant" for a reason. They help "you" drive, these navigation apps help but in the end you're the one in control. I been driving Uber on and off for many years and their built in navigation is wrong constantly, so i just have to be aware of what im doing, which is what you're supposed to be doing anyway, right.

[@JRaney]

As much as I dislike google and other large corporations, this is not googles fault. The responsibility falls entirely onto whoever is in control of the bridge and roadwork for the area. They failed to properly maintain the bridge in the first place, failed to repair it when it was first damaged, and then failed to demolish and barricade the road leading up to it when it collapsed. I feel sympathy for the family, but they are going after the wrong people. Maybe doing so intentionally hoping to get a settlement from google that they know they won't get from the county.

[@MeRia035]

You are absolutely correct

[@kevintrumbull5620]

Google was repeatedly notified that the bridge was out for 2 years according to reporting. Also in other reporting, those responsible for the bridge were also named in the lawsuit.

[@aj.j5833]

And the driver also has some responsibility as well. When using any tech you are supposed to do proper due diligence. With digital maps you need to do same due diligence you did when we all still used paper maps.

[@subanark]

I don't think Google is complexly innocent here. My initial assessment would put them at 10% responsible.

[@JRaney]

@@kevintrumbull5620 That doesn't matter in the slightest. Google isn't responsible for the road's maintenance, nor are they responsible for the victim's lack of attention. They are only providing a tool for individuals to use. It's just like if you buy a map and try to navigate with that, it is your responsibility to pay attention to where you are going. Just like it is the county's responsibility to maintain the roads.

[@OldMajor]

So sorry for the family without a father.

[@ClickClack_Bam]

I feel bad that they had a father who blindly listens to a programmed voice without using a shred of common sense as a driver.

[@timothy4664]

I know. I have a 7 year old too. I can't imagine their loss. Awful

[@importsstillsuck]

​@@ClickClack_Bamyou have very limited information on the events that led up to his death.

[@ClickClack_Bam]

@@M167A1 Oh so that's all Google's fault. I see the connection very clearly now.

[@ironymatt]

​@@ClickClack_Bamyou're not necessarily wrong, but the milk of human kindness sure went sour in you. Check your soul man

[@MrWillKwan]

I can definitely testify that Google does not update their mapping information in a timely manner, even when evidence is provided. Utah recently increased the speed limits on our highways. There was a stretch (the only stretch of highway that I would drive regularly) that Google showed a speed limit of 85. I tried 3 times to submit change requests, even putting the pin on the exact location of a speed limit sign that was visible in a street view that was captured after the speed limit increase and the change was rejected multiple times. Also couldn't get Google to add my street in my new subdivision for 6 months.

[@viet0ne]

That's normal. Google isn't going to take your correction and apply it without more verification. Taking 6 months sounds about right for the number of corrections, and the process to verify, and the state DOT to confirm the change, and then send a vehicle to record street view, etc.

[@TheRealScooterGuy]

@@viet0ne -- Did you notice the part where @MrWillKwan said that the correction was visible in Google's own Streetview? At that point, they have the verification in hand.

[@viet0ne]

@TheRealScooterGuy no I didn't. Because a sign change can happen due to any number of reasons, that's why the verification requires checking with the state and city to confirm. People have replaced speed limit signs so simply checking only the existence of a sign isn't enough.

[@zeriousvolt1245]

Google maps changed the map within 2 weeks after I reported a problem. I think that’s quite acceptable.

[@russellhltn1396]

The question is where did Google get their information? They don't source all their own information. It's possible that source (perhaps the county or state) needs to get the update.

[@MeRia035]

My sincerest condolences to the family. I am so sorry for your loss 😥❤️😥 God bless ❤

[@kenvalentine5341]

The village of Long Grove, IL has a similar problem. There's a covered bridge in downtown Long Grove with an 8'6" clearance, and it's been hit 46 times by taller vehicles (including out-of-town school buses) in the last 13 months. That's despite caution signs, red flags, a STOP sign, and flashing lights warning of the low clearance, in several blocks leading up to the actual bridge. Drivers of the vehicles (usually rentals) invariably claim that they were "following their GPS and didn't see the warning signs." They each end up with a $500 village fine plus a moving violation plus a bill for the repairs to the bridge plus what the truck rental company charges for repairs to the truck (willful act so insurance won't pay for damage to the truck or the bridge). The bridge has a heavy steel I-beam behind the decorative wood siding at each portal so the vehicle always comes off the loser except for a few 2x6s in each collision. Long Grove has repeatedly asked the various GPS vendors to edit their databases to show the road as closed at the bridge, but so far with no luck. Apparently the GPS databases all show the road the bridge is on as a "preferred shortcut" between two superhighways, and it is--as long as your vehicle is shorter than 8 feet.

[@suedenim9208]

Why should they mark it as closed when it's obviously not closed?

[@Razmoudah]

To some extent this case proves my point that the only people who should use GPS navigation are those who are willing to pay attention and tell the GPS where to shove its directions when they are wrong. However, I have seen bridges that due to how they sit you can't tell that the bridge is out until you're falling off of it, so this is a situation where that may not be possible. Now, I live in a rural portion of the Midwest, and I do know of a couple of spots nearish to me that have old bridges that are out and there are no plans to replace them. There are signs near the intersection warning that the bridge is out ahead, but several of them are not barricaded at the bridge itself, so my big question is if whoever is responsible for that road has placed one of those signs (I've also seen them for bridges that are planned to be replaced, but the funds may take a few years). IF there is a sign indicating that the bridge ahead is out (with either a Bridge Out sign or a Dead End sign, I'll personally accept either as both indicate it is not a through roadway), THEN whoever is responsible for the roadway is responsible if the bridge sits on an incline such that you can't tell it is unsafe to cross until it is too late to stop. HOWEVER, if such a sign is there, or if you can see that the bridge is unsafe to cross with enough distance to safely stop, then the man driving the car is responsible for not paying attention to the road signs and/or road conditions. In either case, it quite explicitly IS NOT Google's fault, because Google wasn't driving the car and Google isn't responsible for maintaining that road. Now, Google updating their map so that they stop directing people to go down that road would be a good thing, and regardless of how this case turns out I would appreciate it if Google did so and revised their practices regarding updating maps based on feedback from users, as they are notorious for just ignoring said feedback. As an example of how bad Google is about updating their maps based on user feedback here's one of my stories. I live in a small town in a rural portion of the midwest, and less than a block from me is a spot where Google Maps claims there is a block of road that doesn't exist. When you switch Google Maps to satellite view you can clearly see the 'road' going right through a house and a tree that is over 40 years old, but the 'verified' map that Google used to create their initial navigation map for my neighboorhood had that road listed on it so they have it. I reported this problem to Google nearly a decade ago, and they still haven't gotten around to fixing it, so don't expect them to correct mistakes in the maps that Google Maps uses unless you're going through a lawyer or it's a major roadway so that they get dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of reports about it being wrong.

[@ericcastle380]

I work in road construction. I literally BUILD THE ROADS. Every time I submit a road closure in the location where we are digging out the road, google maps ignores it and continues sending drivers through the closure. When I have to stop work to stop traffic before they drive into a 10 foot wide 8 foot deep hole it gets frustrating. Especially when I submit the road closure on the map several times over several days. I am working on a road today that has been closed for 19 days and every day that I've been out here, I've submitted the closure. 19 DAYS AND THE CLOSED ROAD STILL SHOWS OPEN ON GOOGLE MAPS.

[@redbear6]

If they read signs, one is enough. If they don't read signs, no amount is enough.

[@DVankeuren]

Di you not put up barricades?

[@redbear6]

Yes, you typically do put up barricades. But you still need to get your equipment to the other side of the barricades, or there is a driveway that you have to keep available to whomever uses it. So you usually have the barricades set up so someone can weave through them.

[@TheRealScooterGuy]

Got flaggers?

[@Razmoudah]

@@TheRealScooterGuy Not on a fully closed road. That is a barricades only type of situation. Now, if only one lane was closed, and the other was still open, then yes, they'd have flaggers. I've been a flagger, and had people nearly run me over because they were ignoring my sign being turned to the Stop side and my red flag waving at them to stop, so even then it doesn't help that much.

[@tracymclaughlinholmes677]

We bought twelve acres in the middle of farmland. 12 acres with split off of an over 200 acre farm. Our driveway continued into the farm to get to some of the farm out buildings but did not reconnect to the road. If you wish to drive the whole way through you would have to drive through part of a field to connect to the farms driveway to come back out on the street. After moving in there Google maps decided that my driveway was a street. I fought with them for 4 years to stop sending people down my driveway that it is not a street including sending pictures and video proving that it is my driveway. Even proving it with screenshots from Google maps. Funniest part is Google was the only one that decided that my driveway was a street. Garmin, I maps, Waze, even map quest didn't show my driveway as a street. It was a complete nightmare.

[@dododge9428]

Yeah, Google Maps also thinks my driveway has a street name, though since it's only 100 feet and doesn't go through to other property, I doubt it's ever tried to send anyone that way. When I mentioned it to a neighbor they said a private road next door used to have that name decades ago, before that land was sold and subdivided, so there's at least an explanation for where the name came from.

[@Scott_Burton]

I am now curious about this bridge. I would like to see what it looks like from the road approaching as this man did, as well as know whether part of the bridge collapsed while he was on it. Ive seen bridges that you can't see the road ahead past a certain point because the bridge isn't a straight line, it's built with an incline at one or both ends and is level between those inclines.

[@ke9tv]

One of the best GPS scoldings I ever got was "You have been driving off the road for the last 2.5 miles. Please proceed to the highlighted route." I wasn't lost, I was intentionally on a jeep trail that wasn't in the database, and I'd passed the point where the routing software could find any path out. It was interesting that it didn't burp up that message until I'd been rolling for a while on the _return_ trip!

[@Razmoudah]

I've had similar things happen to me. It is amazing just how long it can take it to realize you aren't following its directions at times, which just makes me question the accuracy of the directions even more.

[@enemixius]

The program usually assumes it's being fed inaccurate positions from the GPS unit and therefore tries to lock on to any nearby road that seems to fit. That's probably why it can take so long before it actually fails. I've had fun with it before by having it in car navigation mode while on a train, just keeps jumping around trying to figure out where the h I am 😅

[@jasonswearingin1009]

When planning a long drive I always purchased a road atlas for that year. I would plan my route by writing down the roads landmarks mile markers exits and potential bypass routes in a large notebook. Only once did I encounter an impassable obstruction and that was a massive forest fire on I-40 about 60 miles east of Knoxville TN in 02. First time I ever saw a major wildfire even got bombed by one of the large planes dumping the water/flame retardant mix as I was turning to follow emergency vehicles that were guiding drivers out of the fires path.

[@happymack6605]

We were just talking about this! This is a town/state problem for not putting up proper warnings/barriers.

[@twoweary]

Happy. The town/ state is not responsible for private property.

[@sallyoakes7709]

In rural area, we were led onto someone's property and, essentilly, to someone's barn. We thought that the narrow, gravel road looked a lot like someone's driveway, but in rural, mountainous areas, small roads often go in unusual-looking ways because either they were built with the lay of the land or there was a popular trail that eventually got tramped down into a small road.

[@jamescantu4219]

It brings to mind an article read I think in the San Diego Reader in the 80's or 90's. A wife was attempting to rush her husband to the hospital for emergency care. She was in a more remote rural area and kept driving to find a road shown on the paper map. It did not exist. It was something mapmakers may add to verify someone illegally reproducing their maps. The husband died, the court decision was for the mapmaker. Deciding that road maps are not held to the same standards as aviation maps.

[@Hodaggium]

My guess is that the road on the map was a trap street. That's when map makers will intentionally put a road on a map when it really isn't there, with the intention of catching other map makers copying their original map.

[@jamescantu4219]

Yes that's exactly what the fake road was; a way to identify copyright - or copying fraud. Unfortunately in a rare case like this it seems directly responsible though not legally liable for the delay and subsequent death of the husband

[@nolongeramused8135]

Way back in the days of navigating by gas station maps I was going through Salt Lake City at sunrise, and with the sun in my eyes it was almost too late to see that the map was directing me to a section of new interstate that wasn't actually completed yet.

[@9madness9]

As a cartographer I am aways amazed how often people say why we need maps when we have sat nav and Google maps!

[@MCNarret]

Out of date maps are out of date maps, virtual or physical.

[@DVankeuren]

maps can be wrong too, and I doubt a map would say the bridge is out.

[@kellypatterson8506]

I've seen signs for trucks that say... your GPS is wrong don't drive this way.

[@darthdaddy6983]

Both google maps & Waze sent us off roading in Sicily a few years ago.. we were lucky to find our way back to pavement just a couple of minutes before sunset or we would have had to camp in our car that night.

[@everettsgoldenduo4999]

This happened to me in Colorado. I didn’t intend on spending 45 minutes on an off-road style trail, but it was the shortest route and the map thought it could be driven at 50 mph lol

[@pvtbuddie]

The end quotes on the show are rarely mentioned, so I wanted to post here just to say that they are _always_ appreciated.

[@Hanja45]

They’re currently almost done building a new bridge near me for a highway to interstate project here with also new on ramps and off ramps. However, they’ve only finished one side, and occasionally Apple Maps keeps trying to make me turn left into oncoming traffic (which I can’t anyway) and then go on their off ramp, PAST the bridge, to be able to take the bridge when I’m on the unfinished side. I don’t even know how it doesn’t register that even when this was a highway, I can’t just drive across the median. Google at least seems to have a mechanism for me to tell them incorrect data, that apple doesn’t have.

[@Razmoudah]

Sadly, Google usually ignores it when you report inaccuracies. Even when the Satellite View blatantly shows that you are right.

[@shawnmason5290]

We have this problem in our small town. If you go to one of the Map programs and look up Knoxville, Illinois, look at the street that goes down into the green part of the woods south of town, you’ll see that South Division Street, dead ends into a road that slowly goes narrower and less improved to gravel and a dead end down in a valley. It’s a real pickle for the fully loaded semi’s to back out of there an 1/8 of a mile.

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

Back in the days of dedicated handheld Garmin GPS, it took me down a dirt road, for close to a mile. When I got to the destination, I saw that it was only a few hundred feet from the freeway off ramp, on a paved road. In North Carolina, too. Fortunately, in a residential neighborhood, were I'm going pretty slow. Later that same unit wanted me still to go around the block, when was right in front of the destination. That later one was in California.

[@Graham-ce2yk]

I had something like that happen during a taxi ride, the driver turned off one street ahead of where I lived and then turned into a side street, it turned out the GPS was routing him to come out on the same side of the street as my house, it would have been quicker to turn off into my street and then turn into the drive way.

[@lucasokeefe7935]

When you said it happened in Hickory, that was just too perfect. All I could hear was Jon Reep going "AHM FROM HICK'RY" followed by a loud crash

[@michaeltelson9798]

There are a lot of times that Google maps gives bad directions. I had to drop off my wife at a branch hospital in the city we live at that I am not familiar at. Getting there wasn’t a problem, but returning was. I was told to take a left turn. Just before I did I saw signs that clearly said, “No Left Turns”. I went 8 blocks of this till I just made a right square to cross over and resume the route. There was also where they had you go a route through several stop signs to avoid a traffic light! The stop signs (4 way stops) would delay more than the traffic light even though by how a crow flies it looked shorter with narrower streets.

[@tactileslut]

Computers are dumb that way. I used to run a neighborhood network at a marina and the routing algorithm would prefer a single intermittent 1Mbps path through salt water over two 11Mbps paths through free air.

[@Amy_McFarland]

From what Steve said he was driving at night. Without first hand knowledge of the area, I cannot assume the man saw anything. Are there street lights? What's the speed limit? How close do you have to be to see that the bridge is out in the dark? I am disappointed by how many are quick to judge this driver without having any knowledge of the area and/or circumstances. SMH

[@quantumleaper]

I had Google Maps try to send me and my friends through an Airport. Had my GPS unit try to send me though a building once also. Not sure which was worse.

[@fortmax05]

What airport? The highway going through DFW is for road access to the terminals, but doubles as a toll road for through traffic as an alternative to going around.

[@quantumleaper]

@@fortmax05 It was Indianapolis International Airport, the road for maintenance only, even had a sign, and maybe a fence across the road, I think, it was about 15 to 20 years ago. Maps are on phones, were new back then. I remember I wanted to use my laptop and my friend wanted to use his phone, so we used his phone.

[@kenbrown2808]

I grossed paths with a SWIFT driver, and while I kept him company while he waited for a tow truck, found out he was on that road because their dispatch issues the route they are supposed to take, based on predicted fuel consumption. I also found out that the road was length restricted to trucks shorter than a SWIFT truck, though the state trooper felt so sorry for him he let him off with a warning. I already knew the road he was on was longer and required slower travel; and therefore more fuel, than the highway, before the incident.

[@sky173]

This sounds like a city/county issue, not Google.

[@fanofmetal1]

It's a Google issue as well since they had been notified about the bridge had been broken. It's definitely also on the county/city/state for failing to repair or properly barricade the bridge.

[@rdbjrseattle]

It’s a private road.

[@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket]

@rdbjrseattle Unfortunately Google directly him to that "road". Who owns it isn't the issue, the fact Google knew, and neglected to correct their data which lead to harm/loss of life. It's pretty basic stuff.

[@Hannah_The_Heretic]

@@fanofmetal1 if they get a single penny from google ill eat my shoe, its just not gonna happen buddy. You would have a much better chance seeking money from the city, considering that google probably 1000x the funds that the city would have... and google will spend a far larger amout of money on lawyers to make sure they get nothing

[@ClickClack_Bam]

​@@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusketA robot voice told me to rob a bank. Guess I'm NOT responsible for my own actions huh?

[@peileii]

True story - we were driving down Snow Creek road when I watched this video, merely yards from where this happened. The road we were on isn't affected, but one of the side roads (24th ST PL) branches off Snow Creek Rd. Apparently, there WERE barriers at the collapsed bridge, but some kids threw them in the creek. The street has a Hickory address, but is technically outside the city limits, so it's the county's responsibility.

[@DonnyNoMarie]

A long time ago, I asked Google for directions. I was taking the bus. Google instructed me to walk through a forest and onto a freeway! 😳 Luckily, prior to my trip, I pulled the suggested route up and zoomed in. Needless to say, I didn't take the bus.

[@Razmoudah]

Always a good idea to review the route before you take it. So many problems can be avoided that way.

[@finkelmana]

I fail to understand how Google is liable in this. Directions of any kind - electric, paper, or from a person - can be right or wrong at any given time. Even if they are accurate, road conditions can change due to weather conditions, construction, etc. The driver is responsible for making sure the route he is taking is safe at ALL times.

[@Headcase650]

I was following Google maps a few years ago and it had me turn left. Somehow I miss the sign that said no left turns between such and such times and immediately got pulled over and received a ticket. 🙁

[@billyboy969]

By design?🤔

[@BarafuAlbino]

"No left turn between 16 and 23 minutes of every odd hour if the date is divisible by 5 unless it is Ramadan".

[@Elliandr]

Same exact thing happened to me, except it was late at night and dark so could not see the signage and the road used to be a 2 way and I wasn't from the region so the officer thankfully just gave me a warning. I was more than 2000 miles from home and was only there for a funeral so getting a ticket would have been disasters forcing me to come back. Then again, I think the small town cop just didn't like out of towners so just wanted me to leave.

[@billyboy969]

@@BarafuAlbino that sounds like US code 27(c) (3-7)

[@karlrovey]

Back in 2013, I was on a university band tour. When we went through St. Louis, we went over a new bridge that wasn't in the bus driver's GPS. So the GPS showed we were floating over the Mississippi River. As for liability here, did the city/county/state officially close the bridge? I'm guessing Google goes off of what the DOT tells them. Given the lack of attention from the entity responsible for the bridge, I would guess google attempted to verify the condition of the bridge only to be told that it was open and in usable condition.

[@wheelsmcdealsace]

I think i remember that bridge. the state told them, the township to fix it themselves.

[@joshuagibson2520]

A lot of times, settings are set wonky. There are options for shortest route (fatest time), shortest distance, avoid highways, avoid tolls, etc. These settings will all give you different routes.

[@alphax4785]

A while back a friend of mine and his then girlfriend were driving back to New Jersey from a skiing trip in New Hampshire, Google Maps directed them to an unplowed logging road but they were in an SUV so he had to walk back 3-4 miles in 12"+ snow to get a signal after it finally got stuck... He's never taken a non major road in an unfamiliar area since.

[@Razmoudah]

My question is why did he trust Google Maps and go down that road in the first place? I'm glad he learned the lesson that they aren't 100% reliable the first time, and it wasn't in a seriously risky manner that he learned that lesson, but that was a fairly obvious bad direction to start with.

[@alphax4785]

@@Razmoudah It was snowing pretty hard and Google Maps already had him going down rural roads before he made the final turn. The first half mile of the logging road was windswept and faked him into thinking it had been plowed. And he was in a good amount of danger, he got completely stuck and it snowed another 18-24" the night after his rescue. What saved him was making the decision to walk back to cell service immediately after getting stuck rather than waiting even an extra minute to try and unstick the SUV and etc.

[@Razmoudah]

@@alphax4785 First off, if he was traveling in winter and DIDN'T have the supplies with him to be able to wait out being stuck in a storm overnight then he was already starting with a major fuck up. Second, if it is snowing hard then you should absolutely avoid going down rural roads anymore than is necessary to get to a major road. However, I'm a farm brat and grew up on such a rural road, but I do understand that those big city types don't understand that the rural roads don't get cleared until the storm is over so I can give him a bit of leeway for going down roads he should've been avoiding. Third, I can understand a windswept road fooling you into thinking it has been cleared, but if it is at night and it has been snowing recently you really shouldn't expect it to have been cleared. Again, this is the type of thing that us farm folks learn about while growing up, but you city slickers don't have a clue about. Fourth, if the circumstances were so dire that waiting even an extra minute to traipse through heavy snow to get back to cell service, even though there is an extremely high chance of him getting lost and freezing to death if things were so dire, means that IF there was a ski lodge at the hill/mountain that he'd been skiing at he should've stayed there instead of trying to drive home. Again, this is the type of thing that us farm folks learn about while growing up, but you city slickers are woefully ignorant about. In conclusion, the fact that he did just about everything wrong that he could, in the ways that only a city slicker would do wrong, and is alive to tell about it plainly indicates that he wasn't in that much danger to start with, regardless of what you say. Further, I again have to give him some major kudos for LEARNING FROM HIS MISTAKE THE FIRST TIME. You seriously wouldn't believe the number of people I've encountered, as well as heard about, who failed to learn by the third and fourth times and ended up killing themselves, and sometimes others.

[@mikeslater6246]

My sympathy goes out to this family. But if the community had been notifying Google and the city for such a long time how come the father did not know about the bridge collapse? I also have a lot of questions about why this father was on an unfamiliar road between his home and his daughter. There are a lot of unavailable facts that leave a lot of unanswered questions. Ultimately, the driver of the car is responsible for where the automobile goes. But I've notified Google of Road discrepancies on multiple occasions and had to repeat those notifications multiple times before any of them ever got fixed, and there are some still waiting to be fixed. So, it is my belief that Google has no responsibility for this and likely neither does the road authority. But strange things happen when it comes to the law in the US.

[@m2hmghb]

The family had just moved there one-two years prior. The owner of the road has liability because they didnt do anything to mitigate the risk - no barricades or warnings of the bridge being out.

[@odius94]

I suggest you look up the location. Even street view shows it there back in 2012. And I'm sorry, how on earth do you think whomever owns or is responsible for that road isn't liable for not putting up physical barricades. Somebody visiting from out of town makes a wrong turn in a neighborhood at night and ends up in the drink because they drive up a bridge approach but there isn't any bridge?? Go look at the pictures. Even the damn guardrail is extending over nothing. You'd have no warning. Can't even leave a 1' trench open on a construction site without warning tape surrounding it. This was a road to oblivion with no signs. Sucks to be the owner of it.

[@mikeslater6246]

@odius94 you have provided one more piece of information that I was unaware of. If you tried understanding and reading my message a little better, you would have seen that I said that there are a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of facts that are missing. I based my original statement on the information given in the report. You have obviously looked up and found more information. I came to the decision I did based on the information I had at hand. I made that very clear in my statement. So that is how I came to my decision.

[@Nightwalker-]

Lack of common sense is what caused this accident. The owner of the private road, should have blocked access. The driver is also at-fault for not having situational awareness of their vehicle.

[@mikeslater6246]

Been thinking about it a little bit more and still hold the driver more at fault than any of the other entities involved. If this was night, which it appears it may have been, he was probably over-driving his headlights, which most of us do at night.

[@better.better]

I'm a Google Guide (crowd source map reviews, NOT an employee of Google) and yes that is the standard auto-reply when I submit suggestions for changes. if I include a photo, most often the changes are applied by the next day if not in a few hours. without a photo though, very often the change is not accepted. This makes sense if you think about it, you don't want to blindly apply changes without proof, from someone who (possibly) has absolutely no history of submissions. I'm nearly to level 7, and I've re-reported a lot of results from guides who have reported things incorrectly such as business closures. Google Guide reports aren't just blindly accepted, there's a "contribution" feature whereby the system seeks verifications from other guides. the nearby locations needing verification are pinned on the contributions map, and you can choose the ones that you know intimately,or that are easy to get to for the answer. if this person made the report without including photos, and no other Guides were around to do verification, the request could still be sitting there waiting for additional guides to verify that the bridge is out.

[@Bobs-Wrigles5555]

Ben shading the vinyl roof of the Turbine Car, Steve's LHS

[@keithe2150]

Steve is very funny. I went on this morning 30 minutes after the posting and I usually try to say something glib or whatever to get a few likes but this morning when I got on there it was like 60 or 70 pages of comments and couldn’t make it so I posted a goofy statement because I’m trying to get 1000 postings to keep up with you but no luck so I posted the comment and Steve pinned it to the top of his comments so now I’m getting all kinds of likes and stuff but when I answered him on messenger, I told him my project was always to try to beat you and the other couple people who are always looking for been being blind I have no way of ever finding it but the only thing I can do is annoy the couple of you guys by getting the comment in there first. Which is almost impossible Because I just can’t seem to be able to get it in there but I wanted to let you know when I spoke to Steve I mentioned you and your good work. There are a few of us have been here forever. I so much wish she would do a Sunday show again or something maybe when he hits a half 1 million people take care of yourself be well. Enjoy the rest your weekend Take care

[@Bobs-Wrigles5555]

@@keithe2150 Way to go Keith, I might get the first comment by sheer determination and speed, but you've made to the top of the list by approval of the creator himself 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆😁😁

[@keithe2150]

@@Bobs-Wrigles5555 you are too kind into eloquent for me. All this time is motivated me to get up and clean the house. If that makes sense I was sitting here on a Saturday feeling kind of drab but now I’ve got everything together to deep clean the house. It’s amazing how a simple comment can make your day. You’re the best by far and greatly appreciate your positive comments and I will share my award with you as one of the foundational people of this channel. Take care of yourself be well you’re the best I love this channel and the people who are on it.

[@James-dq3jo]

It’s not about whose responsibility it is, it’s about who has the deepest pockets.

[@jeromethiel4323]

I've had a GPS take me on a drive through a farmers field. From a satellite, that looked like a road, and thus was in the database. I had a talk with the farmer, who was wondering why my little sports car was driving through his field at night. We both had a laugh, and went our separate ways. Luckily i didn't get stuck, because it was a field, and i was in a car with next to no ground clearance.

[@privacyvalued4134]

I once totaled a vehicle. It was pitch black in the middle of nowhere, I was doing 15 mph, was completely sober and fully alert, and I _still_ found a ditch with the vehicle due to some very bad road design. You don't realize how dark that nighttime can be until you are in the middle of nowhere at night with no signage, no retroreflectors, no street lights, and no paint lines anywhere. Your headlights can be as bright as the noonday sun and it won't matter. Where I currently live (not the middle of nowhere), someone managed to fly their vehicle through a guard rail and down a steep ravine - with tons of retroreflector signage leading up to it requiring someone to be both blind and drunk to pull that off. The city/county eventually replaced the guard rail and _within one week_ someone else had managed to run into the new one! It's like someone said, "Challenge accepted."

[@johnmickey5017]

People here saying “driver’s fault for not going a responsible speed” are just comforting themselves with the false belief that it couldn’t happen to them.

[@r0kus]

If I were on the jury, I would want to know how they knew the man, alone in the car, was using Google Maps. I would be open to the possibility that he was doing so, but I would need evidence that he was actually doing so. Even if he was a regular Google Maps user, there are a dozen reasons leading him to do something else. I frequently use Google Maps, but a fair amount of times I simply decide to find the destination on my own.

[@TheRealScooterGuy]

Perhaps it was still on his screen when he was found? In any case, there are logs, and they are easy to subpoena.

[@Razmoudah]

@@TheRealScooterGuy Which is exactly what he was asking for if this actually goes to trial. Otherwise, you leave a level of doubt. Either way, it isn't Google's fault the bridge was out.

[@jblyon2]

My Google account has a history of every trip I've ever taken using Google Maps. If he had an address plugged in it's logged on his account.

[@Vertraic]

@@Razmoudah I felt the same way, until Steve revealed that the bridge has been out of service for more than half the time google maps has EXISTED.

[@Razmoudah]

@@Vertraic No, from both a technical stand point and a legal stand point, that isn't Google's problem. It's the problem of whatever government database Google checks against when alerted to such problems, as well as whomever is responsible for maintaining that road and bridge, but not Google's problem. There are no laws that state that those maps have to have a certain minimum degree of accuracy, or even be updated with a certain minimum degree of regularity. I personally prefer it that way, as it keeps people from trying to avoid the responsibility of driving into an obvious hazard simply because their GPS directed them to do so. Mind you, such laws may be necessary before even a Level 5 autonomous vehicle (the truly fully autonomous, that doesn't require a human driver or even controls for a human driver) to be fully practical, and I fear the day that comes. Now, from what others have posted it sounds like this hazard wasn't obvious, so I'm willing to entertain the idea that the driver is completely blameless, but that just means that the blame falls entirely on the heads of whomever is responsible for maintaining the road, bridge, and the government database that has the government 'verified' map that still listed the bridge as open and safe to use.

[@mjmeans7983]

Another story I saw said it was a private road. Paper maps usually show private roads with a different type of line. There is no way a printed map could ever be liable, so I don't see how a digital map could be. Just because the map is digital instead of printed on paper should NOT increase the liability to the publisher. However, there may be a claim against the owner of the private road if the owner allows the public to use it without warning. What happens if the private road is posted as a private road?

[@ztk211]

I've have had my fair share of mishaps with google maps' faulty directions a few years ago, me and a friend used it for walking directions, and it wanted us to hop a fence midway 😅 it's also not very good at giving directions in rural areas, it got VERY confused giving us directions to an apple orchard on our way back from a camping trip (that may have been my group at 8:28 lol)

[@just_another_Joe]

The GPS on my motorcycle works pretty well. I’ve used it all over the country. But it has one problem: once I reach my final destination, it always - ALWAYS - verbally tells me that my final destination is on the opposite side of the road from where it actually is. The active map shows the correct location, but it speaks that it’s on the left when it’s on the right and vice versa. I’ve gotten used to it and just look around to verify (like I’ve always done). So far, it’s been accurate for everything else besides the side of the street my final destination is.

[@thentil]

It's crazy to think Google should be at fault here. Doesn't matter how many people told them, it's the driver's responsibility to drive the car no matter where Google or your 2 year old is telling you where to go. The city should have put up a blockade.

[@timhand3380]

I don't think it's crazy at all. Google is liable for its professional advice leading directly to death. Seems directly related. It seems crazy to me to not believe the two facts are directly and intimately related. Regardless, yes, sometimes even professionals give bad advice and ultimately you pay the price for listening to that advice. I don't see how that exculpates Google.

[@johnmickey5017]

Remarkable how many “blame the driver” posts there are with no “blame the property owner” comments. As if the owner isn’t fully responsible for not mitigating his literal deathtrap road. They all pretend to live in a world where THEY drive 5mph and expect a road to disappear into the void whenever they drive. Rather blame the victim than admit that property owners and map services have serious responsibilities.

[@timhand3380]

@@johnmickey5017 yes, unless this private property was clearly marked. If hard to see at night, that would indicate some exculpability for a private property owner as I know of no law requiring lighting of no trespassing signage. But Steve doesn't mention that or perhaps I missed it. I do agree, that a dead man's trap of a road on private property is criminal too. Perhaps there is a lot more with this situation that needs looked into?

[@vivaldi1948]

Years back I was going SB on US 23 just south of I 96 and my GPS was going all screwy. I had to pull off the freeway to check it and it took me a minute to realize that I had somehow been teleported to Des Moines, Iowa when I thought I was in Brighton, Michigan. Had a good laugh.

[@aj.j5833]

I feel you are responsible to do same due diligence when using GPS as you did when we all used paper maps.

[@niyablake]

Ok but if the road just dispersal with no indication are saying that's my fault

[@aj.j5833]

@@niyablake There were lots of indications to warn him something wasn't right. Wasn't like the bridge just fell out from under him as he was driving over it. if he did due diligence he would of easily found out bridge was out. Before you drive you should plan out your route and commit it to memory so your not staring at the GPS and not the road as well so you don't miss indications something isn't right. There were warning and signs something wasn't right up ahead. Don't just go bulldozing ahead just because GPS tells you to.

[@niyablake]

@@aj.j5833 what were the indications ?

[@DKNguyen3.1415]

@@aj.j5833 I wonder if it wasn't at night on a rural road. That would make a difference. But it still would be the land owner's responsibility before it was google's

[@jeffmccrea9347]

We have problems with receiving orders delivered by UPS or FEDEX if a new driver is on our route. I had a medical problem that lasted 2 months that required a visiting nurse to come to my house once a week for 8 weeks. The first time the nurse came out, she was late, which was neither here nor there but the nurse said that when she put our address into her phone, it lead her down our road 9 miles past our house.

[@idristaylor5093]

Ben having a sleep on the roof of the Turbine car.

[@alanjameson8664]

I obviously don't know one way or the other, but would want to know if 1) the fellow was wearing a seat belt, and 2) if the car had air bags. Personally, I don't use computerized navigation devices because they are distracting and sometimes wrong, but expect they probably feature disclaimers. It seems that the principal responsibility should lie with whoever owns and should be maintaining the bridge.

[@dragnbreath1]

I just gotta ask if he had bought a paper map would that have had the collapsed bridge marked on it?

[@andrewk8636]

​​@@gretchenk.2516there is no guarantee it gets updated tho. It's a free service after all. Also "Google maps is in beta". As much as i hate google the liability should really be on the county or city or whoever owns the bridge. But Google should definitely make a better reporting system where you can show pictures of road closures and they can review it

[@cmorris9494]

The local paper map business closed last year. Plus if he had a paper map the road would be open.

[@robertstoneking7916]

If the road was usable on the copyright date of the map then yes.

[@brandonhebert5485]

@@gretchenk.2516 That's right, using a computer application. He's responsible for his vehicle on the road, not google. The only ones with some liability are the ones that allowed this bridge to not be physically blocked off. Google has nothing to do with anything.

[@jrkorman]

I did some research when I read this story the other day. 1. It is a private road, so the city/county/state say they had to duty to fix it. BUT, did they have a duty to place a barricade on the public roads feeding that private road? 2. Google may just want to settle. Mapquest and Bing Maps both show a break in the road where the bridge was washed out. 3. The original development company appears long gone. 4. If it goes to trial I'm sure it will have to be determined how much responsibility the driver had for his own safety.

[@DavidBall-v5i]

The sad thing is that nobody local, who knew of the danger, took the initiative to just simply and easily pile up a bunch of old tires, brush or anything to barricade the road for over ten years. So sad.

[@DVankeuren]

They did. Locals put up barriers, but they were removed.

[@calamity0.o]

Wasn't there something about the location of the bridge? It was a private road or something on the land owning company to maintain, not the public works services. Unless I'm mixing up collapsed bridge stories.

[@Razmoudah]

They can also be sued by the owner of the road and bridge for obstructing a roadway (civil case if it's a private road, potentially criminal if it's a public road), and it quite literally doesn't matter that they did so with the intent of protecting people from a hazard such as a bridge being out. It's just part of the 'fun' of the modern legal system. It doesn't matter how altruistic your intentions are if you technically break the letter of the law simply because you did, intentionally, break it. The problem is how do you fix that without making things worse, which is what the jury of your peers is nominally for. Steve probably has dozens of stories where that jury trial just made things worse, not better.

[@highpath4776]

Also a problem on sat navs where temporary road closures are (a) not marked and (b) not included in the best/fastest way to get to your destination - or rather they are included and they should not have been

[@Hamish_A]

"Unbarricaded" !??? WTF. Not Google maps fault. Also nobody else, apparently, had made the same fatal mistake. Doesn't the driver have a very large part of the liability?

[@rjwaters3]

google was being informed for 10 years, and theres records stating that they were definitively informed in 2020, people were asking for the bridge to be marked and/or barricaded for a similar amount of time, it was late at night, and it was still unmarked, unbarricaded, and google had no warning in place for the bridge, the driver might have a SMALL amount of liability, but with everything else? Its unlikely that the (dead) driver will get much more liability attributed to them than 10% Even more so if an image of the bridge is presented, the state of the bridge is such that it would take a few seconds for you to realize the bridge is missing in broad daylight, let alone late at night And its not a lawsuit aimed specifically at google, it names a bunch of people who would be liable in such a situation, google is just one of them.

[@toddmoore9841]

There was a barrier at one time. Wood, not concrete. They removed the barrier because it had been vandalized and never replaced them.

[@niyablake]

Because the locals knew . He was not a local

[@DVankeuren]

@@rjwaters3 So, they do not own the road, they did not agree to anything that says their maps will be 100& correct 100% of the time. The guy was at fault for not paying attention in an area he did not know.

[@rjwaters3]

@@DVankeuren they dont HAVE to claim to be 100% accurate 100% of the time, they are a mapping service that gives directions, they imply simply by giving directions that it is safe to follow them, if they ARE INFORMED that the directions they are giving could kill someone, and they dont correct that, 1,2,3,TEN YEARS LATER! this bridge has been in shambles for TEN. YEARS! and they keep directing people to it, they have a civil responsibility that they have failed at, and are at least partially liable for this issue. what little digging the news dig prior to publishing shows that google has been on notice for at MINIMUM 3years. Its not like this sort of thing should be that hard to change. Now, 100% liability? doubtful, but they ARE liable, along with many of the others who are named in the lawsuit.

[@wmrieker]

By using this service, I have read and agree to the Terms of Service.

[@iamchillydogg]

The guy was 4 miles from his house why did he need Google maps? Since he lived in the area how could he not know the bridge had been down for 10 years? Very strange.

[@davidchristensen811]

The guy's family had just moved into the area, so didn't know the local roads very well yet. The whole family was at a new friend's house that they had never visited before. When the man left alone to drive home (family traveled in two vehicles) he knew roughly where he was and roughly where he wanted to be, but he did not know the exact route to get home. So he asks google maps, the route sends him in the right general direction, so he (tragically) ended up on road he was not familiar with, with a collapsed bridge that was not blocked. And this was after dark, so he likely didn't notice the road ended until a few milliseconds before he was airborne. Picture of the Jeep shows it flipped forward and landed in water with the front seat area submerged. That jives with physics as the front of the vehicle is heavier, so it would flip forward and probably land upside down. Cause of death was apparently drowning. I'm guessing the doors were damaged so they would not open. Before guy could escape, he was under water and ran out of time. :(

[@cmorris9494]

I live in a town where their is new housing developments being built every other year. I had to use google maps to get to a street I never heard of. I have lived in this town for 45 years.

[@brandonhebert5485]

@@davidchristensen811 A horrible way to die, but not google's fault.

[@mikedrakekrampus9410]

10 years ago I worked in Long Island City in Queens NY. there was a one way street next to a pedestrian footbridge. For reasons unknown, guidance systems would instruct people to drive down the road in the wrong direction and drive over the pedestrian bridge. Oddly, if you asked for walking directions it wouldn't send you over the pedestrian bridge. It took about 5 years for then to fix.

[@codemiesterbeats]

At first I thought it might be silly to sue Google however given the timeframe and considering they had been informed... It makes total sense. I think even more at fault in this situation however is the state or county. I live in NC also and I happen to know of an old bridge in the middle of nowhere then I used to cross occasionally shortly after getting my driver's license. That thing looked sketchy 15 years ago😅 (The sort of bridge that has the trestle thingies on both sides, and is sort of reminiscent of an erector set) I'm almost tempted to go see what it looks like now. I hope between the government and Google they get a payday. Having young children left behind makes it that much more terrible.

[@johnmickey5017]

It’s a private road. This isn’t government but doing their job, it’s a private citizen being, IMO, criminally negligent.

[@robertstoneking7916]

I'm wondering why the authorities (city, county, state) never condemned the bridge and stored some gravel or dirt across the road. They can charge the ownership later if it actually is on private property. Some private roads are on public right of way but privately maintained.

[@robertheinkel6225]

I find it hard to believe there were no barricades or signage showing the bridge is out.

[@davidcole1463]

A few years back I was driving a tanker truck in North Dakota. I was directed to go to a particular oil rig by my corporate office. While following the Google map route the road became a path which soon turned into a trail on top of a hill… I got out and walked about 200 yards and realized that I was about to drive off a cliff. I had an extremely long, slow and difficult time turning around the eight axle truck having to back up, uphill and on the ‘blind side’ with a sheer drop off on the right side of my truck. WHEW!

[@Van-zf9iw]

The brain, windshield, headlights, wipers, and eyeglasses have always prevented me from driving over a bridge that was out lol.

[@GraemePayne1967Marine]

Something I learned a long time ago: "the map is not the territory" - but that does not excuse the failures here!

[@tomwilliam5118]

It's amazing how many people use Google Map to get somewhere but they don't know how to get back without the map I'm just talking about in town. I was sitting at a stop sign behind a lady. She turned right then immediately stopped on a four-lane road. After I made the right turn I pulled up next to her and ask her if she broke down she said no trying to find my way back to a particular Road. Go back the way you came.. how in the heck these people the can't find your way anywhere back in the days before Google. I was a porter at a dealership and I would take people home and they don't know how to tell you to get to their house

[@johngalt97]

Why worry about learning street names when you already know where you are and how to get where you're going?

[@ClickClack_Bam]

It's just as amazing as a guy who drives off a fucking cliff because a robot programmed voice tells him to go that way. Nevermind your own eyes seeing a God damned cliff in front of you.... the voice said to go that way, guess it's correct!

[@jonathanj8303]

It amazes me too. Probably less than 20% of the people I've met can actually trully read a map. I knew one person who used google for directions in their own town - without Google they knew about two routes - their house to mom, and mom's to sister. To get from their house to their sister's without help, they had to go via mom's even though it was entirely in the wrong direction. And this is someone in their 30s and they'd lived there all their life.

[@timothy4664]

My wife. We moved to my hometown 5 years ago so that our daughter would grow up with extended family. My wife still doesn't know how to get anywhere without GPS. Drives me nuts.

[@rockyroad7345]

When I was in college a friend always rode with me because she didn't have a car. I can't tell you how many times when years later she called me asking for directions to places we'd been to many times.

[@EmeryJude]

Apparently the developer of the neighborhood never turned over control of the road to NCDOT and that's why no one will take responsibility for the bridge repair, according to WCNC News. This is sad and there should be reflective cones placed at the very least.

[@additudeobx]

The next question is: What if this was an autonomous vehicle with passengers, following the vehicles navigation system? Thats real scary...

[@MichaelOnines]

If the autonimous vehicle doesn't have hazard detection covering massive gaps in the driving surface that is a product liability. Frankly I would expect a commercially available level 5 autonomous vehicle to detect this better than the unfortunate deceased in this case.

[@joesterling4299]

Then the party to sue would be Tesla, or whichever car company created that vehicle. An autonomous vehicle that can't see or otherwise detect a deep hole ahead has no business being on the road.

[@DVankeuren]

Still the driver's fault for not taking control before flying off the bridge. People still have responsibility when getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

[@MichaelOnines]

@@DVankeuren level 5 is fully autonomous, no driver needed like a self-driving taxi.

[@Razmoudah]

@@MichaelOnines The last I knew (and I don't really keep up on this, so it's entirely possible I'm wrong) no one is even close to a level 5 yet. Still, even the best systems for such vehicles are still limited by line-of-sight, and if that hole is hidden by the curvature of the slope of the bridge and the guardrails are still up that level 5 autonomous vehicle won't be any more capable of detecting it than a human driver. Still, that's a rather specialized circumstance, and in all other circumstances I'd have to agree with you about the level 5 being better capable of detecting such driving hazards.

[@BitBam]

i use google maps a lot and on rare occasions am given very unsafe directions, such as specifically being advised to make a left turn after an intersection, a route that does exist, but ill advised on a street where after the intersection there is no middle turn lane. someone unfamiliar with the area who takes this route would end up stopping to wait for an opportunity to turn, while also blocking the main flow of traffic

[@Elliandr]

This one time Google maps sent me down the wrong way along a one way road. It was late at night and poorly lit so I couldn't see the signage which, combined with the fact that the road was a 2-way road just a few years prior, and being able to show the app, and not being from the area, is the reason why the officer who pulled me over let me off with a warning. Since then I stopped just trusting what Google says because it could have turn out differently. Someone could have been hurt or I could have been arrested. I now look carefully at my route ahead of time, but that doesn't always help because maps automatically reroutes for faster or to avoid traffic without my permission so I have to avoid this by planning my long distance routes by connecting to several locations on the way. This is especially important for multi state drives because I could plan to go through one state, but end up through another instead, or I can plan for rural driving where I can safely slow down to look at signs, but end up in city traffic. On a bicycle even Google would send me down dangerous roads like preferring an industrial road without sidewalks or a shoulder lane even when the next road over has normal traffic and a place to ride. I've also noticed one case where they refused to plot a route over a specific river. Even if I start my route on one side of the bridge I'd get routed a hundred miles around when the other side is right in front of me. This problem combined with dangerous roads and automatic rerouting is problematic. I want to go back to an offline GPS. Of course, good luck ever suing Google. Even if they refuse to pay according to a contract cases get thrown out if not filed in California specifically.

[@dennisssmock3553]

No that doesn't fall on Google maps. It's still up to you to safely operate your vehicle. As far as the bridge that is the responsibility of the county or city. If it's on private property it's on the owner of the property.

[@georgeradulescu7175]

The more people rely on technology to do the thinking for them, the less able they are to think for themselves. We are now at a point where people end up in a location because the GPS told them to, without knowing how they got there and how to get out. I remember driving from Pittsburgh to Myrtle Beach using only paper maps, but today you have people using Google Maps to get to their grocery store.

[@Razmoudah]

If you've recently moved to the area, that does make sense. But after the fourth or fifth trip I do find it ridiculous.

[@jasondrummond9451]

Before my first road trip, as a new motorcycle rider - LONG before Google - I hauled out paper maps and MEMORIZED every turn, every junction, every highway number, off-ramp and street name from my home on Vancouver Island to my cousin's home in Seattle. I was travelling at night, on a windy and rainy October night - roadside map reading was not on. So I used my memory and arrived without incident.

[@timothy4664]

I am not surprised by this. I live on a corner lot and google showed my home as the address for a trailer park community several blocks down the road from my house. I would routinely get packages delivered to my house that belonged to someone living down there. I contacted google repeatedly to get them to fix it and it took well over a year. I put up signs to notify the drivers, told them in person. Hasnt happened in a long time now. And no, i didny keep them. I delivered them myself. Every time, and trust me, it was a lot. Especially at Christmas.

[@zeriousvolt1245]

Another Darwin award.

[@michman2]

Because the town had been notified of it's condition, they are responsible.

[@28ebdh3udnav]

This reminds me of the time when a driver was following maps instructions into a boat ramp and even after the car got submerged, she still sat there smiling as if nothing was happening

[@snex000]

That's from The Office, not a real event.

[@28ebdh3udnav]

@@snex000 okay, hold on, let me get the video....

[@Graham-ce2yk]

I can remember seeing photographs from Australia of a trio of tourists standing on the roof of their hire car as a ferry went past in the background. The GPS they were using told them it was possible to drive across from the Queensland mainland to Hinchinbrook Island and of course they went down a boat ramp into the water.

[@Jim-tv2tk]

This kind of thing is why people hate lawyers. Ridiculous lawsuit just going after the deep pockets.

[@VedaSay]

Can there be class-action against individual, if they do not use their brain.

[@davidh9638]

Please give s a citation to where Google "holds itself out as" accurate.

[@davidh9638]

Google maps terms of service: "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."

[@GeorgieB1965]

I usually use Google Maps for local directions, and I always pay attention to the street signs given.