The Dumb is Strong With This One

[Papa_Complex]

Woman who walked onto highway sues Google Maps

A Utah woman is suing the search engine Google, claiming its maps function gave her walking directions that led her onto a major highway, where she was struck by a car.

The lawsuit seeks more than $100,000 in damages.

Lauren Rosenberg sought directions between two addresses in Utah about 3 kilometres apart. The top result suggested that Rosenberg follow a busy rural highway for several hundred metres. The highway does not have sidewalks. One stretch is blocked by a noise barrier that pushes pedestrians closer to the roadside.

After walking on to the highway, Rosenberg was struck by a car. The driver, Patrick Harwood, is also named in the suit.

Google has pointed out that the directions Rosenberg sought come with a warning of caution for pedestrians. Rosenberg claims that she accessed the Maps function on her Blackberry mobile device, where it did not include the warning.

Others have pointed out that Rosenberg might have been best served by her own eyes after she reached a T-junction and found herself confronted with a patently unsafe walk (see pictures at the bottom of this post).