this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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If he was driving at night in the rain I could imagine that looking like a big dark reflective puddle and not realizing it's a gaping hole until you're too close to stop.
No doubt there were other factors at play, but you can't blame Google for bad weather and poor road visibility, though.
The story here is that the city of Hickory had a responsibility to put barriers and signs up, which they did not. The family is likely going after Google because $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, but they have no case.
But shifting the blame wholly onto the driver is also not reasonable. People thinking "lol, Darwin" damned well know that driving at night in a dark, rural area, you're still going to be driving a decent speed and you might not see something coming. There are classes of problems you have to expect, like wildlife or other vehicles... but there are also classes of things you should not have to worry about, like the map not being updated about a destroyed bridge after 10 years despite having been notified repeatedly.
The city of Hickory bears most of the blame, of course. But the fact that Google does not pay attention when users notify them about dangerous road conditions in their maps is a serious problem, and deserves some responsibility. They can't say "we didn't know" when they actively, aggressively choose not to listen.
I'm probably just old, but there's more than one case of an Internet map telling folks to turn somewhere that there was no where to go because the maps aren't updated. I also used to used the old fashioned paper maps before MapQuest and while those were usually fine, they also don't help in cases of road closures or construction changes.
Whoever's responsibile for the road itself (local municipality or state) should have had it blocked off.
Again, as someone who grew up using paper maps, this is such a bizarre statement. It's cool that map companies offer things like speed trap warnings, but I frequently get warnings about stuff and there's nothing there. You still can't fully trust what the system is telling you. It's just a tool.