The internet company, Google, is best known for being a multi-purpose tool. It is used to organize the world’s information, making it accessible to people all over the world, according to google.com.
Google is used by people everywhere and for many different things, such as looking for certain websites, watching videos, shopping for items online or having a map to get from place to place, according to indiatoday.in.
This internet resource has been successful in helping people for years, but recently, there was an issue with the Google Maps app.
In Sept. 2022, Google found themselves getting sued by a small North Carolina family for driving their father off a cliff. Phillip Paxson, the father of the family, was on his way to his daughter’s ninth birthday party. He used the navigation system which directed him to go across an unbarricaded bridge, according to cnn.com.
It was dark and rainy outside, and neither the bridge nor the road leading up to it had a sign alerting that the bridge was abandoned, which led Paxson to plunge into a creek to his death. It was a difficult loss for his wife and two young daughters, according to theguardian.com.
“Our girls ask why and how their daddy died,” his wife, Alicia Paxson said. “I am at a loss of words they can understand because, as an adult, I still can’t understand how those responsible could have acted with so little regard for human life.”
North Carolina troopers came upon the accident and found Philip Paxson’s body and his submerged truck 20 feet below the broken bridge. The State Patrol had said that the bridge was not maintained by local or state officials. No one had a clue this bridge was still a location on Google Maps, according to apnews.com.
The court filing of the lawsuit includes an email recording from a local citizen who used an app feature to suggest a change to the map. This was done to alert the company that it was directing drivers over the collapsed bridge. Google received the email, but has yet to take any further action with the app and the lawsuit, according to apnews.com.
