Of course, safety measures should have been put in place. The problem is that the family seems to be putting blame on everyone else, and that's also not reasonable.

The city of Hickory bears most of the blame, of course.

Yes, but...

"The barricades were removed after being vandalized and were missing at the time of Paxson’s wreck." (source)

Really awful circumstances. If the vandals were caught, I'd have them face an involuntary manslaughter charge.

EDIT: Also, this particular bridge was on a private road that had no "ownership". It actually was NOT the city's responsibility and the developer of that road apparently dissolved... this just keeps getting worse and worse for the family.

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.

Having mapped for Google for years, that's just how it is. Missing roads, incorrect routes, addresses that don't exist, closures that aren't reflected on the map... all normal stuff for every digital mapping service.

The reality is, Google does not bear any responsibility for what happens during the use of the product. No navigation app/company does. It's always in their TOS.

The very nature of maps is that they are ever-changing, and never 100% accurate.

[–] Count042@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, McDonalds coffee is kept at far hotter temperatures then other resteraunts to extend the life of the coffee. Yes, they did know that it had already caused serious burns from spills.

Still, that woman should have known that coffee is hot and not asked for the cost of her medical bills to be paid by McDonalds when she required multiple skin graft surgeries to heal the third degree burns to her genial area. I mean, come on, how could McDonalds by liable for that?

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

That's not comparable at all. McDonald's basically sold an unsafe food, so they were liable. Food companies, restaurants, etc. are held to a certain standard for what they service.

Other than being inaccurate (every map ever made is inaccurate), can you explain how Google is responsible for a driver's skill or ability to pay attention to where they are going?

There have been some wild cases of people using in-car navigation and driving off dead ends, into water, etc. We laugh and call them idiots. What else can you do?