<p>The family of a man from North Carolina who died after following Google Maps instructions and drove his vehicle off a fallen bridge is suing the internet giant for negligence, saying it knew about the collapse but did not update its navigation system.<img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-192195″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/theindiaprint.com-following-the-instructions-on-a-map-a-man-lost-his-life-and-google-was-sued-for-ca.jpg” alt=”theindiaprint.com following the instructions on a map a man lost his life and google was sued for ca” width=”1145″ height=”641″ srcset=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/theindiaprint.com-following-the-instructions-on-a-map-a-man-lost-his-life-and-google-was-sued-for-ca.jpg 300w, https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/theindiaprint.com-following-the-instructions-on-a-map-a-man-lost-his-life-and-google-was-sued-for-ca-150×84.jpg 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1145px) 100vw, 1145px” title=”Following the instructions on a map, a man lost his life, and Google was sued for carelessness 3″></p>
<p>A complaint was filed on Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court alleging that Philip Paxson, a medical device salesman and father of two, drowned on September 30, 2022, when his Jeep Gladiator slid into Snow Creek in Hickory. Google Maps reportedly instructed Paxson to cross a bridge that had fallen nine years earlier and was never rebuilt while he was returning from his daughter’s ninth birthday celebration via an unknown neighborhood.</p>
<p>As an adult, I still find it difficult to comprehend how people in charge of the GPS instructions and the bridge could have done with so little regard for human life, according to his wife, Alicia Paxson. “Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words they can understand,” she added.</p>
<p>It was reported by state troopers that there were no barricades or warning signs along the washed-out road where Paxton’s corpse was discovered in his flipped-over and half submerged vehicle. According to the claim, he had drove off an unsecured ledge and crashed around 20 feet below.</p>
<p>The original developer’s firm had collapsed, according to the North Carolina State Patrol, and neither local nor state authorities were responsible for maintaining the bridge. The complaint lists many private property management firms as defendants, alleging that they are in charge of maintaining the bridge and the surrounding area.</p>
<p>According to the complaint, several individuals had alerted Google Maps about the collapse in the years before Paxson’s passing and had pushed the firm to update its route data.</p>
<p>A second Hickory resident used the map’s “suggest an edit” function in September 2020 to inform the firm that it was sending traffic across the fallen bridge, according to email records included in the legal complaint on Tuesday. Google acknowledged receiving her complaint and examining the requested adjustment in an email sent in November 2020, but the lawsuit claims that no further action was taken.</p>
<p>Google official José Castaeda told The Associated Press, “We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family.” “Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps, and we are reviewing this lawsuit.”</p>
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