<div class="gmail_quote">On 1 June 2010 09:23, Nakor <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nakor.osm@gmail.com">nakor.osm@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
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On 5/31/2010 4:36 PM, John Smith wrote:
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<pre> Her lawyers claim Google is liable because it did not warn her
that the route would not offer a safe place for a pedestrian to walk.
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Did Google add their notice after the fact?<br>
<br>
"<b>Walking directions are in beta.</b> Use caution – This route may be
missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths."<br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Here's a case from NZ where something similar happened that didn't lead to injury. Until this article was posted, Google Maps directed people through Wellington's bus tunnel, a 1 way tunnel which barely has enough width for buses to travel through.</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3552037/Google-maps-off-course-with-walk-through-bus-tunnel">http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3552037/Google-maps-off-course-with-walk-through-bus-tunnel</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>At that incident Goolge's response was:</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">
Google spokeswoman Annie Baxter said the walking directions search function in Google Maps was still at an experimental phase.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">
"We clearly advise people to use caution as routes might be missing footpaths or pedestrian-friendly paths."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This implies that they they're undertaking a responsibility to notify people when routes are generated. I guess if the BlackBerry version doesn't include the disclaimer, there's an argument to say that Google didn't meet its (self-imposed?) duty of care to the consumers.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Still, even if they breached the duty of care, the injured woman will still need to establish that the breach was a cause of her injury.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tim.</span></p></span></div></div>