Woman who walked onto highway sues Google Maps

A Utah woman is suing the search engine Google, claiming its maps function gave her walking directions that led her onto a major highway, where she was struck by a car.

The lawsuit seeks more than $100,000 in damages.

Lauren Rosenberg sought directions between two addresses in Utah about 3 kilometres apart. The top result suggested that Rosenberg follow a busy rural highway for several hundred metres. The highway does not have sidewalks. One stretch is blocked by a noise barrier that pushes pedestrians closer to the roadside.

After walking on to the highway, Rosenberg was struck by a car. The driver, Patrick Harwood, is also named in the suit.

Google has pointed out that the directions Rosenberg sought come with a warning of caution for pedestrians. Rosenberg claims that she accessed the Maps function on her Blackberry mobile device, where it did not include the warning.