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Snapchat Sued For Facilitating 107 MPH Car Crash (patch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A Georgia couple is suing Snapchat, a popular instant messaging and photo sharing app, after a car accident last year seriously injured the husband, leaving him permanently brain damaged. According to media reports, Wentworth Maynard, the victim, was driving in a 55-mile-per-hour zone when 18-year-old Christal McGee crashed into him traveling at 107 miles per hour. McGee, according to lawsuits, was attempting to use Snapchat's "speed filter" -- a feature that overlays the speed one is traveling on a picture. "Snapchat's speed filter facilitated McGee's excessive speeding," reads the lawsuit. "McGee was motivated to drive at an excessive speed in order to obtain recognition through Snapchat by the means of a Snapchat 'trophy.'"
There is no evidence that Snapchat has a "speed" trophy. There is a site that tracks them.
Excuse me, what he was doing? He's the one who got ran into!
How is this any different?
Snapchat isn't paying you, and their app says not to use it while driving. That's pretty much the complete opposite of your scenario. I agree that they'll probably share some culpability in the end, but having this dumb speed filter thing is absolutely not the same as telling someone to drive as fast as possible with reckless abandon. The latter is a feature built-in to most teenagers, phone/app/camera or not.
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Depends on the car, there are cars you won't even realize you're going at 100mph and cars that at 75mph feel like they're falling apart.