Accident Victims Sue Snapchat
Using an app while driving is dangerous. Accident victims all over the country are suing social media app creator Snapchat, according to Inside Counsel Magazine. Some of them allege that a particular feature of the application, known as the Speed Filter, is distracting drivers and causing accidents. The Speed Filter measures the speed that the user is traveling and superimposes the speed over a photograph taken with the app. The lawsuits argue that this encourages users to look at the phone, rather than the road, while driving at high speeds, according to The New York Times.
Georgia Snapchat Accident Lawsuit
One of the lawsuits involves an accident near Hampton, Georgia. The accident occurred last year, when an 18-year-old woman crashed her car into another driver who was moving into the lane ahead of them. The accident lawsuit alleges that the driver, Christal McGee, was using the Speed Filter feature of Snapchat during the accident. Accident reconstruction indicated that McGee was driving about 107 miles per hour. The occupant of the car she hit suffered severe spinal injuries. He is suing McGee and Snapchat.
Texting and Driving is Negligent Driving
In Georgia, victims of car accidents can sue the driver at fault for negligence. In a negligence lawsuit, the victim must prove that the other driver failed to take reasonable care to avoid injury to other drivers on the road. This means following all the rules of the road, including speed limits. Texting while driving is illegal in Georgia, but there is no rule specific to use of other smart phone applications. However, any failure to pay attention to surroundings may be negligence, if a reasonable person would have kept their eyes on the road. Even if the victim is less than 50% at fault, they can still recover an award if the other party was also negligent.
Smart Phones May Cause Accidents
If a victim of a car accident believes that the other party was distracted by a phone application before or during the accident, they may be able to succeed in a negligence lawsuit. They would need to prove that the other driver wasn’t taking reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of those around them, perhaps because the phone application distracted them. In a case like the one involving McGee, the victim can argue that driving over the speed limit caused the accident. The extreme speed of the McGee case may authorize the award of punitive damages. If the other driver was texting, and the distraction caused the accident, this could also prove negligence. For example, if using the application required McGee to look away from the road for longer than a reasonable person would, especially while moving at a high speed, and this caused her to collide with the other car, the victim could prove that she was negligent and recover money damages.
Get Compensated for Your Injuries
If you or someone you love has been in a car accident, you need legal advice. Contact a car accident attorney at Williams Elleby Howard & Easter to get the compensation you deserve by calling 833-LEGALGA (534-2542) to schedule a free no-risk consultation.