Snapchat Can Be Sued for Role in Fatal Car Crash, Court Rules (opens in new tab)

(npr.org)

32 pointslostandbored4y ago16 comments

16 comments

Of course they should be allowed to sue. Whether the suit makes sense or will be dismissed outright is up for a judge to decide.

It's a stupid feature, but I can't see how Snapchat is to blame for the actions of a passenger. Is the feature designed to show off how fast you're traveling, sure. It wasn't the person in the driver seat trying to record though.

lax4ever4y ago

I have to agree with you. You cannot sue a state government just because you got in an accident in the middle of a snowstorm because you were driving too fast for the weather and lost control of the car, even though the speed limit signs might permit you to drive that speed. There has to be a reasonable assumption call here, and no reasonable person can say that going that kind of speed on a residential roadway is reasonable. In addition, there is a reasonable suspicion that this kid may have been driving the car illegally if he was 17 and just with his friends.

https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/dmv/teen-driver/yr-frst-lcns/... https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/dmv/teen-driver/yr-frst-lcns/...

If Jason Davis was driving under an instruction permit, he did not have anyone in the car to legally supervise him under Wisconsin law. If he was driving under a probationary license there was a possibility he was driving legally if he was past the 9 month requirement without it being extended, but if he was still in the initial 9 month period he had more passengers in the car than he was legally allowed to have. It is possible for him to have been outside the probationary period of the probationary drivers license, but that would require him to get his license some time between Jan and March of 2016 and then immediately get his probationary 6 months after that with all the requirements entailed, and I find that unlikely.

This seems to me to be a series of bad decisions made both by the teenager behind the wheel, and the parents for letting him do so.

seg_lol4y ago

Something about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

It seems similar to "Send Me to Heaven" [1] the app for gamifying the destruction of phones.

[1] https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-bans-app-that-wants-you-to-t...

JCharante4y ago

Oh thank you for sharing that, it reminded me of my first android app from when I was 15. It used the accelerometer to see populate a leaderboard of how hard you could chuck your phone.

spacemanmatt4y ago

Counterpoint: I can't see how a speedometer overlay is anything except an attractive nuisance.

okamiueru4y ago

Shouldn't the counterpoint be how the driver somehow is no longer responsible for the vehicle? Which, is why it would be absurd for Snapchat to be accountable? To me, this seems no different than the driver claiming they aren't fault because "someone dared me to".

colejohnson664y ago

Doesn’t that just describe the majority of Snapchat filters?

2 more replies

sneak4y ago

Would you say the same thing for a GoPro?

1 more reply

lostandboredOP4y ago

Agreed with you. I just find it an step towards defining what Section 230 cover legally.

LatteLazy4y ago

The only way this makes sense is the concept of attractive nuisance. That's a very poor case imho, but let's assume we had to make it. The real attractive nuisance here isn't snap, it's that someone made a car that can do 153mph, and some kids parents bought it for him. Not Snapchat letting you film it with filters.

FireBeyond4y ago

To be clear, the car involved was a 2003 Jetta, 14 years old.

It wasn't like the parents bought their kid an Audi R8 or similar.

jakearmitage4y ago

Why do you need a car that can do 153mph?

Sohcahtoa824y ago

There's a sweet spot when it comes to power and efficiency. A car that only has enough power to go 70 mph will likely be very inefficient at it, not to mention that it would take a very long time to get there. On the other side of the spectrum, a 600+ horsepower monster than can go 200+ mph is pretty inefficient at 70 mph, too.

But somewhere in the 150-200 horsepower range will end up with a car that is very efficient at 70 mph, and a top speed around 130-150 mph depending on gearing an aerodynamics.

Of course, rather than designing cars with lower power, they could simply add a governor, so the car computer does not allow travel above a certain speed, but that would be an incredibly unpopular option, even among people that don't go significantly over the limit.

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