Snapchat has been named in a lawsuit for a car accident involving a teenager who was using the app while driving. It’s not out of the ordinary for people to use mobile tech irresponsibly while driving, but rarely does it lead to the tech company who developed the device or app to get sued. Snapchat is currently valued somewhere between $10-20 billion.
The lawsuit comes out of Georgia, where a violent car crash nearly left five people dead in September 2015. The blame is being put on Snapchat’s speed filter, which superimposes the current speed over the image at the time the photo was taken, measured in either miles or kilometer per hour.
At the time of the accident, the teen driver was attempting to photograph herself driving at more than 100 mph in a 55 mph zone, in order to post the picture to social media. She then rear ended the plaintiff, Maynard Wentworth, at approximately 107 mph.
Severe injuries were had by the teen driver, her 3 passengers, and Wentworth, who went into a coma, spent 5 weeks in intensive care, and suffered permanent brain damage.
Wentworth’s family is now suing Snapchat for an unspecified amount of money. His attorney’s argue that Snapchat facilitated the teen driver’s excessive speeding, due to the irresponsible implementation of the apps speed filter. They claim the app distracted the driver, and encouraged her drive recklessly, claiming “This is a product liability case because Snapchat put something very dangerous in the marketplace without any warnings or safeguards, and basically said, whatever happens, happens.”
The lawyers are also hold the teen driver accountable, who is also named in the lawsuit, but believe that Snapchat played a major role.
The teen driver’s family claim that Wentworth pulled out in front of her illegally. However, the 3 passengers in her car have stated on record that she was driving as fast as 113 miles per hour. A car crash expert was able to determine her vehicle’s speed at the moment of impact with Wentworth’s vehicle.
This case joins a long list of instances of people who were distracted by their mobile devices, which then resulted in serious accidents. However, rewarding it’s users for driving dangerously with it’s speed filter doesn’t make Snapchat look very good either, and may make their case more difficult in court.