According to New York Daily News, the filter adds a user’s speed to their photo, and Snapchat awards them with a “trophy” for posting how fast they were going. According to the lawsuit, the victim, a Uber driver named Wentworth Maynard, was merging onto a four-lane highway outside of Georgia’s capital (a city already known for its heavy traffic), when his auto was struck “so violently it shot across the left lane into the left embankment”.
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Maynard sustained a severe traumatic brain injury and spent five weeks in intensive care.
Wentworth was left permanently brain damaged by the incident but there is no information on injuries suffered by Christal McGee or her passengers. It makes sense that Maynard has filed a lawsuit against McGee to keep her accountable for being distracted while driving. “She argued that she was, ‘Just trying to get the auto to 100 miles per hour to post it on Snapchat'”.
Phones have always been a distraction to drivers, but Snapchat’s speed filter is proving an especially risky diversion.
“While [she] was distracted and on her phone, McGee did not notice that a gray Mitsubishi, driven by Maynard Wentworth, had pulled out onto the road”, the complaint says.
Once home and after months of recovery, Maynard is finally able to get out of bed and feed himself. The news release points out that her snap joins a “macabre gallery” of Snapchat users who have “captured and shared moments of danger and damage surrounding their use of the app”. The technology, after all, already resides on the dashboard of every auto on the planet and Snapchat’s app is built for a device you’re not supposed to be using while driving anyway.
The lawsuit alleges Snapchat was “the critical cause” of the collision, due to its live filter tracking the speed of users travelling in their various modes of transport, which can be overlaid on top of snaps.
Snapchat can not comment on the case due to ongoing litigation.
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“This is a product liability case because Snapchat put something very risky in the marketplace without any warnings or safeguards, and basically said, whatever happens, happens”, attorney T. Shane Peagler said. They claim she took a selfie with blood dripping down her face and the caption “lucky to be alive” immediately after the accident (that photo can be seen here).
