GPS Liability?

In early January accident, a California computer technician turned his rental car onto some train tracks in New York per the directions of his sat nav system. The car became stuck and he had to abandon it before an oncoming train hit it. There were no injuries, but there were significant delays in travel. “The rental car driver was issued a summons and is being held liable for the damage to the train and track.”

That leads a real live lawyer, Eric J. Sinrod, writing at c|net to examine the potential of a driver to point to the GPS manufacturer as being at fault. The article points out:

- most systems make clear in their licenses that the driver is reponsibility for safety, but a judge courd interpret that contract as unenforceable
- “...just because a GPS now might provide some assistance, it is unreasonable to allow a driver to fob off all responsibility on the GPS provider” especially since until recently the driver had to determine the route on his or her own!

- “a GPS device, when operational, at a minimum, is very distracting, and at most, is quite commanding”