Mint Quick Edit: Fatal mis-direction: Google needs to soul-search

Lives lost to negligence aren’t new in India, but a road crash in Uttar Pradesh stands out. As with most accidents, two failures coincided tragically, but the driver of the ill-fated vehicle did nothing wrong.

Three men travelling over the weekend from Gurugram to Bareilly lost their lives when their car fell off a bridge that didn’t reach all the way across a shallow river because it was incomplete, damaged or both.

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The police say a check of their mobile phones revealed they were using Google Maps.

It’s unfortunate that a well-endowed company like Google hasn’t yet deployed the resources needed to secure users against such dangerous instances of misguidance.

This case should concentrate minds at its headquarters. The other failure, of course, was of local authorities in charge of road safety.

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Surely, protocols must require that all roads leading to deadly drops be kept blocked from unsuspecting traffic.

It is astounding that such obvious must-dos go missing in large parts of the country. Similar fatalities have taken place even in upscale urban spaces, such as Gurgaon.

Whether or not Google takes any action in response, those in charge of public safety must get their act together.

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