Plenty of accidents have been caused by texting and driving, but a newer form of reckless driving has emerged: Snapchatting behind the wheel.
A lawsuit blames Snapchat for creating a filter that prompted a woman named Christal McGee to drive her Mercedes Benz above the speed limit and crash into Wentworth Maynard's merging vehicle on a Georgia highway. McGee made impact with Maynard while going 107 miles per hour, according to the court filing.
Maynard's lawyers said "McGee intended to post information about how fast she was driving on Snapchat" through one of the app's filters, which lets you overlay the speed you're moving in miles per hour over a photo or video. It looks like this:
When you're at 35,000 ft. and @Snapchat records your speed and takes the best selfies. #LetsGo#ExcuseMeSir#Cmonpic.twitter.com/1n7R1AbOya
"Snapchat's speed filter facilitated McGee's excessive speeding," Maynard's lawyers wrote. "McGee was motivated to drive at an excessive speed in order to obtain recognition through Snapchat by means of a Snapchat 'trophy.'" The trophy section of Snapchat features unlockable emoji trophies users are awarded for doing certain things with the app, although Snapchat has never offered a trophy for using the speed filter specifically.
The suit also cites a July 2015 incident in which a Brazilian woman used Snapchat while in a speeding vehicle that was wrecked and overturned.
Maynard's lawyers are suing both Snapchat and McGee to pay for medical bills related to Maynard's injuries from the accident, which include "permanent brain damage." McGee, who was also injured, posted a selfie to Snapchat after the accident while strapped to a gurney in an ambulance with blood on her face. Her caption read, "Lucky to be alive."
Snapchat declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. The company warns new users not to use the app while driving.
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