Blame the Phone

Another tragedy and another group blaming the inanimate device as well as the person responsible for a tragedy.  A man using the Apple iPhone application FaceTime video chat while driving ran into and over a car in front of him, injuring everyone in the car and killing one of the children.

There was a traffic stop on a Texas highway due to police activity in Texas, a family of a mother, father and two children stopped on the highway due to this activity and the person behind did not realize that traffic had stopped because he was Face Timing while driving and ran right into them according to the Washington Post.

The man was charged with manslaughter but the family is suing not only the man but Apple Corporation as well.  The lawyer for the family states that Apple’s FaceTime application has the technology to determine if the phone is in motion and should turn off the application if the phone determines it is in motion.

What if someone other than the driving is using the Face Time application, if it is possible should their applications also be turned off?

The family’s lawyer stated the following:

“Yet Defendant Apple, Inc., failed to configure the iPhone 6 Plus to ‘lock-out’ the ability for a driver to utilize (Apple’s) ‘FaceTime’ application, while driving at highway speeds,”

Is this similar to people blaming the gun or the gun manufacturer for the user’s actions?

Is it time that the issue of Smart Phone applications be litigated in a court of law?

We as a society are not going to be able to litigate all of society’s ills, especially all of the stupid people in our society doing stupid things as they drive or do other everyday acts.

On the other hand I would not want to be in the front, back or side of a car or truck with a stupid person Face Timing while driving.

What do we do?