New Google Maps Update Good For Pedestrians

In this photo taken Wednesday, June, 29, 2010, a woman text messages while walking across the street in San Francisco. While using a cell phone while driving has triggered the most alarm bells and prompted laws in several states, experts say pedestrians are also suffering the consequences of mobile distraction tripping on curbs, walking into traffic, even stepping into manholes as they chat or type while walking. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

If you’re one of the over 1 billion people that uses Google Maps as a way to get around safely and quickly you will be happy to know that the app is taking a giant leap forward in the next few weeks to give both commuters who drive and those that get to work on foot new tools to get to their destinations safely and quickly.  Today, we’re going to focus on some of the new features that will help prevent New Haven pedestrian accidents.

Particularly if you’re out walking in a neighborhood that may not be familiar to you, you may need to use Google Maps as a way to navigate to your destination.  It can be tricky to know if a road is safe or if the sidewalks are passable, but now with the latest updates from Google Maps you should have a somewhat easier time with that.  Here are the new items that the app will display;

• Detailed street maps (rolling out to 50 more cities in the coming weeks)
• Sidewalk widths
• Street crossings
• Street island locations

These helpful new tools will make it so that you can map your route a little more safely.  While all of these features may not be available in the city of New Haven immediately they are coming and are something to look forward to when you update your Google Maps app.  An additional benefit is that the new detailed street maps will include additional information about nearby businesses.  While this may not be a safety feature it will certainly be a benefit to pedestrians walking throughout the city.

As always when using your phone, we encourage you to stop and only utilize the Google Maps app or any other map safely and while you’re at a complete stop.  If you are walking while using the app you may find yourself in a situation that will put you at a risk for a New Haven pedestrian accident.

As the summer months warm up and there are more and more folks walking along the city sidewalks, it is important to be aware of your surroundings and avoid any injuries.  If you do happen to get injured due to an accident, we may be able to help.  Contact our office and one of our experienced attorneys will review the details of your case.