For someone living in a remote cabin at the end of a “very long, unpaved private road” in Colorado, the idea of frequent visitors seems unlikely. Unfortunately for Tralique_24, the cabin’s owner, that has not been the case. He claims that thousands of drivers have entered his property without permission after being directed there by a navigation app. “A major navigation app routed thousands of cars down my private driveway,” he wrote in a post on r/legal. What began as far more than a minor inconvenience escalated further when one driver crashed into his wall.
About a month ago, Tralique_24 says a tourist came speeding down his private driveway in the dark and crashed directly into his concrete retaining wall. The driver suffered a broken leg, and the vehicle was totaled. Despite allegedly ignoring multiple “Private Property” and “No Trespassing” signs posted along the driveway, the injured driver is now reportedly suing Tralique_24.
“The driver is suing me for medical expenses and damages, claiming I failed to maintain a ‘public thoroughfare’ and that my retaining wall was an unmarked hazard,” Tralique_24 explained. Before the lawsuit, OP said he had filed dozens of reports with the navigation app’s parent company, sent letters to its legal team, and even contacted local authorities. “They completely ignored me,” he wrote, adding that all of his efforts had gone nowhere—only for the situation to escalate into what he described as a worst-case scenario.
As if that weren’t bad enough, he says his homeowner’s insurance company is now threatening to drop him because of the heavy, unmanaged traffic passing through his property. Unsurprisingly, Tralique_24 is at his wits’ end and is considering legal action against the tech company, which he chose not to name in his account. However, among the tens of thousands of Redditors who upvoted his post, many believe they have a good idea of which company he is referring to.
Reddit Users Blame Google, and the Colorado Cabin Owner Confirms It in the Comments
“Google doesn’t designate public rights of way. Your insurance company is being willfully unreasonable if they’re claiming your driveway is a public thoroughfare simply because Google says so,” one commenter remarked. Another agreed, writing, “I agree with the ‘GOOGLE MAPS IS WRONG’ statement.” In response, OP clarified: “My insurance isn’t blaming Google,” adding that the real concern is the actual volume of traffic using the driveway.
Tralique_24 added that he had previously installed a rope barrier to keep people out. “Some idiot tourist literally cut it so they could pass. People visiting national parks are crazy entitled.” Although a locked gate would be the ideal solution, OP explained that he would need a special permit because of fire-safety regulations in rural Colorado.
When asked whether anyone was helping him with the case, he said most of the attorneys he had approached “seem intimidated.” Although he has trail-camera footage of the tourist’s accident, he sighed, “The hardest part is finding a lawyer brave enough to take on a massive tech corporation.”
