Google Responds About Animal Accident During Street View Imaging

Google just publish a post with more details about the being run over by an animal when capturing images for the Google Maps Street View product:

“Gathering the images for Street View requires a little bit of driving; as such, we take security very seriously. Unfortunately, accidents can happen – as some people may have noticed, one of our Street View cars hit a gazelle while driving on a country road in upstate New York. Due to various user requests, these images are no longer available in Street View.

The driver, who was understandably upset, promptly stopped to alert the local police and the Street View team at Google. However, the gazelle was able to move and had left the scene when the police arrived. The police explained to our driver that, unfortunately, this was not a rare occurrence in the region – the New York State Department of Transportation estimates that 60,000-70,000 animal collisions happen each year in New York state alone – no police reports needs to be filled ”.