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 A man from Georgia claims the car accident that left him with permanent brain damage was caused by a teen too busy taking selfies to pay attention to the road.  The teen was using Snapchat’s speed filter at the time of the crash last September.

The Snapchat app has a filter that adds a user speed to their photo and significantly, Snapchat awards them with a “trophy” for posting how fast they were going. 

The at-fault teen, age 18, admitted trying to get her Mercedes Benz up to 100 miles per hour in order to post a photo using the speed filter.  When she crashed into the Georgia man’s car, she was going about 107 miles per hour – nearly double the speed limit.  The victim of the crash, who the teen hit, spent 5 weeks in the hospital following the crash, lost 50 pounds, and requires a wheelchair or walker to get around.  He can no longer work or take care of himself.  After the crash, in which the at-fault teen was injured, she continued to use the Snapchat app and took a selfie with blood dripping down her face immediately after the accident.

Although Snapchat says it discourages people from using its speed filter while driving with an in-app warning message, it seems apparent that Snapchat encourages teenagers to drive at fast speeds to gain social status.