Snapchat Maps Saves The Day After Teen Discovers Mom’s Car Wreckage

While most people worry about enabling location sharing services via social media, this proves that knowing somebody’s exact location can sometimes be a good thing.

According to this BBC article, Gemma Fairweather was driving with her young daughter, Martha, down a windy backroad when she said she was “dazzled” by the lights of an oncoming car and hit the brakes. They then skidded off the road through leaves and mud and down into a deep ditch.

“We were teetering on the edge on our side,” Gemma tells Radio 1 Newsbeat. “We could see and hear water to the left of us through the window.”

While on the phone with emergency services, they were unable to locate her wreckage while she tried to tell them her location through the Sat Nav. She was also texting with her 15-year-old son Sam, and he had the brilliant idea for her to turn on SnapChat to see if he could find her on the map. He was then able to find her exact location and relay the message to emergency personnel. Thanks to Sam’s quick thinking and SnapChat, they made it to the exact location and were able to rescue Gemma and Martha.