Even for the most hardened of people, the people who have been around arachnids for ages, those who even like the eight-legged freaks - spotting a spider when you're not expecting to can cause a bunch of reactions. As you can see:
Credit: Supplied
Some might yell and scream, others might pull over and set fire to their vehicle. Very, very few people would be able to chill out and enjoy the idea of sharing their journey with a spider
The closest I've come to something like this was when I dropped a sandwich while I was behind the wheel. Keeping my eyes on the road, I reached down and picked it back up and bit into it. I quickly noticed it was a lot crunchier than it should be and then I realised a cockroach was on it. Luckily it was 4am and there was no one on the road because it could have ended very badly.
While I managed to get away unscathed (yet I couldn't get that crunchy feeling out of my head for days), the same can't be said for another Aussie bloke, Zane Phillips.
He was travelling through Bulli Pass near Wollongong, New South Wales, when he noticed a huntsman spider run across his dashboard. Considering this was at night as well, that would be pretty terrifying.
Credit: Google Maps
In his own words, he 'panicked and ran an intersection' and got T-boned by another vehicle. The Cronulla local eventually found out that the accident caused $4,000 in damages and his car was a write off. All because of a fucking huntsman.
In a video, Zane says: "Fuck my life. Just cost me four fucking grand you c**t."
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The idea that huntsman spiders rarely bite humans and their venom doesn't usually result in bad symptoms probably didn't register in Zane's head before he caused his little accident, nor should it have. The sudden presence of a spider, deadly or not, is scarier than most horror films.
It's believed the fear of spiders could actually be hereditary, studies suggest that the feelings are a result of hundreds of years mental evolution.
Dr Ross Menzies from the University of Sydney has told the Independent: "It is a biological fear which can occur during normal development and doesn't go away. This 'fear' would have entered the gene pool because in certain areas of the world there are dangerous spiders and fear of them would be a good thing."
It's probably not the worst thing to be on the cautious side when approaching spiders because it's better to be safe than sorry.
Unfortunately for Zane, he ended up being sorry.
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Sources: Independent
Topics: Spider, Crash, Driving, Funny, Fail, Community, Australia