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A New York woman panicked after seeing an arachnid in her car, leading to an unfortunate fate for the vehicle.
According to a post on Facebook by the local police department, a woman driving outside the town of Cairo, New York spotted a spider “in the drivers [sic] area with her as she was driving.” The terrified, presumably arachnophobic woman reportedly lost control of her car, crashing it into a stone wall running along the road, ruining her vehicle beyond the point of easy recognition.
In the impact, the woman suffered an unspecified “leg injury,” which was apparently serious considering an ambulance showed up to the scene of the crash. There was no official word on whether the spider perished in the crash, or escaped.
Authorities urged drivers to stay calm in times of shock such as this via a statement on Facebook.
“We know that it is easier for some drivers than others but PLEASE, try to teach new drivers and yourselves to overcome the fear and pull over to a safe place,” said the Town of Cairo New York Police Department. “Lives depend on it.”
According to Health Research Funding, about 30.5 percent of Americans have arachnophobia—the fear of spiders or similar arachnids, like scorpions—making it the third-most-prevalent phobia in Americans, behind death and public speaking. As many as 6.1 percent of people worldwide suffer from the most severe, paranoid forms of this phobia, though only around two percent of those afflicted seek psychological help with addressing their fears. We presume this fear doesn’t extend to open-top exotic sports cars, often called “Spider” by their manufacturers.
