A 38-year-old British doctor, Dr. Amy Walpole, was found guilty of death by careless driving due to an incident stemming from November of 2013. Walpole crashed into a car driven by an 87-year-old man after an allegedly “large” spider fell out of the visor of her sports car and into her lap. Although John Evans, the elderly man she hit, walked away from the scene, he later suffered fractures and damage to his heart and died the following day. The Mirror reports:
Judge Powells said there were no aggravating circumstances such as irresponsible driving. He told the court: “None of those factors into play here. This is not a case for prison, it is a case for a community order.”
Mr Evans’s family asked for Dr Walpole to be dealt with leniently as they were aware of her “good reputation” as a GP. Judge Powells banned Walpole from driving for 12 months, ordered her to carry out 80 hours of community service, pay court costs of £85 and a £60 victim surcharge.
I don’t want to be insensitive here, because I understand that a guy died and everything and he was probably somebody’s dad and grandfather, but like, IT. WAS. A. SPIDER. Spiders cause all rational thinking to go right the hell out the window and send your body into survival mode. I have actually pondered what I would do if I found a spider in my car when I was driving on the highway and the only conclusion that I was able to come up with is that it would probably result in my untimely demise. It’s been a good life and all, but there are limits to what a person can be forced to mentally cope with.