It Was The Spiders Fault.

[wafflycat]

If someone panics, all logical behaviour goes out of the window. I speak as someone who has a phobia (not of spiders, something else) and when that panic hits, you really cannot know in advance what one will or will not do.

That's not excusing the driver - what happened was terrible and her fault - but to say that 'if she's scared of spiders she wouldn't have grabbed it' is not a given. When you panic in an enclosed space, you don't know how you're going to react.

 

[661-Pete]

Yes, I wonder if those who have a very extreme form of phobia (especially against animals of some sort) ought to address their phobia (with some sort of counselling perhaps) before considering driving a car? After all, there are some who go into screaming hysterics at sight of a wasp or bee. These insects often find their way into a car at the wrong moment.

And moths! If driving at night I often get a harmless moth in the car. Some people couldn't face up to that.

These don't bother me much, luckily. I personally would get very upset if I found myself close to a rat. But then, I hardly think a rat could find its way into a moving vehicle - though you never know!

 

[661-Pete]

if she's scared of spiders, she wouldn't have grabbed it.

People with a morbid phobia of a small invertebrate will often swat it nonetheless. What they're afraid of is the living creature: with spiders the way they move, especially. If they can suddenly and instantly kill it they feel fine. So this driver's behaviour is indeed consistent with a fear of spiders.

Anyone recall that 1960s movie This Sporting Life? Where in the memorable final scene, the hero (Richard Harris) punches a spider against a wall in a fit of grief and rage? Very much an arachnophobe's scene.