Photo: Facebook / Queensland Police
There are about a handful of “good” excuses for speeding, with a medical emergency being one. This is one of those cases, but with a twist that only a country like Australia can put to it: a deadly snake wrapped around the driver’s leg.
As the saying goes, everything in Australia is out to kill you. This particular driver, a 27-year-old man identified solely as Jimmy, was probably not thinking of that as he was driving his Ute on the Dawson Highway, west of Calliope, on June 15.
He was doing 100 kph (62 mph), which qualifies as speeding in the area, so a police car engaged in pursuit. The incident took place three weeks ago, but Queensland Police have just made it public, along with video of the strange traffic stop, which doubles as the perfect “excuse” for speeding, if there is such a thing.
The officer performed a traffic stop and found the driver agitated. He claimed he had been attacked by a brown snake and the reason he was speeding was that he was fighting it off with a knife. At first, the officer assumed Jimmy was lying: after all, some drivers would come up with the silliest story just to get out of a ticket.
Then, in the back of the Ute, he found the snake. The driver claimed he’d been bitten, so the officer called for medical assistance. Luckily, it turned out he didn’t need it because the snake never got the chance to bite him, but not for lack of trying.
“I’m driving along at 100 [kph], and I just started to brake,” Jimmy told the officer. “… And the more I moved my legs… it just started to wrap around me. Its head just started striking at the [driver’s seat] chair, between my legs. It was pretty terrifying, I’ve never been so happy to see red and blue lights.”
Jimmy explained that he thought he’d been bitten so he assumed the only thing left for him to do was kill the snake and take with him to the hospital. Pulling over to do it was not a priority, as he struggled with the seatbelt and the knife to slay the intruder.
It was later determined that the snake in question was an eastern brown snake, which is highly venomous and one of the deadliest in the world. You’re not legally allowed to kill them, though, unless, of course, they creep out from between your legs when you’re driving down the highway. So the moral of this story is two-fold: yes, there are some valid excuses for speeding, and yes, everything is out to kill you in Australia.
He was doing 100 kph (62 mph), which qualifies as speeding in the area, so a police car engaged in pursuit. The incident took place three weeks ago, but Queensland Police have just made it public, along with video of the strange traffic stop, which doubles as the perfect “excuse” for speeding, if there is such a thing.
The officer performed a traffic stop and found the driver agitated. He claimed he had been attacked by a brown snake and the reason he was speeding was that he was fighting it off with a knife. At first, the officer assumed Jimmy was lying: after all, some drivers would come up with the silliest story just to get out of a ticket.
Then, in the back of the Ute, he found the snake. The driver claimed he’d been bitten, so the officer called for medical assistance. Luckily, it turned out he didn’t need it because the snake never got the chance to bite him, but not for lack of trying.
“I’m driving along at 100 [kph], and I just started to brake,” Jimmy told the officer. “… And the more I moved my legs… it just started to wrap around me. Its head just started striking at the [driver’s seat] chair, between my legs. It was pretty terrifying, I’ve never been so happy to see red and blue lights.”
Jimmy explained that he thought he’d been bitten so he assumed the only thing left for him to do was kill the snake and take with him to the hospital. Pulling over to do it was not a priority, as he struggled with the seatbelt and the knife to slay the intruder.
It was later determined that the snake in question was an eastern brown snake, which is highly venomous and one of the deadliest in the world. You’re not legally allowed to kill them, though, unless, of course, they creep out from between your legs when you’re driving down the highway. So the moral of this story is two-fold: yes, there are some valid excuses for speeding, and yes, everything is out to kill you in Australia.
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