Hats off to a driver in Australia who managed to keep his pickup, or ute as they call it Down Under, on the road while battling a deadly snake in his cab.
A video released by Queensland Police Service shows a distraught 27-year-old driver named Jimmy talking with police after he was pulled over for speeding.
Jimmy explains that he may have been bitten by a venomous eastern brown snake and was racing to the hospital. He had managed to kill the snake after discovering it between his legs while driving around 62 mph (100 kph) on a rural highway.
“I’m driving along at 100 (kph), and I just started to brake,” Jimmy said, according to a press release. “…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.”
Thanks to some quick thinking, Jimmy used a seat belt and knife to dispatch the unruly passenger while slowing down to pull over. After throwing the dead snake in the back of his bed (or ‘tray’ as they call it Down Under), Jimmy got back in the truck and started gunning it for the nearest hospital.
His trip was cut short by an officer who pulled him over for speeding. It wasn’t long before an ambulance showed up. Medical personnel gave Jimmy the good news that he hadn’t been bitten but instead was suffering from shock. Pretty easy to see why.
