While we’re not aware of any studies of the impact of spiders on Australian car crash rates (although most of us have encountered a huntsman in the car at one point), we do know that people leave the road for all sorts of reasons – spiders being just one. Falling asleep, dropping a coffee, kid in the back throwing up, dog chewing something they shouldn’t be, distracted by a billboard, can’t find the radio station, ladder falls off a ute on to the road, navigation system malfunction, … and the list goes on.
With this in mind, our road system should be made more forgiving for when the expected unexpected happens.