The reptile was big enough to trip the breaker, resulting in stopped traffic in the area of Prince William County, Virginia, on Monday
A large snake was the culprit behind an uncommon traffic jam in Prince William County, Virginia.
The wild reptile was found inside an electric panel controlling the power to the stoplights of an intersection at Prince William Parkway and Sudley Manor Drive on Monday, according to Prince William County Cops Department.
Due to the snake’s substantial dimension, it was large enough to trip the breaker switch inside the electrical panel, which turned off the stoplights and brought vehicles to a halt, officials informed the Associated Press.
See Also: Long Lost Schnauzer Reunited With Owner And The Dog Passed Out From Excitement
Although the roaming reptile caused a nuisance, the intersection power outages didn’t lead to any damage to the panel or any individuals. Police and animal control officials collaborated to eliminate the animal– that was also unharmed– from the panel. The snake was later on released back into the wild.
Officials did not identify what type of snake the traffic jammer was but informed outlets that it might’ve been living in the panel for some time since officials located molted snake skin inside the box.
Interested commenters on the Prince William County Police Department’s Facebook account weighed in with various guesses as to the snake’s particular type and shared their stories regarding similar circumstances. “As an electrician, I’ve seen this several times. Snakes like to hide in electrical panels,” one poster noted.
“Crash Investigator Lewton wish to take this opportunity to advise motorists when traffic signals are not working due to a power outage or various other problem (snake perhaps) and not displaying any lights, treat the traffic light as a quit sign and use extreme caution before proceeding,” the Prince William County Police Department concluded their Facebook post about the unusual incident.
