We have rattlers in the interior of BC which has the only true desert climate in Canada.
Many decades ago I was in a bike race up a mountain there. Afterwards I decided to ride back down to the bottom where the race started. So here I am flying down the mountain at like 50-60 mph (in shorts and short-sleeved jersey) and I see a stick up ahead laying on the road. Not exactly good to run over a stick at that speed so I aim slightly to one side, just enough to clear it. It was only when I neared it I realized it wasn't a stick at all...
Then, in that split second between when a person is about to run over a rattlesnake and get bitten and actually just barely managing to avoid hitting it and not getting bitten, I saw my life flash before me in my mind and got the absolute snot scared out of me. :E Not sure what would have happened if it had gotten tangled up in the wheels but have never forgotten the image of that "stick" on the road. Good thing it didn't slither in the wrong direction.