The latest fashion accessory has the potential to impede one's driving ability, even more than a cell phone:

Police have identified a woman who was apparently wearing a live boa constrictor as a fashion accessory when she was killed in a single-car crash early New Year's Day.

Rohnert Park police Sgt. Art Sweeney said Margaret Ann Walters, 29, of Cotati, died when her Saab slammed broadside into a grove of redwood trees in the center divide of the Rohnert Park Expressway near Rancho Verde Mobile Home Park.

Sweeney said an open container of alcohol was found in the vehicle and toxicology tests to determine if Walters was intoxicated are pending. He said Walters was returning home from a New Year's Eve party when the accident occurred at 3:10 a.m.

Rohnert Park public safety Sgt. Wulff Reinhold, who responded to the crash, got a surprise when he reached through a broken window of the car to check for a pulse on Walters' neck, Sweeney said.

Reinhold noticed Walters' clothing "rustled" and discovered a 3-feet-long boa constrictor on her person.

Sweeney said an autopsy ruled out the possibility that the snake strangled Walters.

Tragic, stupid and wierd. Not the kind of 'necklace' I would choose to wear.

If the snake had been responsible, would it be charged with manslaughter?