The bear trap can mess up your run in a few different ways when attempting to progress past your highest score. At full health, the bear trap will not kill you but it will physically stop you in your tracks and damage you at the same time. Being stopped by the trap can do more than just kill you if your health is low; it can also mess with your timing if you were planning on doing a roll or a jump to avoid the next obstacle or enemy. There are a couple different ways to avoid this obstacle, but it is important to always look ahead when faced with this one in particular. The bear trap is more often than not accompanied by the spinning dual mace obstacle and then another bear trap immediately afterwards.
The first method of avoiding the bear trap is to simply roll through it. Rolling through the trap will trigger the trap, which will snap shut, but the roll will put you directly on the other side of the trap unharmed. The second method is a little more dangerous, but it is the only way to collect the items or souls that are sometimes placed as bait in the middle of the trap. In order to collect the bait, you must use a very carefully timed double-jump. Start the jump right before the trap, then jump up and forward again once you have collected the item; this will get you around the obstacle safely and snag the reward. Using the second method is considered a bit greedy; not timing your jumps perfectly will get you caught in the trap anyway, so be careful and gauge how much health you have before attempting such maneuvers.