Consecutive Cars

As of the 23rd May 2022 this website is archived and will receive no further updates.

understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

In September 1999 I bought a new Renault Clio car. It was registered as T295MKK. Two months later I had occasion to leave home very early on a Sunday morning, around 4am in fact. Consequently the roads were very quiet; I did not see any cars at all for the first five miles or so, until I reached the junction with a local trading estate. As I approached the junction the traffic lights turned to red and I stopped. The vehicle which had caused the lights to turn red against me and which emerged from the estate was another Renault Clio. The number plate? T296MKK. This was the only other car I had seen up to that point in the journey. Now, what are the chances of that?!
Total votes: 308
Date submitted:Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:03:59 +0000Coincidence ID:6531