Mystery tour

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.

When I was about 12, for my birthday, my dad took me and a few friends on a "Mystery Tour". On the way in the car, it was eventually revealed that we were going to see a crash. Sure enough, soon after we stopped in a lay-by for lunch, a car towing another car drifted into the lay-by, skidded on the gravel, missing me by a couple of feet and then veered back out into the road with both cars smashing hard into the central crash barrier. Luckily no one was hurt. All my friends were seriously impressed and some really believed he had staged the crash. In fact we were on our way to see the crash of the cargo ship Athina B on Brighton beach.
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Date submitted:Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:15:45 +0000Coincidence ID:4728