passing 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.
A narrow winding country lane with a few passing places and 2 cars randomly driving in opposing directions. The frequency of coinciding at or near the passing place seems higher than the frequency of one car needing to reverse a considerable distance. The passing places often look well worn. I was explaining it to a friend who was driving. It happened. "Your case in point, right there" he said. I was unsurprised yet am still intreagued as to the possible mechanism. I've tried to rule out 'forgetting the times one has to reverse' for I know they are relatively few. Also, I suspect those points at which a place has developed and widened by erosion, are discrete points of most coincidence. There are no regulating traffic lights at either end of the road.
Date submitted:Mon, 23 Dec 2013 02:25:44 +0000Coincidence ID:7361
