It actually zipped across the median 100 m behind me, but combined with the tire that zoomed 100 m in front of me, a while ago, this makes an average right through my windshield! Of course, in both incidents there were people who got within a metre, but if they don't want to whine, then it's nothing to do with me!
It's now my opinion that we are once again approaching power law, on truck tires in Ontario. The trucks are getting seedier and seedier. If you can figure out a way to plot the degree of near-miss against frequency, you would get a straight line (log plot). Probably, nobody is keeping track of this, so will 'suddenly' get a cluster of people getting killed 'out of the blue'. Then, once again the Ministry starts crying, waving their arms, and cracking down on trucks.
It's a bit like the earthquake in Peru. I'm reading Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle and I'm coming to his description of his earthquake, which seems exactly like this one. Everybody still builds out of adobe, in a country that can afford concrete domes. Lots of people killed, once again.
5 comments:
Capt. Fitzroy's account of the earthquake is well worth reading too.
Many thanks, I'll look that up.
That's kind of a simplication of chaotic systems (from which power laws arise), don't you think? The very first tyre to come loose could have killed you, within the same frequency distribution... Not that I'm wishing you harm, but you know what I mean.
There is great simplicity in watching that tire go bouncy, bouncy over the median. In my van, I give 50-50 to survive a direct hit, those convertible sports cars and motorcycles, I give zip-o!
My parents collected a truck tyre into the front guard (fender to you) of a Citroen D Super, some years ago. I don't think they felt simple about it...
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