Statistical strangeness: what are the odds so many people would crash into buildings?

[hedgehog]

http://www.wivb.com/generic/news/vehicles-crash-into-buildings

[TheWraith]

1. Generally if you drive far enough in one direction, your vector will intersect a building.

And I suspect that this is a "summer of the shark" thing.

[Lint Head]

2. Damn those jumping buildings!

I had a ditch jump out in front of me once.

[Javaman]

3. Like a fireman once told me...

"you drive drunk long enough, you will eventually hit a pole. Those things have a habit of getting in the way."

[krispos42]

4. Well, those things do just jump out of nowhere. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. weird... n/t

[hfojvt]

6. no context given

did all these crashes happen on the same day, the same week, the same month, the same decade?

I can think of at least three crashes into buildings (that I know about) in the last seven years (going back to when our Democratic headquarters got slammed in to by a pick-up truck in 2004, and you still gotta wonder - was THAT really an accident?)

[hedgehog]

7. Sorry - they all took place in the last two months!

[MilesColtrane]

8. I'd guess it's a combo of that old standby, booze, plus the introduction...

of the smartphone.

Heck, I see ostensibly sober people weaving all the time because they're fiddling with their phones. Throw in 4 or 5 beers and it's all bets are off.

[Bosonic]

9. If this is statistical

then what is the mean number of crashes ovet the same period? Standard deviation??

Without at least these, who can say anything about the strangeness?

Also randomness has a habit of not being what humans expect randomness to look like, especially over small samples.