da57bca1   
   XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone, comp.mobile.android   
   From: pmcook@gte.net   
      
   On Wed, 09 Dec 2015 23:38:04 -0500, (PeteCresswell) wrote:   
      
   > OTOH, I used to ride to work in a van pool - from which I could observe   
   > many drivers from the vantage point of the higher van.    Over-and-over,   
   > I would see someone reading a newspaper while driving.   I don't mean   
   > sneaking glances, I mean *reading* that sucker.   
   >   
   > I have no clue how they do it - but they do it.   
      
   Heh heh ... the answer to this question is actually pretty easy.   
   1. Driving is easy   
   2. Accidents are statistical   
      
   As for driving being inherently easy, you probably agree; but if you   
   waver, I simply posit that almost everyone who has eyes, hands, & feet   
   and who isn't mentally committed and who is over the age of about 16   
   "can" drive on the roads.   
      
   As for the accidents. I grew up back east, where, as you may know,   
   a spinout on icy roads is almost inevitable, depending on how many   
   miles you drive in horrid weather.   
      
   A spinout when nobody is on the road is like a tree falling in the   
   woods. Nobody notices. You recover from your momentary lapse of   
   control, and you drive on, none the less happy.   
      
   However, a spinout on a crowded highway results in an accident   
   more often than not. Driving is just a statistics game.   
      
   I live near very windy very hilly roads, where every curve is a   
   blind curve and the roads don't even have a strip in the middle   
   because they're far too narrow.   
      
   I could drive for ten miles on these roads, on the wrong side   
   of the road on each of the blind curves, and no accident would   
   happen because there isn't anyone coming the other way at that   
   time.   
      
   But, eventually, someone *will* be coming the other way, and,   
   if they're not attentive, I'm gonna smash into them.  It's   
   simply a matter of statistics.   
      
   However, *most* of the time, you can drive on the wrong side   
   of the curve and nothing happens.   
      
   That's because...   
   1. Driving is inherently easy, and,   
   2. Accidents are based on the number of mistakes you make,   
      times the number of miles you drive, times some statistics   
      factor based on the traffic density where you drive.   
      
   So, driving is so easy and statistics are such that you *can*   
   easily drive while reading the newspaper (or putting on makeup   
   or fiddling with the radio, or whatever) without having an   
   accident at that particular time.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)