This is an idea that has been bouncing around in my head. It happens all the time; I find it very hard to describe so I'll attempt to do so via example.
Scene One
You are driving in Northwest Ohio, an area known for its extensive farms, at a time of the day when traffic is more sparse than usual.
You come to a stop sign, and at that exact moment in time, another vehicle approaches the intersection. There are no other vehicles as far as the eye can see.
Scene Two
You are riding to your home in rural Virginia; it's late at night. Your exit is past the major towns near DC so it doesn't get a lot of traffic under normal circumstances, much less at this time of night.
You approach the stop sign at the bottom of the ramp. At that exact moment in time, another vehicle goes by, forcing you to actually stop. There are no other vehicles in that entire road.
I call this the Proximity Phenomenon. It's the concept of two vehicles intersecting at the exact same unlikely spot at the exact same unlikely time. In the examples above, 10 seconds earlier or 10 seconds later and the event would have gone unnoticed, or at least without you having to alter your intended action.
This has happened to me frequently, in the most unlikely spots in the most deserted parts of this great country of ours, and at those times I think: "What are the chances that I'm just putting around [Nevada] in the night in the middle of the desert and at this exact time, some other poor soul took off from a different location and just happened to arrive at *this* spot, *now*, not 5 seconds earlier or later???"
