Using measured data we demonstrate that there is an amazing correspondence among the statistical properties of spacings between parked cars and the distances between birds perching on a power line. We show that this observation is easily explained by
the fact that birds and human use the same mechanism of distance estimation. We give a simple mathematical model of this phenomenon and prove its validity using measured data.
During the attempt to line up into a dense traffic people have necessarily to share a limited space under turbulent conditions. From the statistical point view it generally leads to a probability distribution of the distances between the traffic obje
cts (cars or pedestrians). But the problem is not restricted on humans. It comes up again when we try to describe the statistics of distances between perching birds or moving sheep herd. Our aim is to demonstrate that the spacing distribution is generic and independent on the nature of the object considered. We show that this fact is based on the unconscious perception of space that people share with the animals. We give a simple mathematical model of this phenomenon and prove its validity on the real data that include the clearance distribution between: parked cars, perching birds, pedestrians, cars moving in a dense traffic and the distances inside a sheep herd.
During the attempt to park a car in the city the drivers have to share limited resources (the available roadside). We show that this fact leads to a predictable distribution of the distances between the cars that depends on the length of the street s
egment used for the collective parking. We demonstrate in addition that the individual parking maneuver is guided by generic psychophysical perceptual correlates. Both predictions are compared with the actual parking data collected in the city of Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic).
We show that the spacing distribution between parked cars can be obtained as a solution of certain linear distributional fixed point equation. The results are compared with the data measured on the streets of Hradec Kralove. We also discuss a relation of this results to the random matrix theory.
