#26 - Editorialist: Some people argue that highway speed

[Jiya]

Why is the correct answer B? I selected A because the editorialist says "almost all drivers .. would likely increase their speed", and A seemed best suited to weaken that, even though I realize he didn't say "all drivers ... would likely increase their speed". B didn't even make it into my consideration set .

Thanks!

[David Boyle]

Why is the correct answer B? I selected A because the editorialist says "almost all drivers .. would likely increase their speed", and A seemed best suited to weaken that, even though I realize he didn't say "all drivers ... would likely increase their speed". B didn't even make it into my consideration set .

Thanks!

Hello Jiya,

If uniformity is the important thing, as answer B says, then it's relatively o.k. to increase speeds. Answer A, "Some drivers who obey current speed limits would not change their speeds after the introduction of the new speed limits", is a little vague--maybe only one driver would not change his speed? That wouldn't help much.

Hope this helps,
David

[CodeyD29]

Can someone explain why C is wrong?

[Robert Carroll]

Codey,

The fact that most people who drive at that fast speed haven't been in accidents doesn't really do much to show that those speeds are safe. "Most" means more than 50%, so we have "More than 50% of those who drive fast haven't got into accidents." But that may be 51% of people! So 49% HAVE got into accidents - now it seems like fast driving is pretty dangerous.

Further, the argument is claiming that increasing the speed limit will also increase the number of people who drive that fast. The fact in answer choice (C) makes no claim about whether those people will be able to avoid accidents, because they aren't people who currently drive that fast, the only people answer choice (C) talks about.

Robert Carroll

[CodeyD29]

That does make sense, thank you .

[ashpine17]

I wasn't sure what to do with the information given to me in D. I think it is trying to appear as a weakening choice by suggesting that raising the highway speed limits wouldn't result in increase in accidents due to the fact that they never actually got into accidents so I am not sure how to point out what is wrong with this choice

[ashpine17]

I meant C, not D

even if most was 51%, we're supposed to weaken so even if it's not completely solid evidence, doesn't that percentage still count as something?? i'm referring to the previous explanation about C

[Adam Tyson]

To weaken this argument, ashpine, we need an answer that suggests that raising the speed limit might not greatly decrease highway safety. We should be focused not on the drivers who are already driving that fast, but on how the increased speed limit might change things, and that means focusing on the drivers who will increase their speed to match the new limits. The author thinks the higher average speed will be a bad thing, while answer B suggests it might actually be a good change, improving safety rather than decreasing it.

Answer C does nothing to impact the argument because it tells us nothing about how the increase might affect safety. It's nice that most of the current speeders are not getting into accidents, but will things change under the proposed new conditions?

Also, there's a numbers trap in that answer choice, because it focuses only on most of the ones driving 10-20% over the limit. But the facts tell us that the average of all drivers is 10-20% over the limit, and that some people are obeying the speed limits, which means there must also be drivers going at even higher speeds. Answer C tells us nothing about these super-speeders! Here's what I mean:

1) Some drivers obey the limit.
2) Some drive 10-20% over the limit.
3) Some drive even faster, more than 20% over the limit (this must be true if the average is in the 10-20% range).

Answer C tells us about most (not necessarily all) of the second group, but tells us nothing about the other two groups. Will group crash a lot when they speed up to match the new limits? Will crashes at these higher speeds be worse than crashes at lower speeds? How often are the Group 3 people crashing, and will that get worse after an increase in the speed limit? Will the majority of Group 2 who have never had an accident continue to be so fortunate once speed limits are raised? Are they fortunate because they are safe drivers, or because of the current speed limits, or because of something else? It's all very vague, and therefore does nothing to either weaken or strengthen the argument. Answer C cries out for more information.