PrepTest 131, Section 3, Question 13
A recent study of 10,000 people who were(64 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AMost of the(13 more words not shown)
- BMost people who(9 more words not shown)
- CHalf of the(11 more words not shown)
- DA large automobile(15 more words not shown)
- EOnly a small(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A larger car might provide more protection in a crash. Or perhaps large-car drivers in the study had more minor fender benders, while small-car drivers had more serious collisions. We know the injury percentages differed, but the study's starting point matters: everyone studied had already been in an accident.
That tells us about injury among people who crashed. To assess the risk of being injured while driving one kind of car rather than the other, we also need to ask how likely each kind is to crash in the first place. What if a smaller car is easier to maneuver and avoids an accident that a larger one would have?
Imagine that 10 percent of crashes in large cars produce injuries, compared with 30 percent of crashes in small cars. Large cars look better per crash. But if otherwise comparable large-car drivers had ten times as many crashes, that advantage could disappear. With 100 large-car crashes, 10 drivers would be injured; with 10 small-car crashes, only 3 would be injured.
What we’re looking for
Those numbers illustrate the missing comparison. To weaken the argument, I'd look for evidence that large cars are more likely to crash. Lower injury risk once a crash occurs doesn't settle the overall risk of being injured.
Working the answers
- A
High speed limits describe where most studied crashes occurred. The answer doesn't tell us that large and small cars faced different conditions or had different chances of crashing. It doesn't supply the missing comparison between the two kinds of cars.
- B
A small-car owner may sometimes drive a large car, but the study groups people according to the car they were driving when the accident happened. Switching cars on other occasions doesn't explain why choosing a large car would or would not reduce injury risk.
- C
Medium-sized cars are a third category. Their presence in the study doesn't undermine the stated comparison between the injury percentages for large and small cars, and it doesn't tell us how often either of those groups crashes.
- DCorrect
This supplies the missing risk: large cars are far more likely to get into accidents. Their lower injury rate among people already in accidents might be offset by having more accidents. D doesn't deny the study's result; it shows why that result alone doesn't establish the safer choice for a driver.
- E
A low injury percentage across accidents overall doesn't tell us the relative risk of driving large and small cars. The issue is how the injury rate per crash combines with the chance of a crash in each kind of car. E gives a broad figure without resolving that comparison.
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