PrepTest 134, Section 3, Question 8
A recent study shows that those highways that(20 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(10 more words not shown)
- ADrivers have more(5 more words not shown)
- BThe highways that(12 more words not shown)
- CMost of the(14 more words not shown)
- DMost serious accidents(11 more words not shown)
- EHeavily traveled highways(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A traffic jam can be frustrating without being especially deadly.
At first, more vehicles might sound like more opportunities for dangerous collisions. But picture cars inching along at five miles an hour in stop-and-go traffic. A collision at that speed needn't be as severe as a collision between fast-moving cars. The congestion itself could help explain the low rate of fatal accidents.
What we’re looking for
That's my prediction for the explanation question: something about low speed makes the crowded roads less deadly. Keep the result precise. The study doesn't say these highways have no crashes, or even the lowest rate of all crashes. It says they have the lowest rate of fatal crashes. An explanation can allow minor accidents while helping us understand why fewer are deadly.
Working the answers
- A
Distraction may increase accidents, but we aren't told that drivers on congested highways are less distracted. Nor does this distinguish fatal crashes from other crashes. To explain the reported pattern, we'd need a connection between these highways and reduced risk of a fatal accident. A doesn't give us that connection.
- B
This tells us which highways sit at the other end of the ranking. It doesn't explain why congested highways have a low fatal-accident rate. We could accept both the original observation and B and still ask why moderate traffic is more deadly than heavy congestion.
- C
Why would going to work make a trip safer? We aren't told that commuters drive more carefully, move more slowly, or suffer less severe crashes. Their destination doesn't explain the low rate without another fact connecting commuting to that result.
- DCorrect
Serious accidents tend to happen at high speeds. Congested roads tend to keep cars from moving fast, which gives us the explanation we predicted. Lots of vehicles needn't produce a high fatal-accident rate if the conditions also keep the collisions from becoming as severe. This helps explain the pattern without claiming that low-speed collisions are always harmless.
- E
Not always having a higher share of trucks doesn't tell us what share these particular highways have. More fundamentally, the answer supplies no connection between truck proportions and fatal-accident rates. We would have to invent both a relevant difference in traffic composition and an effect of that difference.
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