PrepTest 143, Section 1, Question 6
Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are, because of their(48 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(18 more words not shown)
- AVehicles with a(15 more words not shown)
- BVehicles with a(10 more words not shown)
- CRecent statistics suggest(15 more words not shown)
- DRecent statistics suggest(19 more words not shown)
- ERecent statistics suggest(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Safer for the people in the SUV. What about the people in the other car?
That distinction could explain the experts' concern. Imagine a heavy SUV colliding with a small car. The SUV's weight might protect its own occupants while making the collision worse for the people it hits. Safer occupants wouldn't necessarily mean safer roads. Pedestrians could be another concern, though we haven't been given any facts about them.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to account for the experts' alarm, so we need to keep both observations: SUVs protect their occupants, yet their growing popularity worries safety experts. I'd look for evidence that their presence creates a danger beyond the people riding inside them.
Working the answers
- A
More careful driving makes the concern harder to explain. If a vehicle's reputation made its drivers feel invincible and drive recklessly, that could introduce a risk despite its protective weight. A says the opposite: drivers of vehicles with a safer reputation tend to be more careful.
- B
A larger fuel tank isn't, by itself, evidence of more deaths. We would have to add a story about explosions or some other danger to make this explain the experts' reaction. The answer gives us tank capacity, not that missing connection to safety.
- C
More passengers could raise a concern about how many people are exposed in a crash. But we also know SUVs better protect their occupants, and C doesn't tell us how those facts work out in the death totals. It leaves us to infer the danger. D provides the fatality comparison directly.
- DCorrect
Collisions between SUVs and smaller vehicles have more deaths on average than other collisions. That explains why experts examining fatalities could be alarmed even though an SUV is safer for its own occupants. The overall toll can be worse. This fits the other-car concern, though the answer doesn't specify which vehicle the people who died were in.
- E
An equal likelihood of collision doesn't explain why a more protective vehicle would alarm safety experts. A greater collision rate could have supplied a competing danger, but E doesn't give us that. We still need evidence that something makes these collisions more harmful overall.
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