PrepTest 157, Section 3, Question 10
Journalist: Contrary to popular opinion, it is more(43 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(8 more words not shown)
- AOnly during the(11 more words not shown)
- BThere is decreased(6 more words not shown)
- CPersons drive more(8 more words not shown)
- DThe number of(10 more words not shown)
- EPersons drive faster(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A higher number of fatal accidents doesn't necessarily mean more danger for each driver. How much driving happens at each time?
The journalist's conclusion could be right. Maybe daytime traffic creates more opportunities for collisions, or maybe people drive faster. But the evidence offered is just a higher number of fatal accidents during the day. What if far more people drive during the day too?
Imagine 1,000 daytime trips with ten fatal accidents, compared with 100 nighttime trips with two. More fatal accidents happened during the day, but the accidents per trip were lower. These are invented numbers showing why the total alone doesn't settle an individual's risk. At the extreme, a time when nobody drives would have no accidents without telling us that driving then is safe.
What we’re looking for
This is a strengthen-except question, so four answers should help and one should not. My first thought would be to compare the amount of driving. But we must also accept other support, such as evidence that daytime conditions or behavior are more dangerous. We aren't limited to the particular missing information we first noticed.
Working the answers
- A
During the day, unsafe vehicles outnumber safe ones; at night they don't. That supplies a reason for greater danger in daytime traffic. It doesn't say unsafe vehicles drive only during the day. The relevant difference is how common unsafe vehicles are in the traffic at each time. This helps the conclusion, so eliminate it.
- B
Less law enforcement during the day could mean less deterrence of dangerous driving. That takes a reasonable connecting step, but it gives a potential reason daytime driving would be riskier. A strengthener can supply a contributing factor without proving the whole conclusion.
- C
More cautious nighttime driving gives us a direct reason the risk might be lower then. Drivers taking greater care at night supports the journalist's comparison, even though it doesn't supply the driving totals we initially wanted.
- DCorrect
The increase in travelers per vehicle over the last ten years doesn't compare day with night. Cars could have gained passengers equally at both times. Whatever effect that change might have on accident consequences, this answer provides no reason one time is more dangerous than the other. It is the exception.
- E
Faster daytime driving supplies another reason for more danger then. Like C, it compares behavior at the two relevant times. It supports the conclusion rather than leaving the day-versus-night comparison untouched.
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