Please review and rate my AWA- GMAT in 3 days

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The following appeared in the editorial section of a newspaper in the country of West Cambria:
"The practice of officially changing speed limits on the highways-whether by increasing or decreasing them-is a
dangerous one. Consider what happened over the past decade whenever neighboring East Cambria changed its
speed limits: an average of 3 percent more automobile accidents occurred during the week following the change than
had occurred during the week preceding it-even when the speed limit was lowered. This statistic shows that the
change in speed limit adversely affected the alertness of drivers."



The argument presented by the author that a change in speed limit on highways is dangerous as it adversely affects the the alertness of the drivers is seriously flawed. In reaching to this conclusion, neither does the author provide any evidence of the similarity between East & West Cambria, nor does the mentioned statistics provide complete information to jump to any conclusions. Furthermore the author assumes that the increase in accidents pertains only to decreased alertness of the drivers.

First, the author incorrectly assumed that if speed limits are changed then what happened in East Cambria would also follow in West Cambria or any other country without providing any information about the same. It could be the case that the minimum driving age in East Cambria is very low and so the maturity of the drivers to adapt to any change. Further, the terrain, weather conditions, skill and attitude of drivers, quality of roads etc. in East Cambria are all ignored.

Second, no records about what were the previous speed limits in East Cambria, how much did they change, were they changed for highways and did the severe accidents increase or decrease are provided. Plainly stating the average increase in number of accidents doesn't throw any light- it could be the case that this average is skewed with just one instance of large increase whereas all the other times, there has been a decrease in the number of accidents. Also, it would be more relevant to talk of change in the proportion of accidents to entire driving population than change in mere number of accidents.

Finally, the author's assumption that increase in accidents is only because the drivers were less alert after change in speed limits is faulty. It is possible that in the week following change, there were heavy rains in the country leading to more accidents, or the change in speed limits was so severe that drivers were unable to adapt.

The argument could be strengthened by including detailed and complete statistics of the accidents and speed limits in the East Cambria. The argument could also be strengthened if the author were to concede that a change in speed limits could be one of the factors which will affect road accidents, and hence could be dangerous.
As it stands, in its present form, the argument is flawed.