Safety belt design

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 882
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:57 pm
Thanked: 15 times
Followed by:1 members
GMAT Score:690

Safety belt design

by crackgmat007 » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:17 am
In the United States, injuries to passengers involved in automobile accidents are typically more severe than in Europe, where laws require a different kind of safety belt. It is clear from this that the United States needs to adopt more stringent standards for safety belt design to protect automobile passengers better.
Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument above EXCEPT:
(A) Europeans are more likely to wear safety belts than are people in the United States.
(B) Unlike United States drivers, European drivers receive training in how best to react in the event of an accident to minimize injuries to themselves and to their passengers.
(C) Cars built for the European market tend to have more sturdy construction than do cars built for the United States market.
(D) Automobile passengers in the United States have a greater statistical chance of being involved in an accident than do passengers in Europe.
(E) States that have recently begun requiring the European safety belt have experienced no reduction in the average severity of injuries suffered by passengers in automobile accidents.


Pls explain why D does not weaken
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 73
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:52 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by sudeep_ar » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:21 am
In D it is talking about the no. of accidents in US vs. in Europe, not relevant in regard to safety belts.

User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:22 am
Location: India
Thanked: 1 times
GMAT Score:630

Re: Safety belt design

by gmatstud » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:28 am
IMO D

Let's closely look at the argument: passengers involved in automobile accidents are typically MORE SEVERE than in Europe. Always pay attention to these words. That'll be the key to solution.

A- Europeans likely to wear seat belt so injuries can be less severe: Weakens

B- Due to training that European drivers receive, they are able to handle in situations of accident and the injuries are less severe: weakens

C- European cars are sturdy...so less severe accidents: weakens

D- Here the American passengers have a greater probability of being involved in accidents...Here number of accidents is compared...nothing is talked about severety :). This does not weaken the arguments made

E- No improvement in other states where they use the new design of seatbelt. This weakens argument as something else is playing a role in the severety of accidents.

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 434
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:48 pm
Location: Bangalore
Thanked: 6 times
GMAT Score:600

Thanks for the reply

by viju9162 » Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:17 pm
Thanks for the good explaination!

Regards,
Viju

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:03 am

by nicolette » Sun May 15, 2016 2:37 pm
My intuition whispers that it is D