Greatwater County painted edge markings

jain2016 wrote:Many small roads do not have painted markings along their edges. Clear edge markings would make it easier for drivers to see upcoming curves and to judge the car's position on the road, particularly when visibility is poor, and would therefore seem to be a useful contribution to road safety. However, after Greatwater County painted edge markings on all its narrow, winding roads, the annual accident rate along those roads actually increased slightly.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the increase in accident rate?

A) Greatwater County has an unusually high proportion of narrow, winding roads.

B) In bad weather it can be nearly as difficult for drivers to see the road as it is at night.

C) Prior to the painting of the edge markings, Greatwater county's narrow, winding roads already had a somewhat higher accident rate than other Greatwater County roads.

D) Many of the accidents on narrow, winding roads involve a single vehicle veering off the road, rather than the collision of two vehicles.

E) After the markings were painted on the roads, many drivers who had gone out of their way to avoid driving on those roads at night no longer did so.

OAE

Hi Experts ,

Please explain.

Many thanks in advance.

SJ

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:

jain2016 wrote:Many small roads do not have painted markings along their edges. Clear edge markings would make it easier for drivers to see upcoming curves and to judge the car's position on the road, particularly when visibility is poor, and would therefore seem to be a useful contribution to road safety. However, after Greatwater County painted edge markings on all its narrow, winding roads, the annual accident rate along those roads actually increased slightly.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the increase in accident rate?

A) Greatwater County has an unusually high proportion of narrow, winding roads.

B) In bad weather it can be nearly as difficult for drivers to see the road as it is at night.

C) Prior to the painting of the edge markings, Greatwater county's narrow, winding roads already had a somewhat higher accident rate than other Greatwater County roads.

D) Many of the accidents on narrow, winding roads involve a single vehicle veering off the road, rather than the collision of two vehicles.

E) After the markings were painted on the roads, many drivers who had gone out of their way to avoid driving on those roads at night no longer did so.

OAE

Hi Experts ,

Please explain.

Many thanks in advance.

SJ

We're trying to resolve the following paradox: after Greatwater County painted edge markings on its winding roads to improve safety, the accident rate actually went up. Well imagine you're a driver and you hear about this windy road with a reputation for being dangerous. It's likely that you'd avoid it, right? But if the town did something to improve the safety of this road, you'd be less likely to avoid it. Well, you can't get into an accident on a road that you don't drive on! So once you decide that the road is safe enough to use, you increase the likelihood that you'll be involved in an accident there. This is the idea captured in E. The roads may well be safer with the markings, but if more people are traveling on these roads, the likelihood of accidents can still go up.