Critical Reasoning

dmitriyaleyev wrote: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 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.


If you can't see the logic right away > start eliminating.

a. noone cares because rate increased RELATIVELY to the past rate on THE SAME roads (if argument would say that recently county built a lot of new winding roads, it would be different story)

b. The scope is too narrow. How often does this weather occur? Why this year rate increased? Was the weather worse? Now... do we know answers on those questions? NO! so next.

c. Well, now it is even higher! why? doesnt help us at all

d. we dont care how it happened. Does edging make cars veer off the road? Next

e. Exactly what we need. Before they could not see anything and now they can >>> drive more>>>>>> increasing rate of accident.

hope it helps.

bhumika.k.shah 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 these 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.
Incorrect : High/Low proportion of roads is not an issue here.

b) In bad weather it can be nearly as difficult for drivers to see the road as it is at night.
Incorrect : Issue is about ANNUAL ACCIDENT RATE, not SEASONAL ACCIDENT RATE.

c) Prior to the painting of edge markings, Greatwater County's narrow, winding roads already had a somewhat higher accident rate than other Greatwater County roads.
Incorrect : Issue is about increase in accident rates AFTER edge marking were painted.

d) Many of the accidents on narrow, winding roads involve a single vehicle veering off the road, rather than the collision of two vehicles.
Incorrect : Blah Blah Blah..... Clearly out of scope.

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.
Correct : This one makes some sense. Those drivers who AVOIDED driving at night on those roads before the markings, started to drive at night after the markings. This indicated increased accident rate.

osirus0830 wrote:B isn't out of scope. B is wrong because anything that would have been equally true before and after the change can't be the answer. For example, with the weather being bad, that would have influenced accidents before the change as well as after the change. This answer can't resolve the paradox since weather would have affected the accident rate just as much before the change as afterward.