Opponents of allowing triple-trailer

Answer choices

1. A

   No Impact1% picked this

   It takes two smaller semitrailers to haul as much weight as a

   This answer only talks about freight-load capacity, but it doesn't tell us anything that directly relates to safety. We might think, "heavier loads would make the triple-trailers more dangerous in a collision". True, but the author is just going to say, "Yes, all things being equal, heavier vehicles can cause more fatalities. But check the stats --- the triple-trailers have fewer fatalities per mile than other commercial vehicles."

   1%
2. B

   Correct84% picked this

   Highways in the sparsely populated West are much less heavily traveled and consequently are far safer than highways in the

   Why this is right

   Here is our alternate explanation for the curious fact. This allows us to say, "triple-trailers don't have fewer fatalities per mile because they're less dangerous; it's just because they aren't on the road around other vehicles. The roads they're driving are much less heavily traveled and thus far safer." The comparison looks unfair now. You can't say Kelly is faster than Selena by citing their 100 m dash times, if it turns out that Kelly's time involved having a strong wind at her back and Selena's didn't. The triple-trailers are only found in the open, sparse western part of the country, where you might not see another vehicle for many miles, whereas the average fatality/mile rate for other commercial vehicles is being tabulated as a "national rate", so it includes all the fatalities that occur on heavily congested and thus far more dangerous roads.

   Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   84%
3. C

   No Impact0% picked this

   Opponents of the triple-trailers also once opposed the shorter twin-trailers, which are now common on

   If anything, this feels like a strengthener, since it's feeling like, "People who think triple-trailers are scary thought twin-trailers were, and now the latter is common. So they're probably wrong about triple-trailers too." So it's certainly not enticing on a Weaken question. But it also doesn't technically strengthen the claim that X is true to say "people who oppose X have been wrong before".

   0%
4. D

   Unclear Impact4% picked this

   In areas where the triple-trailers are permitted, drivers need a special license

   This is somewhat tempting, because we might consider an alternate explanation such as, "Triple trailers don't have a lower fatality rate because they're less dangerous than other vehicles; it's because they are only driven by the best-of-the-best drivers (i.e. safer drivers are the real reason)." The problem is this answer just says that they need a special license to operate them. Does needing a special license show us that triple-trailer drivers are better/safer drivers than double-trailer or single-trailer drivers? No, all truck drivers need special licenses. A regular old driver's license does not suffice to drive a commercial vehicle (you need a special Class C license). So this answer doesn't establish a clear distinction between triple-trailer drivers and drivers of other commercial vehicles.

   4%
5. E

   No Impact12% picked this

   For triple-trailers the rate of road accident fatalities per mile of travel was higher last year than in

   The fact that the fatality rate for triple-trailers appears to be higher now than before, suggests that maybe they're getting more dangerous? However, no matter how dangerous they've become, as measured by fatalities per mile, we know that the national rate for other commercial vehicles is even higher. Since this argument is about which is safer, not whether triple-trailers are safe, this answer has no impact.

   12%