LSAT 155 – Section 4 – Question 08

LSAT 155 - Section 4 - Question 08

November 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT155 S4 Q08
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
1%
149
B
85%
161
C
1%
150
D
9%
153
E
4%
153
132
142
152
 +Medium 147.589 +SubsectionMedium

Statistics show clearly that in those countries with the most severe penalties for driving while intoxicated, a smaller percentage of drivers have traffic accidents involving alcohol use than in other countries. This refutes those who claim that would-be drunk drivers will not be deterred by the prospect of severe penalties.

Summarize Argument
The author argues that drunk drivers are deterred by the prospect of severe penalties. This is because statistics show that countries with the most severe penalties for drunk driving have a smaller percentage of alcohol-related traffic accidents when compared to other countries.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there are no other factors, such as cultural differences, in the countries with harsh punishments for drunk driving that would explain the lower rates of drunk driving accidents.

A
The countries with the largest populations do not have severe penalties for driving while intoxicated.
This is irrelevant to the reasoning of the argument. The size of countries with/without severe penalties does not impact the causal relationship between severe penalties and the rates of drunk driving accidents.
B
Very severe penalties against driving while intoxicated are in effect only in countries in which alcohol use is rare.
This weakens the argument by calling out one of the author’s main assumptions. If alcohol use is already rare in countries with the strictest penalties, then the low rate of alcohol-related driving accidents might be due to low alcohol consumption.
C
The higher a country’s speed limits, the more frequent traffic accidents tend to be in that country.
A country’s speed limits are irrelevant to the relationship between strict penalties and the rate of drunk driving accidents. You need to make a lot of unwarranted assumptions for this answer choice to work.
D
Only a relatively small minority of those who drive while intoxicated are actually apprehended while doing so.
Whether or not drunk drivers are apprehended is irrelevant to the relationship between strict penalties and the rate of drunk driving accidents. Also, this does not address the comparison between countries with/without strict penalties.
E
All countries impose severer penalties on those who cause accidents while driving intoxicated than on those who are merely apprehended while driving intoxicated.
This is irrelevant to the argument because it does not address how the severity of penalties impacts the rate of drunk driving accidents. This fact does not change anything about the argument.

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LSAT PrepTest 155 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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