Self-study
Despite the fact that antilock brakes are designed to make driving safer, research suggests that people who drive cars equipped with antilock brakes have more accidents than those who drive cars not equipped with antilock brakes.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Antilock brakes are supposed to make cars safer, so why do drivers who use them get into more accidents than drivers who don’t?
Objective
The four incorrect answers will give reasons why cars with antilock brakes have more accidents. The correct answer will not be helpful in explaining why these cars are involved in more accidents. It will either be irrelevant or make the discrepancy harder to resolve.
12.
Each of the following, if █████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████████ █████ ███████
a
Most cars equipped ████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ███████
This helps resolve the issue by offering an alternative explanation for why cars with antilock brakes are involved in more accidents. Reckless driving cancels out the brakes' safety benefits.
b
Antilock brakes malfunction ████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████
This helps resolve the discrepancy: the stimulus establishes that antilock brakes are designed to make driving safer, but if they frequently malfunction, they might cause more danger than they prevent.
c
Antilock brakes require █████████ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ██ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ███████
If antilock brakes are difficult to maintain, then many drivers may fail to keep them in working order. Without this maintenance, antilock brakes are actually less safe, which helps to resolve the discrepancy.
d
Most people who █████ ████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████████
This helps to resolve the discrepancy because, if most drivers using antilock brakes are braking improperly, then their poor braking technique could be causing more accidents.
e
Antilock brakes were ████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ █████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █████████
The stimulus is about the number of accidents, not their severity, so this is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how serious different accidents are—we still don’t know why cars with antilock brakes are involved in more accidents.