Self-study
Statistics reveal that Support more collisions between bicycles and motor vehicles occur on roads having specifically designated bicycle lanes than on roads having no such lanes. ██████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████
Summarize Argument
The author argues that adding bike lanes to roads will not make cyclists safer because more bike accidents tend to happen on roads with bike lanes than on those without.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author looks at the greater number of accidents on roads with bike lanes and interprets this as evidence that roads with bike lanes are more dangerous for bicyclists than roads without bike lanes. But the author overlooks the possibility that roads with bike lanes have more cyclists, which could naturally explain the higher number of accidents without indicating that the bike lanes fail to make cyclists safer. What matters is the comparative rate of accidents on each kind of road, not the comparative number of accidents.
3.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
overlooks the possibility ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ █████
This possibility is not a problem for the conclusion. Injuries being just as serious when bike lanes are present would provide yet another reason to believe that the lanes won’t improve safety.
b
fails to address ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ █████
This describes how the argument fails to consider that more accidents may be occurring on roads with bike lanes simply because there are more cyclists on those roads. This is how it's possible bike lanes do improve safety by reducing accident rate, even if the total number of accidents is still higher on the roads with bike lanes.
c
takes for granted ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████
The argument isn't about motorist safety; the conclusion is about the safety of cyclists.
d
concludes that adding ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████
The argument doesn't cite to a claim that only some roads with bike lanes are safe.
e
takes statistical evidence ████ █████ ██ ███████ █ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████████
The argument never opposes any other conclusion. There was no other argument that concluded bike lanes enhance safety, so it's inaccurate to accuse the author of criticizing someone else's statistical evidence to support the opposite conclusion.