Self-study
Safety expert: Conclusion Conversing on a cell phone while driving is more dangerous than conversing with a passenger in the vehicle. ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███████████ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████████ █ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████
Summary
The author argues that while driving, it is more dangerous to talk on a phone than with a passenger actually in the vehicle. This is because the person on the other end of a phone call cannot see the driving situation, while a passenger can be quiet or offer helpful warnings if the driving situation becomes difficult.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there is nothing inherent to having another person in the car that makes it more dangerous. What if having another person in the car makes people drive more recklessly? Second, the author assumes that any conversation besides helpful warnings is dangerous when driving becomes difficult. Otherwise, talking on the phone wouldn’t be more dangerous — because it wouldn’t be dangerous at all.
23.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ █████████
a
Speaking to a ██████ ██████ █ █████████ ███████ █████████ █████████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████████
If speaking to a driver doesn’t increase the risk of an accident, then talking on the phone couldn’t possibly be more dangerous than talking in-person — because they both wouldn’t be dangerous at all.
b
A driver having █ ████████████ ████ █ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ █ █████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ █ █████████ ███████ ██████████
The stimulus is comparing talking with a passenger to talking over the phone. It doesn’t matter whether talking with a passenger is more dangerous than not talking at all, as long as it’s safer than talking over the phone.
c
People who use ████ ██████ █████ ███████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ █ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████████
For the purposes of this passage, it doesn’t matter what people believe regarding their cell phone usage — the stimulus is dealing with what is more dangerous, not what people believe is more dangerous.
d
Helpful warnings given ██ █ ██████ ██ █ █████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████
This would actually undermine the stimulus. If warnings don’t help, and they are the main difference between talking with a passenger and talking over the phone, then why is talking with a passenger safer?
e
Conversing on a ████ █████ █████ ███████ ██ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ████ █ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ███████████
This being false wouldn’t make the stimulus untrue. If conversing on a cell phone was more dangerous than talking to a passenger who continues speaking during difficult driving situations, then this would actually support the stimulus even more.