PT12.S1.Q19 - the use of automobile safety seats

tanes256

Can anyone shed a little light on this one for me? I see now why the correct answer is correct but I chose C because I felt that it was blocking any alternate explanations for the prevented deaths. I thought that taking more trips and the total time in cars remaining constant would rule out saying deaths are being prevented because the kids are now in cars less than 8 yrs ago. Am I reaching here? The explanations I’ve read have said that the amount of time in cars is irrelevant. The only thing I’m seeing that sticks out now is “average total time”. Would that make a difference?

BlindReviewer

It would be helpful if you could explain why you thought C would block out any alternate explanations for the prevented deaths.

So the conclusion being made is that the use of safety seats has been effective. It does this by anticipating a counterargument that would say something like "Well how can safety seats have prevented deaths? If you look at the overall number of deaths there are more today than 8 years ago." In anticipating this counterargument, it says that yeah, you could say that, but it's also true that the overall number of accidents has also increased over the past 8 years.

Essentially the argument is that though there are more deaths, proportional to the number of total accidents we have reduced infant deaths through these safety seats.

But that proportional relationship is a huge assumption, and we have to plug that hole to strengthen the argument.

In the midst of all this, who cares if children are taking more trips today? We can somewhat infer that from the fact that there are more accidents and more cars in general, but it doesn't help the argument in any way. Furthermore, what does the time spent in the car have to do with anything? You could say that spending more time in cars increases your risk of being in a car accident, but that's just an assumption.

Hope this helps!

tanes256

@eugenewrotethis

@eugenewrotethis said:
It would be helpful if you could explain why you thought C would block out any alternate explanations for the prevented deaths.

@tanes256 said:
I thought that taking more trips and the total time in cars remaining constant would rule out saying deaths are being prevented because the kids are now in cars less than 8 yrs ago.