PTF97.S3.Q22 - Bicycles on the left hand of the road...

erinnnleee

For question 22, I was between choices A & C and I'm having trouble reasoning why the answer is C.

A) These places also have laws about other aspects of bicycle safety.
This seems like it can be the correct answer choice because if these places have other bicycle safety laws, it makes sense that riding on the left vs not riding on the left doesn't impact collisions much, since they have other measures to combat collisions, or whatever. However, since it was outlawed, and assuming that riding on the left leads to more collisions, the collision rate only decreased slightly, since there are other laws protecting bicyclists' safety.

C) Police officers in these places do not enforce regulations that apply to bicyclists.
I understand this is the right answer because while some may have stopped riding on the left since it was outlawed, many did not because the police weren't enforcing this law, therefore, leading to only a little decrease in collisions (the people who decided to follow the law). However, the assumption in this seems (that bicyclists continue riding on the left despite being against the law) to be greater than the assumption made for A (that other safety laws can combat the rate of collisions in general).

Can someone explain?

Thanks

JesseWeNeedToCook

With answer A) you need to first assume that the 1. the laws actually are designed to combat vehicle collisions (not just forcing bikers to wear helmets, or some other irrelevant part of safety) 2. Then secondly the assumption needs to be made that these proposed safety laws were effective in the first place.

Even after making these assumptions it kinda puts the two speakers even more at odds, rather than reconcile their two positions. You've thoroughly justified why overall biking collisions didn't see much of a change when the laws were introduced and made the skeptics argument conisistent. However by doing so, it also simultaneously attacks the idea that the first speaker makes, that biking on the left is much more likely to cause an accident. (if it didn't change much, then it wasn't really much more likely to cause an accident.)

With answer C) You just need to make the assumption that some people weren't going to follow a law that wasn't being enforced. Additionally with answer choice C you get a really quick and easy reconciliation in which you're not outting either side of the argument.

Bikes are more likely to be in accidents on the Left

Outlawing biking on the left didn't decrease overall accidents.

People still biked on the left.

Hence,

No significant change