LSAT 147 – Section 1 – Question 05

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Question
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Type Tags Answer
Choices
Curve Question
Difficulty
Psg/Game/S
Difficulty
Explanation
PT147 S1 Q05
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Net Effect +NetEff
A
0%
155
B
99%
162
C
0%
148
D
0%
149
E
0%
146
122
128
135
+Easiest 147.09 +SubsectionMedium

Recently, many traffic lights and street markings were temporarily removed from a heavily traveled street in a major metropolitan area. Given that this street experiences significant volumes of automobile traffic, the number of accidents on the street was expected to increase. However, even though the street experienced no reduction in traffic, the number of accidents was greatly reduced.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
When traffic lights and street markings that are designed to increase street safety were removed, the number of accidents on the street did not increase as expected, but instead diminished greatly, even though the amount of traffic on the street did not decrease.

Objective
The right answer will describe a safety benefit to the removal of the traffic lights and street markings. The benefit will help explain why accident numbers went down after the traffic lights and street markings were removed.

A
People often disregard traffic lights and street markings.
This doesn’t matter to us. If people were frequently disregarding the traffic lights and street markings anyway, we would expect little change when they were removed. There was a substantial change, though, and we want to know why.
B
The lack of traffic lights and street markings caused drivers to drive more cautiously.
This is a safety benefit that came from removing the traffic lights and street markings: drivers started driving more cautiously. It’s easy to see how more cautious driving would lead to decreased numbers of accidents on the street.
C
Most drivers were not aware that traffic lights and street markings had been removed.
This doesn’t help us. Whether or not most drivers were aware of the change, the number of accidents on the street decreased. We want to know why.
D
Traffic lights and street markings are intended to have benefits in addition to those related to safety.
This doesn’t matter to us. We’re interested in the safety implications of having or not having traffic lights and street markings, not any other potential benefits.
E
Drivers were given advance notice that the traffic lights and street markings would be removed.
This doesn’t help us. Drivers knowing that the change was coming does not explain why the number of accidents decreased.

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