We are taught that pedestrians should cross the street at a corner and that jaywalking, in the sense of crossing other than at a corner, is dangerous and illegal. ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ██ █ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ███████████ █████████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ███████████
We're told that pedestrians should cross at corners, that jaywalking is dangerous and illegal, and that drivers are more prepared for pedestrians at corners than elsewhere. Given all of this, it seems like crossing at a corner should be safer than jaywalking.
But the statistics say otherwise: more pedestrians die crossing at corners than while jaywalking.
On Resolve/Reconcile/Explain questions, start by getting clear on what's unexpected. Here, if crossing at a corner is safer, you might expect fewer pedestrian deaths at corners. But we're told the opposite: more pedestrians die crossing at corners than while jaywalking. So how can both of these things be true at the same time?
There could be many reasons why a seemingly safer activity still produces more deaths in absolute terms. Maybe there's some difference in the populations being compared that accounts for the gap. If you're particularly experienced with the LSAT, you might have already spotted the rate vs. number issue. I'll save that for the answer explanations.
Analysis by Kevin_Lin
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ █████ ██████
Far more pedestrians █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████
Some people jaywalk ████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ████████
Drivers are often ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████████
Traffic laws in ████ █████████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ███████
Good drivers anticipate ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████████