Palladin wrote:
mba1382 wrote:
A safety report indicates that, on average, traffic fatalities decline by about 7 percent in those areas in which strict laws requiring drivers and passengers to wear seat belts have been passed. In a certain city, seat belt laws have been in effect for two years, but the city's public safety records show that the number of traffic deaths per year has remained the same.
Which one of the following, if true, does NOT help resolve the apparent discrepancy between the safety report and the city public safety records?
(A) Two years ago speed limits in the city were increased by as much as 15 kph (9 mph).
(B) The city now includes pedestrian fatalities in its yearly total of traffic deaths, whereas two years ago it did not.
(C) In the time since the seat belt laws were passed, the city has experienced a higher than average increase in automobile traffic.
(D) Because the city's seat belt laws have been so rarely enforced, few drivers in the city have complied with them,
(E) In the last two years, most of the people killed in car accidents in the city were not wearing seat belts.
Please explain your reasoning.
Laws were in effect for the past two years but option B states that the city
now includes pedestrian fatalities in its report.
Isn't option B irrelevant since the pedestrian fatalities are added at present and not 2 years ago?
In an average city, strict seat belt laws
decrease the number of traffic deaths. In this city, however, there has been no such decrease since the laws were enacted two years ago. How can (B) help explain this discrepancy?
Quote:
(B) The city now includes pedestrian fatalities in its yearly total of traffic deaths, whereas two years ago it did not.
(B) tells us that the city has "now"
added another category of fatality to include in its statistics about traffic deaths. So even if seat belts laws have reduced other kinds of traffic deaths in the past two years, this reduction could be balanced out by the additional pedestrian fatalities that are now counted in the total tally of traffic deaths.
Consider this example:
- Two years ago, there were not strict seat belt laws in place in this city, and only driver and passenger deaths were included in the city's traffic fatality statistics.
- Now, strict seat belt laws are in place. The total numbers of driver and passenger deaths are LOWER than the number of similar fatalities two years ago, as expected! However, now pedestrian deaths are counted toward the total fatalities -- thus inflating the total tally and explaining why traffic fatalities have remained the same despite the strict seat belt laws.
The additional category included in the most recent reports explains why overall fatalities have not gone down despite the enactment of strict seat belt laws. Because (B) helps resolve the discrepancy, it is not the correct answer.
I hope that helps!