The installation of electronic, high-speed scanning devices at the ent

The installation of electronic, high-speed scanning devices at the entrances and exits of toll roads will obviate the need for toll booths. Automobiles will have scanner sensitive license plates- like the bar codes on consumer packaged products- so that the scanner devices will record the license number of cars entering and exiting the toll road. Car owners will be billed monthly by the highway authorities.

Discuss how logically persuasive you find the above argument. In presenting your point of view, analyze the sort of reasoning used and supporting evidence. In addition, state what further evidence, if any, would make the argument more sound and convincing or would make you better able to evaluate its conclusion.[/b]





In the argument, the author persuades us to see that the installation of electronic, high-speed scanning devices at the entrances and exits of the toll roads will obviate the need for toll booths. As automobiles will have scanner sensitive license plates - like bar codes on consumer products- so that the devices installed will record the license number of cars entering and exiting the toll road and car owners would be billed on a monthly basis by highway authorities.The argument, however convincing is based on certain logical fallacies.

Firstly, by assuming that by installing the high-speed scanning devices, the need for toll booths would be obviated, is clearly not justified by support of additional data to support the argument. Perhaps the booth will still be needed to keep the records of the ongoing traffic and to keep track of the vehicles scanned. Merely installing the devices does not justify the removal of the toll booths because technology, no matter how advanced, has a chance of failure atleast once in a specific period of time. For example, as many of us see in daily life that the bar codes in supermarkets are sometimes hard to scan, and it takes several attempts to scan one at time. However, author has in no way justified that the devices so installed would be highly accurate.

In addition to this, author fails to take into account the speed limit on which the devices installed would work. It is not very practical to believe that a high speed scanning device could work at vehicles moving at a speed more than the speed for which it is tested. For instance, it is possible that the device was installed to scan the vehicles moving at a speed of 45 km per hour, but the vehicles can move at a variable speed on the highway. Author not only fails to consider the above scenario but also fails to provide specific information relevant to the argument. By mentioning that the devices can work upto the maximum speed limit permitted, the argument could be supported well.

Moreover, as, author fails to address that the number plates that would be installed on the cars are not duplicable. The argument is vulnerable to criticism. For example, the author takes for granted the chance that people might replace the number plates with a different one just in order to avoid the monthly fees by highway authorities. Many such cases would go missing and the authorities would not be able to catch the culprits. And even if they do so, it might add to the expense which can surpass the amount saved by removing the toll booths.

In conclusion, it is clear that the author fails to take into account various factors essential to support the argument, as discussed above. The author's argument could be strengthened if the author provides specific details on the functions of the high speed scanning device, such as, the speed limit, cost effectiveness, maintenance period, accuracy percentage etc, so that it could be weighed against the expense of toll booths operation. Also, if the author had considered the possible constructs of human mind such as duplicating the number plates, perhaps the conclusion might be different. But failure to provide such details makes the argument vulnerable to criticism.
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The author here makes a point of replacing toll booths with electronic machines.To move to a digital system will certainly help making the system more transparent but it has its own cons.
Firstly,any electronic device can malfunction any day and in busy tolls such mishap might be very costly.Traffic Management will become a huge management.Human intervention in such scenarios is unavoidable.Next the malfunctioning of the device can charge the owner wrongly.
Now any digital platform needs a customer care is needed to be maintained and so is an online application.These will in turn add enough cost to the system.Also to maintain an application that is live throughout the country will require high IT costs and maintainance.
Secondly,this method recommended by author has payment side to it.Adding the cost to the owner's account means a dependancy on owner when they will be paying the bill that follows by a maintenance of reminder mails to get the deposit done.The whole process will require another online maintainace profile and corporate house working behind it .This also adds to the cost of the online system.
But again there is a very big advantage to this system.The vehicles crossing the tolls will have to be registered and the owner is always updated with the whereabouts of their vehicle.This will reduce illegal transportation to some extent.

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'I'm sorry is that an analysis? or you've tried to post yous along side to get checked??
Just asking, its completely alright if u do.
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I have posted mine so that this post might have different inputs

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I got a 5 in AWA on my last GMAT attempt. Is this score fine? What should i do to improve?

AWA is scored in 0.5 interavals
And yes it is fine
No body cares for an awa score above 4.5

Even a 5 is the same as 6 most of the time
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Here's my essay.

The argument claims that scanners on highways should replace toll booths. It elaborates the implementation process and how the revenue will be collected. Stated in this way, the argument fails to mention several key factors on the basis of which it could be evaluated. The conclusion of the argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is unconvincing and has several flaws.

First, the argument readily assumes that toll booths are a problem for the particular region in question and that there is a need to replace them. It does not state why replacing toll booths with car tag scanners will alleviate the supposed problem. It is probable that the delays due to incompetent toll staff is the cause of traffic near the toll booths. However, it could also be possible that there are no delays and on the spot payment by car owners leads to immediate revenue for the authorities involved. Extending the credit limit to a period of one month may not be suitable for the authorities. Hence, the argument would have been much clearer if it explicitly stated what is the need to replace the toll booths.

Second, the argument assumes that the implementation of the car scanners at toll booths and making sure every car owner has a barcode for his or her car is a straightforward process. The argument is unrealistic because the adoption of this technology depends not only on the average but also on the standard deviation of literacy rate of the car owners. It fails to give a reason to reject the solution wherein only a proportion of toll booths are replaced. Car owners may want an option to choose the former method if their barcode is not working. If the argument had provided evidence that technology will not be an obstacle, then the argument would have been a lot more convincing.

Finally, the argument states that car owners will be billed monthly. It is not clear how the new payment process is better than the existing one. Do all the car owners have means to pay online or would need to visit their nearest bank to make monthly payments? What is the overdue limit that should be predetermined? In summary, the argument is flawed and therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all the relevant facts. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation it is imperative to have full knowledge of all the contributing factors.

Thanks, team for your previous scoring....Today I attempted my first MOCK test and below is the essay I have written in response to the argument. Would be grateful, if you can please review it :

Argument
"The installation of electronic, high-speed scanning devices at the entrances and exits of toll roads will obviate the need for toll booths. Automobiles will have scanner-sensitive license plates- like the bar codes on consumer packaged products- so that the scanner devices will record the license number of cars entering and exiting the toll road. Car owners will be billed monthly by the highway authorities"


My Essay

The argument states that the installation of electronic, high-speed scanning devices at the entrance and exists of toll roads will obviate the need for toll booths however it does not take into consideration the obvious factors that could affect such a system for toll collection. The author is just concerned with the implementation of a system and its possible benefit without considering the possible consequences. The line of thinking clearly doesn't hold value as the argument suffers from various flaws and is rather weak and unconvincing.

Firstly, the argument states that installing electronic, high-speed scanning devices will alleviate the toll booths without any data or evidence. How many toll booths will be covered under this installation? How much will be the investment cost? Will it be worth installing the devices at toll booths with very low commuters using the toll road? What will happen to individuals employed who work on such toll booths and how will this new system implementation cater to their livelihood? These are some of the questions that the argument should have answered but it refrained from responding to them. Thus, the solution stated is not justifiable in the light of such open questions

Secondly, the argument mentioned that the license plate of the vehicles will be scanned for tolls on cars entering and exiting the toll road. However, this method of scanning does not cover the vehicles whose license plates are not in order or damaged. How will the toll be charged to such vehicle owners who have damaged license plates since there is no booth to stop them? Had there been a mention of patrolling parties who could be there to monitor such cases, the system could have walked away with this flaw. Also, electronic systems are prone to system errors which will prevent them from scanning the vehicles which pass through the toll road. No alternative or workaround is quoted here that can cater to such a situation. Thus, in such cases, there will be no toll charged to commuters and a loss will be there for highway authority.

Last but not the least, it is stated that the owners of the vehicle will be charged on monthly basis by the highway authority. Although the system can do so an important point to be noted here is that since the charges will be deducted on monthly basis, there will be a delay in the revenue for the highway authority for the tolls charged to commuters. Highway authority uses the money from tolls for highway maintenance and repairs and in case of delay in revenue from tolls the maintenance and repair of highway roads will be highly impacted thus leading the unsafe commuting. Had there been a case where the toll fee would have been automatically deducted from the commuters account, this flaw could have been sorted out. Thus this idea is not at all profitable and must be avoided.

In summary, the author’s argument falls short in many aspects and has just considered that obviating the toll booths will enhance the way highway authority operates without considering the factors mentioned above. Inclusion of such data or information would have surely helped the author to drive home his viewpoint in a far more convincing manner but in the absence of these, the author’s view doesn’t hold any water and thus is questionable

Good Luck