Information and IdeasVery hardFinding weakening a before-after claim
Information and Ideas practice question
A newspaper claims that a new speed camera has made a road safer, noting that accidents on the road fell by 30 percent in the year after the camera was installed.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the newspaper's claim?
- A. Accidents on the road had also fallen by 30 percent in the year BEFORE the camera was installed, as part of a longer downward trend.Correct
- B. Drivers say they slow down when they approach the camera.
- C. The camera issued more than 2,000 speeding fines in its first year.
- D. Accidents rose on a neighbouring road that has no camera.
Answer: A. Accidents on the road had also fallen by 30 percent in the year BEFORE the camera was installed, as part of a longer downward trend.
If the fall was already happening at the same rate before the camera, the camera can't be credited with it.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Drivers say they slow down when they approach the camera.
- Drivers slowing down supports the claim.
- C. The camera issued more than 2,000 speeding fines in its first year.
- Fines show the camera is active, which neither proves nor disproves a safety effect.
- D. Accidents rose on a neighbouring road that has no camera.
- A rise elsewhere makes the road's fall look MORE like the camera's doing.
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