Argument20

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20Thefollowing appeared in a letter to the editor of the Balmer Island Gazette.

  Thepopulation of Balmer Island increases to100,000 duing the summer months. To reduce the number of accidents involvingmopeds and pedestrians, the town council of Balmer Islandshould limit the number of mopeds rented by each of the island's six moped andbicycle rental companies from 50 per day to 30 per day during the summerseason. By limiting the number of rentals, the town council is sure to attainthe 50 percent reduction in moped accidents that was achieved last year in theneighboring island of Torseau, whenTorseau's town council enforced similar limits on moped rentals.


  In this argument, the author asserts that bylimiting the number of mopeds rented by the island's six moped and bicyclerental companies from 50 per day to 30 per day during the summer season, thenumber of accidents involving mopeds and pedestrians will reduce to 50 percent.The author provides the Torseau’s similar achievement last year to support it.However, the evidence leads little credibility toward this assertion as below.


  In the first place, there is a hastyconclusion that the only reason for moped accidents is the high number of mopedrental. The increasing population of Balmer may maybe responsible for therecent accidents. Meanwhile, the Balmer
Island’s trafficmanagement maybe the main factor to be blamed other than the increasing numberof moped. Even though the moped’s number decreases, without a good trafficmanagement, the problem remains. Further more, there is no evidence shows thatall or the majority of the accidents are caused by the rented moped. Maybe alarge number of residents have their own moped and they use their own mopedrather than rent from some companies. Just restrict the rental number willcontribute little to this situation.


  Secondly, the author ignored the differencesbetween the Balmer Island and the Torseau Island.Despite the first question I argued above, when the author claims that theTorseau’s experience will also be helpful for Balmer, he or she is actually beggingthe question. He or she didn’t mention the moped numbers the accident numbersthe population the road condition and lots of other things which may cause adifferent understanding of the solution for the accidents.


  Finally, although we assume that the twoislands have everything in common, we can’t make the same claim either. Thegreat progress the Torseau has made may hinges on other factors, not therestriction of rent moped. For example, the Torseau made efforts to publicizetraffic regulations, or improved the road condition. The author paid noattention to any other subjects which may result in the reduction of accidents.


  To sum up, the author’s view is unconvincingand may be easy to overturn. There are many points are overlooked or chosen toignore. In order to strengthen the assertion, there is further information thatthe author should provide. For instance, the rising number of moped is the onlyreason for the accidents and all or maybe most of the mopeds are rented. Also,the two islands’ situations are exactly the same. Moreover, the Torseau’ssignificant achievement due to the reduction of rent moped rather than anyother factors. Or we should hold a critical attitude towards this conclusion.