Argument18

zyqingUID: 2605201

18The following appeared in an editorial in a Prunty County newspaper.
"In an attempt to improve highway safety, Prunty County recently lowered its speed limit from 55 miles per hour to 45 on all major county roads. But the 55 mph limit should be restored, because this safety effort has failed. Most drivers are exceeding the new speed limit and the accident rate throughout Prunty County has decreased only slightly. If we want to improve the safety of our roads, we should instead undertake the same kind of road improvement project that Butler County completed five years ago: increasing lane widths and resurfacing rough roads. Today, major Butler County roads still have a 55 mph speed limit, yet there were 25 percent fewer reported accidents in Butler County this past year than there were five years ago."
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The editorial recommends that Prunty County(PC) should restore the 55mph speed limit from 45mph on major county roads, and increase lane widths and resurface rough roads. The editorial claims that Speed limit is ineffective for the accident rate decrease only slightly after the limit. And increasing lane widths and resurfacing rough roads lower the accident rate of Butler County(BC).The argument suffers from several logical flaws and is therefore unconvincing.

First of all, the editorial fails to supply sufficient evidence to prove the speed limit is ineffective. The editorial does not inform us how long the new speed limit has been implemented. Perhaps the effectiveness just need more time to be reflected. And the new speed limit rule is only executed on major county roads. It is entirely possible that the accident rate of major county roads decrease while the accident rate of other roads increase which make the accident rate throughout the PC decrease only slightly. What’s more, most drivers’ exceeding the new speed limit will greatly affect the effectiveness of the accident rate.

Secondly, the editorial fails to inform us the detail condition of the roads in PC. Whether the increasing lane widths and resurfacing rough roads is necessary or effective is open to question. Perhaps the lane widths of roads in PC are enough wide. And the roadsin PC are just smooth enough and do not need to be resurfaced.It is entirely possible that the roads condition in BC is too bad that the repair work is necessary.

Thirdly, maybe the conditions of two counties are not comparable. Perhaps the traffic volume of PC is larger than the traffic volume of BC which make the 55mph speed limit is suitable for BC while is too fast for PC. In addition, that 25 percent fewer reported accidents in BC this past year than s years age does not mean the accident rate of BC is lower than of PC. It is entirely possible that the accident rate of BC remain at a high level even if it has decreased by 25 percent. Many other factors are perhaps to attribute to the decrease of accident rate of BC. Without ruling out those factors we can hardly agree that the two counties are comparable.

In sum, the editorial fails to persuade me that the new speed limit is effective and improvement of roads is also unconvincing. To bolter the argument, the editorial need to rule out other all other factors that might influence the accidents rate. To better assess the conclusion, I would need more information about how long the new speed limit has been implemented and more specific details about the road condition of PC. I would also need to know the statistical information about the exact accident rate of two counties.