argument55 [AWB]第十八次作业

dennis1230UID: 2247126

TOPIC: ARGUMENT55 - The following appeared in a Letter to the Editor of the Shady Village newspaper.
"Commuters are complaining that the rush hour traffic on Blue Highway between Shady Village and Bright City has doubled their commuting time. Some commuters have asked that an additional traffic lane be built, but the recent creation of such a lane on nearby Green Highway apparently attracted more commuters, judging from the fact that rush-hour traffic jams actually increased there this past winter. To reduce rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway, a bicycle lane should be added instead of a traffic lane. This approach will succeed because many citizens of Shady Village are avid bicyclists; 75 percent of respondents to a recent questionnaire distributed there said they would like to bicycle more hours per week than they currently do."
WORDS: 387          TIME: 上午 0:30:00          DATE: 2007-3-24

The arguer concludes that a bicycle lane should be added instead of a traffic lane because many citizens of Shady Village(S) are more likely to bicycle and it is the fact that rush-hour traffic jams increased on the recent creation of a lane. However, the arguer neglects the real cause of rush hour traffic and does not make comprehensive research, thus this conclusion is unconvincing.

To begin with, this conclusion is merely based on a questionnaire that many citizens of S are avid bicyclists and 75 percents of respondents would like to bicycle more hours than before. But, firstly, there is no evidence to prove that the avid bicyclists go to work by their bicycle. On the contrary, it is probably that they just choose bicycle for fun and activity on fitness-related. Secondly, the respondents also do not tell us that whether they will spend more time on bicycle when go to work. Thirdly, bicycle is always influenced and interrupted by amount of factors. For example, when raining, snowing, strongly winding and so forth, people always choose vehicles. If so, a bicycle lane can not be an efficient solution of rush hour traffic.

On the other hand, the arguer cites evidence that a recent creation of additional traffic lane on Green Highway (G) attracted more commuters and draw an increasing traffic jams. Perhaps, the reason of G fault is not the traffic lane itself, but are some factors including traffic light, lane aspect, speed limit and so forth. If the traffic lane design for G is not reasonable, the traffic jams are evitable. Thus, this evidence can not prove that creation of traffic lane which construct suitably would not solve the traffic jams.

Finally, the arguer supposes that it is unreliable to build additional traffic lane in S and the arguer ignores other methods to resolve such problems. Although the traffic lane is not success in G, it does not mean that an additional traffic lane in S also would not resolve the traffic problems. Because S and G are different with living habit and circumstance, it is possible that S can overcome these troubles mentioned above by the way of effective traffic light, reasonable lane design and warranted road. Furthermore, instead of a bicycle lane, it is a wise choice for people to realize other solutions.