In an attempt to improve highway safety, Prunty County last year lowered its speed limit from 55 to 45 miles per hour on all county highways. But this effort has failed: the number of accidents has not decreased, and, based on reports by the highway patrol, many drivers are exceeding the speed limit. Prunty County should instead undertake the same kind of road improvement project that Butler County completed five years ago: increasing lane widths, resurfacing rough highways, and improving visibility at dangerous intersections. 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.

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The argument presented assumes that an increase in the speed limit on county roads will decrease accidents. However, this assumption is unfounded for several reasons. First, by reducing the number of miles traveled in an hour, drivers will have more time to react in case of unforeseen accidents. And, since the number of miles traveled per year on county roads is much greater than the number of accidents, the decrease in the number of accidents will translate into an overall increase in safety.

The second flaw in the reasoning is the assumption that increased lane width will reduce the number of accidents. While a wide, smooth road reduces driver fatigue, it does not prevent accidents. If a driver loses control and accidentally crosses into the oncoming lane, the wide road will not prevent a collision. Furthermore, if an accident occurs and the road is narrowed, the driver will not be slowed as much by oncoming traffic. For example, suppose a car traveling on a two-lane road swerves to avoid an oncoming vehicle. In that case, the driver may lose control of his vehicle and collide with another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. In this case, the increased width of the road would make the driver less able to avoid a collision. Finally, even if the road is widened, the road will still be narrow compared to the highway on which the accident occurred. Since the speed at which a driver travels on the road is not dependent on the road’s width, there will be few, if any, accidents that are decreased in severity by widening the road.

Butler County’s accident rate has increased over the last five years, indicating that some road improvement projects may have improved safety. For example, the limited visibility at the intersection of Route 3 and 100 may have caused some drivers to speed, resulting in accidents. However, there is also evidence that some of the roads in Butler County are more dangerous than they once were. If the argument were valid, the number of accidents should have dropped immediately after those road improvement projects were completed. But that is not the case. The accident rate continued to increase through 2012 and has leveled off since. This suggests that the improvements did not improve safety; instead, the improved roads are likely safer, which is another explanation for why the number of accidents has not decreased.

There is also no evidence that Butler County’s roads need extensive repairs. If the county’s roads are poor and visibility is poor, even a slight increase in the speed limit may be dangerous. For example, if a driver is traveling at 45 mph on a rough road but is forced into a sudden stop due to a collision, he may be thrown from his vehicle. Furthermore, if one of the roads is resurfaced, the smoothness of the road surface may make it safer, but speeding on an improved road may increase the risk of an accident. Roads in poor condition may be fixed more inexpensively than widened, and resurfacing may be sufficient to improve visibility. Therefore, some road improvements may be necessary, but additional modifications are not. The speed limit should be lowered to 55 mph, and the county should concentrate on improving the condition of its roads.

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