PrepTest 134

Incorrect. First, without tying distractions to highways with less traffic, this answer doesn't address the paradox. Second, it's also about all accidents, not just the fatal ones.

Incorrect. This answer aligns with the stimulus, but it doesn't explain why this correlation exists—and the why? is what Paradox questions want us to find.

Incorrect. There's no indication that commuting to/from work should have any impact on fatal accident rates, so this answer doesn't resolve anything.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
Highways with the most traffic and most congestion have the fewest fatal accidents.

Answer Anticipation:
Always be sure to clearly define the paradox. Here, that paradox derives from the overlap between the most congested highways and the highways with the lowest rate of fatal accidents. Presumably, the highways with more people on them would have more of these accidents.

What might explain that difference? Well, we'd need to know a relevant difference between these highways and less congested ones that could lead to the lower fatal accident rate. Perhaps these fatal accidents happen on the less congested highways because people are driving faster? Anything to that effect will resolve the paradox.

Answer Explanation:
A congested highway necessarily has people driving more slowly than a non-congested highway. If most serious accidents—which would include fatal ones—happen on highways with a higher rate of speed, then they'd happen on highways with less congestion, thus resolving the paradox.

Key Takeaway:
Be sure to have a clear view of why the paradox is a paradox before heading to the answers. It's impossible to resolve something that you don't understand!

Incorrect. There's no established connection between large trucks and fatal accidents, so this answer is out of scope. It's also very weak in stating that something isn't always the case—that only tells us that it's not true 100% of the time, but that could mean 1% or 99%.