Analysis of an Argument - Rash driving

Analysis of an Argument

The following appeared as part of a newspaper editorial

"As public concern over the speed at which many teenagers drive has increased, local authorities have become more vigilant in their efforts to arrest drivers who exceed the posted speeds within the city limits. Many young people have consequently begun to vandalize speed limit and other traffic signs. Thus, the enforcement efforts have ironically resulted in an observed increase in vandalism."


The argument is flawed in its conclusion that the enforcement of law over speed limit has increased vandalism among teenagers. It is a pseudo-correlation between the vandalism and the enforcement of the law. However, the root cause of the vandalism is due to the improper implementation of the law.
It is highly appreciable that the local authorities have taken concern over the negligent driving of the teenagers. Generally, teenagers have the mentality to be free from any rules or obstacles and have things done on their own accord. In these cases, it is upto the old and experienced to teach them to differentiate between right and wrong. Along with passing the law, the local authorities should have tried to inculcate the evils of negligent driving to the teenagers. It is necessary to make them aware of their own wrong-doing. Instead of that, if the local authorities would simply try to manacle the teenagers, the general tendency would be to go against the law. This would explain the pseudo-correlation between passing the law and vandalism.
After having passed the law, the police should also have been more vigilant in guarding the properties of the city. Efforts should have been made to also patrol the city for any outburst against the law, atleast for the initial few weeks.
The law may have been put in place to check the teenagers legally. However, neither the teenagers were educated about the evils of negligent driving nor the police gave adequate cover to the public property. It is the implementation of the law that has failed which has led to to increased vandalism among teenagers.

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