PrepTest 23, Section 3, Question 4
John: As I was driving to work this morning, I was stopped by a police officer and ticketed for speeding. Since there were many other cars around me that were going as fast as I was, the police officer clearly treated me unfairly.
John: As I was driving to work this morning, I was stopped by a police officer and ticketed for speeding. Since there were many other cars around me that were going as fast as I was, the police officer clearly treated me unfairly.
Mary: You were not treated unfairly, since the police officer was obviously unable to stop all the drivers who were speeding. Everyone who was speeding at that time and place had an equal chance of being stopped.
John: As I was driving to work this morning, I was stopped by a police officer and ticketed for speeding. Since there were many other cars around me that were going as fast as I was, the police officer clearly treated me unfairly.
Mary: You were not treated unfairly, since the police officer was obviously unable to stop all the drivers who were speeding. Everyone who was speeding at that time and place had an equal chance of being stopped.
John: As I was driving to work this morning, I was stopped by a police officer and ticketed for speeding. Since there were many other cars around me that were going as fast as I was, the police officer clearly treated me unfairly.
Which one of the following principles, if established, would most help to justify Mary's position?
If all of those who violate a traffic law on a particular occasion are equally likely to be penalized for violating it, then the law is fairly applied to whoever among them is then penalized.
The penalties attached to traffic laws should be applied not as punishments for breaking the law, but rather as deterrents to unsafe driving.
The penalties attached to traffic laws should be imposed on all people who violate those laws, and only those people.
It is fairer not to enforce a traffic law at all than it is to enforce it in some, but not all, of the cases to which it applies.
Fairness in the application of a traffic law is ensured not by all violators' having an equal chance of being penalized for their violation of the law, but rather by penalizing all known violators to the same extent.
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