There is a basic hypothesis that the majority of serious motoring offences are derived fromaccidents， and there is nothing in the offender s personality or background that predisposes him tobreak the law. If an accident is a chance event that happens so quickly and suddenly that it is beyondanyone s control to prevent it， then it is clear that this hypothesis is disproved. For only about 14 percent of the 653 offences considered in a recent survey could possibly be called inadvertent accidentsin this sense， and even this estimate is stretching credulity to its limits. In the great majority of casesthe offences were largely of the offenders own making. In 11per cent of the 653 cases and 21 percent of 43 offenders who were interviewed there was evidence of selfish， and even ruthless，self-interest， but it was not possible to infer personality disturbance in more than 25 per cent of the653 and 39 per cent of the 43 offenders. Though the inferences with regard to personality traits maybe an overestimate in the interpretation of qualitative data， they could equally be an underestimate，since so very little was ever recorded about the offenders themselves. The lack of data is aconsequence of the almost total lack of interest in motoring offenders as persons.It must be assumed，therefore， in the absence of evidence to the contrary that the majority of serious motoring offenders considered in the survey were normal people， who succumbed to temptation when circumstanceswere favourable and it was expedient to take a chance， so perhaps there is something in the normalpersonality that predisposes a driver to break the law. Whatever it is， its presence is much moreevident in males than in females， since the analysis of the national statistics shows a predominanceof males over females of between 18：1 and 22：1. The real significance of these figures is hard toassess， because the relative proportions of each sex at risk are unknown. One research workerproduced a ratio of six males to one female from his sample of insurance policy holders， but this isalmost certainly an underestimate since many females—probably more than males—are likely to bedriving on someone else s policy. A ration of three to one is probably nearer to the real state ofaffairs. Females reached noticeable proportions only among the hit-and-run drivers， and there seemsto be some justification for calling this the ‘feminine offence. The difference between the sexes intheir relative propensity to break the law on the roads is important， because it shows that motoringoffenders have a characteristic in common with offenders in other fields of criminal activity， wheremales predominate to a marked degree. One motor insurance underwriter recently announced hisintention to offer discounts on premiums where the policy holder or the ’named driver was awoman.
The basic hypothesis is further disproved by the very high incidence， among theoffences studied， of failing to insure against third-party risks. Yet accidents brought tolight only a very small percentage of this kind of crime. Moreover， it could not possiblybe said that this， the most common of the serious offences， was brought about byprovidence. On the contrary， it can be regarded as a typical form of economic crime，which， although sometimes committed through inadvertence， is more usually quitedeliberate and calculated.
26. The word “hypothesis” (line 1) means _____.
(A) a wrong belief
(B) an unproved theory
(C) a demonstrable idea
(D) a fundamental law
27. Inadequate statistical information about the personalities of motoring offenders is largely the result of _____.
(A) the difficulty of interpreting the self-evident facts
(B) the inaccessibility of the police records
(C) scanty recorded evidence of the offenders themselves
(D) insufficient research into the recorded qualitative data
28. Women can sometimes get more favourable motoring insurance terms than men because statistically _____.
(A) they are much better at controlling a car
(B) they are smaller and more important
(C) they are less likely to commit grave offences
(D) they are more unwilling to take out policies themselves
29. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
(A) women are unwilling to drive on someone else s policy
(B) women are more likely to be the hit-and-run drivers
(C) men are regarded as criminals in road accidents
(D) men are more likely to be insurance underwriters
30. A “third party” (para. 3) is essentially _____.