Suppose you're interested in studying whether there's a relationship between the sales of umbrellas and the number of traffic accidents in a city. You collect data over several months and find that there is a positive correlation, meaning that when umbrella sales increase, the number of traffic accidents also tends to increase, and vice versa. You might be tempted to conclude that buying more umbrellas somehow leads to more traffic accidents or vice versa.

However, in this scenario, there's a spurious variable at play.

What is that variable and how come there is not a true causal relationship between umbrella sales and traffic accidents but rather this third variable?

Group of answer choices

$[$Weather Conditions$].$ The variable is the weather conditions. The true causal relationship is not between umbrella sales and traffic accidents, but rather the weather conditions influencing both.

$[$Population Density$].$ The variable is the quality of road maintenance. The true causal relationship is not between umbrella sales and traffic accidents, but rather the quality of road maintenance impacting both.

$[$Road Maintenance$].$ The variable is the quality of road maintenance. The true causal relationship is not between umbrella sales and traffic accidents, but rather the quality of road maintenance impacting both.

$[$Umbrella Quality$].$ The variable is the quality of the umbrellas. The true causal relationship is not between umbrella sales and traffic accidents, but rather the quality of the umbrellas affecting both.