If you are driving and talking on your phone, about how much information could you be missing in your driving environment?
- You may miss up to 50 percent of what's going on around you. ✓
- There is no effect on what you can observe.
- You may not be paying full attention to your phone call.
- You can miss up to about 10 percent of what's going on around you.
Answer: A. You may miss up to 50 percent of what's going on around you.
You may miss up to about 50 percent of what is going on around you.
Why this is the answer
The handbook cites crash-fact studies showing that drivers talking on a cell phone lose about 50 per cent of what is going on around them, visually. That is the size of the loss the question asks about, so the answer is the half-of-your-surroundings choice. The same passage notes that being stopped at an intersection or slowed in traffic still counts as driving, so the loss applies then too.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. There is no effect on what you can observe. — The passage says phone use causes a large visual loss, not no effect on what you can observe.
- C. You may not be paying full attention to your phone call. — This describes attention to the phone call rather than the measured loss of what is happening around the driver, so it does not answer the question.
- D. You can miss up to about 10 percent of what's going on around you. — The handbook gives about 50 per cent, not about 10 per cent, so this understates the loss.
Remember it
Phone talk cuts your visual scan by about half, so think: half the scene is gone.