While riding, you should scan your environment

1. only if there is other traffic around.
2. every 5 to 8 seconds. ✓
3. only if you are exceeding speeds of 40 km/h.
4. every few minutes.

Answer: B. every 5 to 8 seconds.

You should scan your environment by completing the whole observation cycle every five to eight seconds.

Why this is the answer

The handbook describes an observation cycle: keep your eyes moving, look at least 12 seconds ahead, scan from one side of the road to the other for hazards, and glance in your mirrors to track what is happening behind you. Then you start the cycle over again. The handbook says the whole cycle should be completed every five to eight seconds, so scanning is a steady, repeating habit rather than something you turn on and off depending on traffic or speed.

Why the other answers are wrong

• A. only if there is other traffic around. — The handbook presents the observation cycle as something you always do while riding, not something you switch on only when other traffic appears.
• C. only if you are exceeding speeds of 40 km/h. — Nothing in the passage ties the observation cycle to a speed threshold, and the cycle is described as a constant habit.
• D. every few minutes. — Waiting minutes between scans is far slower than the five-to-eight-second cycle the handbook describes.

Remember it

Think of your eyes as running a loop: far ahead, side to side, mirrors, then start again, with the whole loop timed at five to eight seconds.