How long should you keep checking whether the unconscious person is breathing?

This question is about checking breathing in an unconscious person before starting resuscitation. You check whether they are breathing for 10 seconds - answer B.

The Road Traffic Act requires a person involved in an accident to give the necessary help to the victims, and the resuscitation guidelines give a simple procedure: after opening the airway (tilting the head back and lifting the jaw), you lean over the casualty's face and, for no longer than 10 seconds, you look to see whether the chest rises, listen for breathing and feel it on your cheek. Ten seconds is enough to detect 2-3 breaths, if there are any. Five seconds (answer A) is too short - you could miss slow breathing; 30 seconds (answer C) is too long, because in cardiac arrest every second of delay lowers the chance of survival. Single, irregular, rasping gasps are not breathing - this is so-called agonal breathing, and you treat it as no breathing. If after 10 seconds you are not sure that the casualty is breathing normally, you call for help and start chest compressions: 30 compressions and 2 breaths.

Legal basis: Art. 44 para. 2 point 1 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym); Art. 162 § 1 of the Criminal Code