The Government is conducting a number of activities to improve safety on the Polish roads

"Road safety is based on infrastructure, law and responsibility. That is why we have created programmes for building pavements or renovating pedestrian crossings. It is also important to punish those who break traffic regulations," said the Prime Minister during the event. Improving road safety is a priority for the Polish Government. Our actions are based on three pillars: investments, changes in the law and education. New funds are also being mobilised to further improve safety on our roads.

• Investments

"Several hundred lives have been saved thanks to improvements in road safety. There are fewer accidents. Investments in infrastructure ensure that we can act effectively," said the Prime Minister. This is thanks to, among others, the support mechanism for local government units carrying out investments on local roads through the Government Road Development Fund. Thanks to government support, about 14,000 km of municipal and district roads have been repaired and built over the past three years. In 2019, PLN 6 billion was allocated for this purpose. In each subsequent year, PLN 3.2 billion. The Government Programme for the Construction of National Roads by 2030 (with an outlook until 2033) is another solution to improve safety on Polish roads. The Programme is currently under consultation. Thanks to it, long-awaited investments such as the Western Bypass of Szczecin, the S11, S12 and S74 roads will be constructed. Over the next ten years, the Government will allocate around PLN 300 billion for the development of national roads.

This also includes the Safe Road Infrastructure Programme 2021-2024 - the first stand-alone Programme from the area of road safety infrastructure of such a large scale. The actions undertaken under the Programme will increase the protection of road users and create safe road infrastructure - and in effect reducing the number of accidents and their victims. PLN 2.5 billion will be allocated for this purpose from the National Road Fund.

• Changes in the law

Improving safety on Polish roads also involves making changes in the law. On 6 December 2019, the amendment to the Road Traffic Law came into force - creating life corridors and traffic merge. On 20 May 2021, an amendment to the Road Traffic Law came into force - standardising the movement of electric scooters and other personal transport devices. Another change to the current legislation is the amendment to the Road Traffic Law - increasing the scope of pedestrian protection in the pedestrian crossing area, which came into force on 1 June 2021. 

"A lot of the new regulations are proving to be effective in practice," continued Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The effectiveness of the changes implemented by the June amendment is confirmed in a study by the Transport Institute's Polish Road Safety Observatory. Analysis for the month of June from the last four years (2018-2021) showed a decrease in the number of accidents at pedestrian crossings in the first month of the new legislation.

• Education

"Each saved life is precious," said the Prime Minister thanking the Polskie Radio Kierowców for its educational and awareness-raising activities, which show how important safety is. In his words, thanks to such actions, Polish drivers travel more safely. 

These also include the efforts of the National Road Safety Council (Krajowa Rada Bezpieczeństwa Ruchu Drogowego, KRBRD), which carries out wide-ranging educational/campaign activities, including nationwide training for local government road managers on the use of engineering measures to improve the safety of road users, or educational activities to improve pedestrian safety and reduce vehicle speed. It is also educational campaigns such as: "Life has priority" (Życie ma pierwszeństwo) - how to create a "corridor of life" or the social campaign "Does it excuse you" (Czy to Cię tłumaczy). It also conducts nationwide training for teachers on educating children in the area of road safety.

Contest "Safe pedestrian - retrofitting pedestrian crossings and retrofitting schools in the field of traffic education"

The aim of the contest is to retrofit pedestrian crossings in places with the highest number of accidents and in the vicinity of public buildings such as schools, health centres or railway stations and to introduce traffic education solutions in schools in the field of safe movement in road traffic. The budget of the contest amounts to PLN 100 million. Recruitment will start at the beginning of 2022. The contest is addressed at local governments, which will be able to receive funds for, among other things:

• designation of pedestrian crossings, signage,
• elevation of a pedestrian crossing and/or a cycle crossing,
• pedestrian refuge,
• fence/railing,
• speed display,
• stationary traffic park for cyclists,
• mobile traffic park for cyclists,
• crash simulator (the simulator simulates a frontal impact of a vehicle hitting a fixed, stationary obstacle at a speed of 6-10 km/h)
• A pedestrian crossing simulator - a device intended for use in facilities training early school-age children in the safe use of pedestrian crossings