Skip to main content

Polish road safety continues to improve

Official data from Poland shows a continued improvement in road safety. The data reveals that there were 5% fewer accidents, almost 8% fewer fatalities, a 5% decrease in injuries and a 5% reduction in drink-drivers. The information was made available recently through Pan-European police body TISPOL. According to TISPOL, the statistics confirm that police action can be effective in reducing vehicle crashes. Comparing the data for 2013 with statistics for 2012 and 2011 reveals a notable drop in road crashes,
January 16, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Official data from Poland shows a continued improvement in road safety. The data reveals that there were 5% fewer accidents, almost 8% fewer fatalities, a 5% decrease in injuries and a 5% reduction in drink-drivers. The information was made available recently through Pan-European police body 4753 TISPOL. According to TISPOL, the statistics confirm that police action can be effective in reducing vehicle crashes. Comparing the data for 2013 with statistics for 2012 and 2011 reveals a notable drop in road crashes, injuries and fatalities. In 2013 there were 35,385 traffic crashes reported, 1,681 fewer than in 2012 when there were 37,046 while in 2011 there were 40,065 incidents. In 2013 the number of road deaths in Poland dropped to 3,291, some 280 fewer than in 2012. The number of injuries fell to 43,471, some 2,321 fewer than in 2012. Referring back to 1991, there were more than 54,000 traffic crashes reported, in which almost 8,000 people died. The data shows that police action directed toward the improvement of road safety are proving effective.

Removing drink-drivers from the road is one of the most important priorities amongst police operations to boost road safety. During last four years the number of controlled drivers increased four-fold; in 2013 there were 8,879,522 breath tests carried out. During 2013, police officers stopped 162,090 drivers over the alcohol limit. In 2011 this figure was 183,488, and in 2012 it was 171,020 drivers.

The Chief of Polish Police also took the decision to increase the number of traffic police officers so that they would comprise 10% of all police numbers. The next step is to fill the vacancies, which in turn increases the number of traffic officers to 9,100, the highest ever number of traffic officers on Polish roads. Polish road safety has also been aided by the introduction of new equipment such as unmarked vehicles with video recorders.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Concern over seat belt use in Europe
    November 1, 2012
    Concern has been expressed over recidivist motorists in Europe who continue to flout seatbelt laws, despite strong evidence that they risk serious injury or death. According to recent police safety data, results from a recent pan-European seatbelt control operation show that nearly 100,000 drivers and passengers were detected not wearing seatbelts. A total of 25 countries took part in the operation, which was co-ordinated by the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL). Of the final total of 97,489 detectio
  • Europe’s road safety challenge for the future
    March 2, 2022
    Europe’s road safety challenge is to reduce casualties for the future.
  • Vulnerable road users face greater risks on Europe’s road network
    May 21, 2014
    Data shows that vulnerable road users are benefiting less from improved road safety. This has been revealed in the 2014 Road Safety Annual Report, which highlights latest road safety data. The number of road fatalities fell by 1.7% between 2011 and 2012 in the 31 countries covered by the International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD), according to the International Transport Forum at the OECD. However, road safety policies are not succeeding in improving protection for vulnerable road users. The l
  • Risk for elderly on Japanese roads
    January 7, 2016
    Japan’s National Police Agency has revealed that the country’s road death figures increased slightly in 2015 compared with 2014. Total road fatalities for Japan in 2015 stood at 4,117, an increase of 0.1% from the previous year. There were 536,789 crashes in Japan during 2015, which injured 665,126 people. Of particular concern is the data showing that traffic deaths for those aged 65 or over rose by 2.5% to 2,247 in all, a worrying 54.6% of the total road fatality figure. Official information has not so fa