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

  • UK Government must show “much greater leadership” on road safety
    August 20, 2012
    A leading road safety campaigner has urged the UK government to show “much greater leadership” on the issue after new Department for Transport (DfT) figures revealed a rise in pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads. The number of cyclists killed or seriously injured (KSI) on UK roads between April 1 and June 30, 2012 rose 13% to 700, compared to 621 over the same three months of 2011.
  • Drop in US road deaths for 2024
    May 23, 2025
    The US has seen a drop in road deaths and a road safety improvement for 2024.
  • Road safety checks for Europe
    December 2, 2014
    From Monday 8th December a pan-European police road safety operation will commence. The aim is to raise awareness of the dangers of drink-driving and drug driving. The operation will involve officers conducting alcohol and drug checks at any time of the day and night. The message from pan-European police body TISPOL is simple: the ability to drive safely is impaired by even a small amount of alcohol. Do not drink and drive. Drivers can expect highly visible and widespread enforcement of alcohol and drug law
  • DUI strategies around the world
    December 11, 2017
    New strategies in several developed countries are being introduced in strategies to try to reduce the incidences of driving under the influence. The Pan-European police group, Tispol, reports that In the Netherlands, officers will commence road-side saliva tests to catch drug driving offenders. Early results since the programme launched in July have been described as ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Like other countries, the Netherlands already had laws against drug driving, but enforcement was based on