Road safety in Poland

Road safety is a quality aspect of road traffic which should represent an equally important consideration in decision-making. The fact that the situation in central Europe has changed, caused a change in the situation in Poland as a transit country between East and West. It was concluded in Poland that road traffic and traffic safety cannot be considered only on a national level. Experiences and knowledge of other countries should help to improve road safety. Responding to two of the main recommendations of the World Bank Report on Road Safety in Poland (World Bank, 1992), the Polish Government ordered a comprehensive project on the improvement of traffic safety in Poland. This GAMBIT project will be carried out over the next two years by many Polish universities and research institutes and deals with the problems of traffic safety. The Dutch SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research was asked to give a general opinion upon the contents of the GAMBIT project, and to express an expectation about the future development of traffic safety in Poland. The contribution of SWOV has been realized within the framework of a `Memorandum of Understanding' for bilateral co-operation in the field of road transport between the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Economy of Poland and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management of the Netherlands. The study was carried out by order of the Transport Research Center AVV of the Dutch ministry