Traffic safety Priorities are drawn from analysis of domestic and international accident statistics. The main cause of accidents is human behaviour, of pedestrians and drivers. In the vehicle-related sector there has been progress in harmonising Polish vehicle technical standards, relating to vehicle structure and operation, in line with future EU standards. Legislation for vehicles to have lights on for whole year round has been successful in significantly reducing number of accidents. Progress in the field of human factors has included: reduction of accidents caused by drunken road users; road safety education of children; improvements in driver training and scientific cooperation; and proposed program for speed control and installation of "foto radars" [speed cameras]. With regard to highway related factors, there have been improvements in 25% of the Polish road network classified as "national" and the National road safety program aims to reduce, by 2013, the number of deaths on national roads by 75% compared with 2003. The national road safety program GAMBIT is aimed at: vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists); people commonly ignoring traffic regulations, such as speed limits, drink driving or not using restraint systems; traffic risk on major roads outside built-up areas (on the 6 % of the length of the road network, 25 % of all accidents, 40 % of all killed, 27 % of all injured, and severity of accidents: 18 fatalities / 100 accidents); young drivers aged 18-24 (20 % of all involved in road accidents); intoxication of drivers and pedestrians; and quicker exchange of the oldest part of vehicle stock. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145407.
Abstract