Usually, the following three most important factors are mentioned among many factors determining the success of actions for life and health protection in road traffic: - political will, knowledge, financial resources. The fact that the President of the Republic of Poland, took our conference under his honourable patronage, distinctly demonstrates that Polish authorities are determined to fight for the improvement of safety on our roads. Alike the decision of the Council of Ministers, which in April of this year approved the National Road Safety Programme GAMBIT 2005 as the programme for Poland for the years 2005-2013, this fact demonstrates the increase of the political will to solve the problem. This is a problem of utmost importance; every year as a result of road accidents our society losses almost PLN 30 billion, there are 5.5 thousand casualties and ten times as many injuries, out of which approximately 20 per cent remain disabled for the rest of their lives. Knowledge about the factors contributing to road accidents occurrence and the preventive measures has also increased. Within the period of over 10 years of work on implementation of subsequent GAMBIT programmes, a multi-disciplinary scientific team has been appointed, able to co-participate in Europeaogrammes. The GAMBIT programme developed by the consortium of the Gdansk University of Technology, the Krakow University of Technology and the Motor Transport Institute in Warsaw, is currently being implemented by the National Road Safety Council and other central institutions. Moreover, upon the initiative of several regional road safety councils, also regional and district programmes are being implemented, the objectives and strategies of which are based upon guidelines of the GAMBIT 2005 Programme. Thanks to joint efforts of many institutions, organizations and people of good will, in the last 15 years Poland has significantly decreased the risk exposure of human life and health on roads, achieving a level similar to the average level of the European Union countries. Many institutions, organizations and persons that are all deeply motivated to fight the high level of health and life loss risk among road users contributed to Poland's success. At present the main object of concern is financing of preventive measures. It is not easy to justify the need to fight the hazards on roads, in a period when the State budget is burdened with so many social needs. However, it is shown in our economic analyses that freeing the health sector from costs of medical care for road accident casualties is one of the most advantageous action strategies. . For the purpose of implementing these tasks aid funds of the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and other European funds is use The scientific research in the leading countries of the world in the area of safety demonstrates that road accidents are not inevitable as a price paid for mobility. (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see E217780.
Abstract