The government has approved planned changes to Polish traffic laws that would mean large increases to the maximum fines for various offences. They would also toughen punishments for drunk driving and increase maximum penalty points.
Changes to traffic laws which came into force last month did not increase fines, despite the arguments of road safety campaigners that the relatively low penalties for offences in Poland exacerbate the rate of road fatalities, which is among the highest in the European Union.
The government information centre announced yesterday that ministers had accepted proposed changes at a cabinet meeting, reports RMF24.
If passed by parliament, these amendments would increase the maximum fine that can be given by a court for traffic violations from 5,000 zloty (€1,100) to 30,000 zloty (€6,600). Fines that police can give on the spot, which have been capped at 500 zloty (€110) since 1997, would rise to 3,500 zloty (€770).
The financial penalty for exceeding the speed limit by more than 30 km/h, which is currently between 200 and 500 zloty plus penalty points, would rise to a maximum of 5,000 zloty under the new plans.
The proposals would also award compensation to victims automatically, without the need for them or the prosecutor to apply, reports RMF24. Last week, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki promised “radically tougher penalties” for drunk drivers, including having to pay maintenance to the families of the victims.
The maximum number of penalty points would also rise, from ten to 15. These would only expire after two years – not after 12 months, as is currently the case – and driver awareness training schemes to reduce penalty points would be scrapped.
Also agreed were stronger punishments for people driving as well as causing accidents while under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. The details of the proposed new penalties are as yet unclear, reports Gazeta.pl.
In further changes, vehicles could be temporarily impounded if they were driven by an unlicensed person, and insurance companies could be given access to information on the number of penalty points a driver has incurred and take it into account when setting liability insurance fees.
An amendment to Poland’s road laws which entered into force last month gave priority to pedestrians waiting at road crossings, changed the speed limit in built-up areas and banned the use of mobile phones while crossing.
Poland has the fourth-highest rate of road fatalities in the EU, with 76.6 per million inhabitants in 2019 (compared to 36.9 in Germany and 45 in Slovakia).
In 2020, almost 2,500 people were killed and 26,500 seriously injured in 23,500 traffic accidents in Poland, RMF24 reports. Almost 90% of accidents were the fault of drivers. Almost 1,700 accidents and 216 fatalities were caused by drunk drivers.
Numbers of accidents, injuries and deaths on the roads in Poland have been falling steadily over the last decade. In 2011, almost 4,200 people were killed and 50,000 injured in more than 40,000 accidents, according to police statistics.
Main image credit: Flickr/Karolina Kabat (under CC BY-ND 2.0)
Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.
