One of the Polish government’s top priorities over the next two to three years is to overhaul Polish state roads to lower the number of road accidents, announced Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The prime minister explained that in addition to making Polish roads more comfortable to use, the government also wants to make them much safer. Given that Poland’s dangerous roads cost the country billions every year in traffic accidents, there is little surprise that the government is investing in solving the issue.
To do this, the government will introduce a safe road program which will overhaul intersections, state roads, road lights, and improve traffic lighting in accordance with the highest standards. These improvements are meant to protect lives and health of traffic users.
Morawiecki stated that close to 50 percent of fatal accidents on Polish roads involve unprotected persons, such as pedestrians, cyclists, people on scooters and rollerblades. Improving traffic lights at intersections and replacing some of them is crucial to lower risks associated with fatal accidents.
“We are constructing bypasses, highways, freeways. The overhaul of many state roads, however, will be a top priority for the government in the upcoming two to three years,” he said.
The prime minister added that this priority will involve not only necessary regulations and bills, which will be introduced in the upcoming months, but also new investments.
The government plans to improve traffic lighting and separate pedestrian traffic from vehicle traffic wherever possible. It will also aim to reduce the number of collision points on roads.
Despite the decreasing number of road accidents and victims, Poland is among the EU countries in which people die on roads the most often. According to the 2019 European Transport Safety Council report the highest index of deaths in road accidents per million citizens was recorded in Romania (96). Second was Bulgaria with 90 and Poland was third with 77.
