Deadly Roads - "Are polish roads really THAT dangerous?"

Ohh its being spent on the roads alright but mostly in the cities, driving in Wroclaw for the past year has been an absolute nightmare, add an hour to every trip scenario because of all the roads being repaired at the same time.

I think they should use 60% of the funds on motorway systems, extend the A4 down to the East border, get moving on the A1 South to North and Extend the A2 for starters, this will releve the stress on current road systems.

I was talking about Krakow ;-)

Thanks! We won't let any of these stories scare us out of traveling Europe on the bike, but we will be very careful!!

Be sure to do that, since most Polish roads don't have cycling lanes...
Would surprise me strongly if u left Poland with the same bike u came with ;)

They are coming on a motorcycle..not a bycycle...

the way people drive here? they are really crazy and I have driven around india. but here they like to think they are f1 drivers and dont care about anybody else

Agreed...Poland is up there with China, India etc with crazy, dangerous driving.

Poland is nothing compared to China or India, not even on the same page. lived and worked in china for 3 years i seen more people killed than i ever want to see again. been to india for work again no comparison, italy mental drivers my god have you ever driven in paris??

You should really check other countries b4 making some statements (f.e. Romania ;)
About the links to youtube - did u heard about Britain's Worst Driver? :>
But seriously, what brits often do on the roads doesn't belong to good practice in my eyes - way of parking, leaving the car v close to intersection, just to buy smthg at nearest shop, stoping/parking on/near the bus stop etc. But majority of them is just more calm and polite behind the weel than we are =]

Aug 15, 09, 13:00 - Thread attached on merging:
Roads in Europe

Just had a recent experience of the extent to which our roads are unsafe.

Any experiences here? What should be done?

Why do you feel they are unsafe? Many bastards on here will say, "well you're just old" and such and such.

I think saftey should always be the first thing, what is unsafe about the road itself
and what could be done to make it safer for drivers.. was there a sign directing you
properly, what caused the accident? what could have prevented it?
was their something on the road? ice, was the pavement bumpy or was their
slick spots?

lots to consider..

I have a smaller car now and I do not feel safe on the roads, especially the highway
because the car feels like its swaying when you hit a bump its not handling well and
so once this is payed off I am off to turn it in for new mid-size car or back to a suv
truck.

Because... :) ... I had QUITE an accident.

is that why you havent been here for a while Lodz?

and where exactly in Europe was the accident?

Near the Polish Czech border... almost at the end of Czech Rep.

I injured my hand and legs severly. But I got everything intact :D. Lost my new car, but recently bought another ...

But I stopped coming to Polish forums after the accident. I was in OK shape to continue, but then, didnt feel like. Now while my hand is healing, I thought why not continue the battle :D (kidding about battle... just posting).

I have discovered my hidden talent in Yoga these days. After I recover completely (hopefully a month) i'll get back to gym too!

How are you dear man?

im good, cant complain thanks for asking.


Not the 8 road? Hradec Klowe to Wroclaw, apparently thats the worst road for accidents in Poland mainly due to its lenght all the way to Warsaw.

What happened? your fault or what?


Shite man that sucks, you can always buy another car but not another body. I had an accident in the UK many years ago in my new car a VW Schorocco, totally smashed it up, totally my fault and got banned for a year for drink driving. But i and my passenger walked away without a scratch. A good lesson in life.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

I assumed the accident happened in Poland, but Czech Republic, many roads there are similar to Poland. Was it a Czech driver that caued the accident?

No... it was me!

It was juuuuust inside Czesc territory. I say juuuuuust....

My fault is that i thought that the other person (whose overtake caused my wrath) had eyes. Now I know that everyone is blind.

Horriable really. Just plain horriable.

so what happened then?

The card had a crash while trying to save another. Its all miserable :(...

Anyways... this thread was about an International problem, regarding roads around Europe, specially the mainland Europe. So why is this post transferred here? Wonder who is involved, the Admin or some new guy/gal who is the moderator now.

No it aint Lodz this is about roads in Poland, maybe Czech and Slovakia but not mainland Europe the roads there are great.

Your thread stated roads in Europe but your accident occured near the Polish border right. So its not European roads at all really. The roads here are shite, i know many people whois lives have been affected by the Polish roads including my own, not from an injury point of view but the fact that i drive on them every day.

What happened with your accident? can you tell us? Dont worry about being at fault it happens to us all from time to time, post it and we can learn. A little way to improving the safety here, if nothing else your confession may save a life.

Hey Lodz are you gonna tell us what happend or what. Im not giving up, i want to know.

Let me guess you were overtaking like a total idiot where it was unsafe and with a car with out enough power. Thats caused the accident right? either by you swerving or being clippled by an on coming car.

Everytime i drive in the Czech republic i witness Polish drivers thinking their hard, its like please you fcuking idiots if you want to kill yourselves atleast save it for Poland. My car is very fast but i had a Polish reg Golf TDi racing me once i crossed the border, and this guy was old, im thinking to myself Poles plus high powered (fcuk that cars in general) cars just dont mix.

I was driving near the Polish Czech border, while a car tried to overtake me. It was foggy, the road was skiddy... and the only fault that could've been mine mustve been the tires.

The person driving the other SUV mustve been a bloody jerk (i usually dont use slangs... but i feel helpless...and thats why want to avoid discussing it in detail). He just tried to push me off the road to go ahead!!! I wonder what was waiting there for him!!!

I just noticed suddenly another vehicle's headlights coming right into me. To avoid the collision i tried to move myself away... while it skidded and toppled and crashed on the side....after that i really dunno what happened. All i know is that I am alive now and writing this really gross story to you :(

Like other people have said. Poland has a driving-culture that is more dangerous than the roads themselves. Not everone of course, but many. People take much bigger risks in everyday driving. It surprises me that they can risk their life for saving 10-20 seconds.

Just watch videos on Youtube and you'll see.

I'm Polish myself, and I believe I drive well. But my accident was due to someone suffering from insanity.

Yeh always an excuse.


So he was over taking you thus in the direct line of fire.


What on your side of the road why? why was he there what happened to the car that was over taking?


Sorry Lodz im not buying that. It just doesnt add up mate youre lying.

Start again with the truth, look i drove 110 MPH in a 30 mph zone when i was 18 years and drunk. Its not so hard. Tell the truth and lets learn.

Wroclaw Boy
Youre always banging on about Poland being great etc.. but youre lying right here a typical Polish trait. Change the mould mutha fcuker and lets get back on the road to recovery, you get me?

I were not drunk. Why the HELL will i lie to you on it?

why....ur a lunatic :S ... i should've known. Anyways... thats it

So basically and in a nutshell you were driving on your merry way when a car over took you, right? Then all of a sudden a car from the opposite direction was coming straight at you so you had to swerve and then crashed. and it was all the fault of the tyres:


Ohh Please
I told you


dont use that mate we all make mistakes. You already mentioned it was your fault but in the accounts you blame it on the tyres, how convenient? Im willing to bet my fcuking life it was your fault. Like i said just tell the truth im not going to give up on this one.

You know the truth its hiding in your head some where, a problem shared is a problem halved as they say.

Still waiting for the truth Lodz...

Of course not everyone is a crazy driver. Probably many of them listened too much to the old Disco Polo song 'jesteś szalona', or maybe szalony, I guess the majority of crazy drivers are men.

Since this thread has been resurected, I will comment on Mr B's comment and its so true, Ive driven in Manchester city centre many times and the amount of tits that have nearly rear ended me is unreal, yet having driven in Edinburgh through the city, I found the people slightly more patient and no where near as agressive.

As for Poland has anyone been on the roads in Hungary? I didnt think I was going to make it to the airport alive, not something Ive experienced in Poland.

I find Polish roads horrific both the quality of the road and the standard of driving by the people who use them, I drive around 70,000 miles a year and in Poland even though i've been here for quite some time i'm genuinely scared and appalled by the actions some drivers take and the unnecessary risks some take just to get past 1 more car. I'm not the slowest driver in the world and will happily cruise at 150 mph + through germany overnight on an empty motorway where both the roads and the people that use them work in harmony like a well engineered swiss watch. You can predict what 99% of other road users are going to do where in Poland if someone indicates left they could do anything. Drivers have no lane discipline and seem flummoxed by roundabouts etc. Also drivers of expensive(ish) cars seem to think that the rules of the road don't apply to them and that the highway code braking distances are measured in millimetres.

When i worked as a rep in the UK driving the length and breadth of the country on a weekly basis I hardly ever saw accidents in Poland I've seen people lose control on a perfectly straight stretch of road for no obvious reason, I've seen a car on its roof in the centre of poznan (how the F*ck do you manage that?)

I find it amazing how few people die on Polish roads given the quality of the roads themselves and the sheer incompetence of the motorists who use them.

What do they teach in the polish driving test, I stood at a bus stop once (yes i used a bus once *shivers*) and watched some guy have at least 7 attempts to fit his Mercedes A class into a fairly large space before giving up and wheel spinning off with a damaged ego. Most of the drivers on the road have no idea how to operate a clutch either slipping it whilst revving the engine excessively or performing a massive wheelspin (something which is only done in the UK by burberry wearing acne infested chavs in saxos and corsas) or just simply stalling as they are too engrossed in their telephone conversation.

Add this to the corrupt police who once pulled me in an ageing 1.6 88bhp mitsubishi claiming that i was doing over 300 kmh (i did invite them to show me how to get my car to go this fast but they declined) who are interested in nothing apart from making a quick buck from speeding motorists and do nothing about dangerous driving nothing is going to change in the near future.

So in answer to the OPs question Polish roads themselves aren't that dangerous but the incompetent barely qualified egotistical clueless morons that use them are.

I drove in and around Lublin for years, and was never in an accident; however, that's probably because I'm extra defensive -- which includes being polite on the road (ie., I "help" ppl overtake me if they wish to by moving over as much as possible and slowing for them so oncoming traffic is not a problem).

One problem is that there are simply not enough lanes on most roads; another is that every type of traffic (from tractor trailers to horse-pulled wagons) is forced into close proximity on the few main roads available.