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

I'd add that it is a statistical fact that most Polish drivers are colour blind. This is evidenced by the fact that a traffic light at red or amber has little or no meaning.

not a Polish one, but an Eastern European drivers have some unusual ways of approaching the task:

check it out: dziennik.pl/zycienaluzie/hity-internetu/article336296/Oto_roztanczony_kierowca_tira.html

You can tell a lot about a country's national psyche by the way they drive and this thread tells us a lot about ours

Sorry, Seanus, have to disagree mega-ly here. I could count upon the fingers of each hand (if I wasn't gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles) that the Audi driver decides that 80-90 on a narrow forest road with double white lines is too slow and decides to overtake 3 or 4 cars at a go on a rise/blind bend etc... in the face of oncoming traffic.

The other thing is the idea that when a driver sees a 5cm space they seem to think they can get their whole car into instead of waiting for the other driver to move.

If the Warsaw-Gdansk road at a weekend doesn't actually kill you it'll shorten your life in stress years. I was overtaking two articulated trucks (on a dual carriageway section) when a big VW SUV came haring up and tailgated so close that I couldn't see his headlights, just the glare through my back window. He pushed me upto 110 and I decided he could wait. He begged to differ and overtook me between the two trucks! If it isn't stuff like that it's the "My car is more expensive than yours, get out of my way when I'm driving on your side of the road!"

I have a theory that James Bond doesn't have white hair because of the actor... it's a plot line that he was sent to drive in Poland and his hair turned white.

I see the same stupid manouvers at the same well-labelled black spots. Young, old... it doesn't matter. Here in Warmia Mazury we have the added attraction of tree lined roads. People say if there were less trees there'd be less crashes. CR@P! There would be as many, if not more. The only difference is that the car would be upside down in a ditch rather than wrapped around a tree.

Once I was driving my car and I run into a big hole with my wheel. There was a big rumble but nothing happened with the car.

whats the deal with zebra crossings here? I gotta say I dont feel so safe when using them. Admittedly in Poznan drivers seem to be a bit nicer, but elsewhere I've been waiting ages to cross, and when I do it's a nervous half sprint to the other side.

Jumping red lights seems to be a common thing too.

I wont mention the train service.

there was a time when Polish cars never stopped. if a car did stop you could be sure that it was german registered. now the law has changed, but of course it only applies to a minority of drivers... most seem exempt.

I shouldn't complain too much... after all, only two members of my family have been hit while crossing at a zebra crossing.

They are to make sure the insurance pays up if you are killed on one.

I have ridden very nice trains for the most part and they have been on time. The stations are in dire need of renovation and sometimes there are no seats but otherwise I have had good service sorry its a bit off topic...

Spot on. I regularly drive on the Gdansk-Warsaw S7 road, and I can say that this is probably the most dangerous road in Europe.

Polands largest ports Gdansk/Gdynia are connected to its capital by a single lane highway (amazing!) The most reckless driving tends to come from the larger luxury end of the car market, esp Audi Q7's, Range Rovers, BMW 7series etc.

Driving around from 14:00 - 17:00 today Friday there was some real nutters on the road. If i hadnt had the family in the car i would have ripped em.

apart from you ;)

Not today my man, today i was driving with wife, baby and niece so good as gold. I do enjoy blasting the Kurwa boys right outta there when im on my own.

The other day we were driving back from Perkowo to Zgierz in our 10 year old Daewoo Lanos. Some geezer in a tall 4wd type thing (think it was a VW Touran or summat like that) came up right behind us while we were slowly overtaking a lorry.

I was in a laid-back mood and just decided ever so slowly to back off the throttle. So I did. I slowed down, and so did he. Then he backed off, so I sped up and passed the lorry and pulled in.

Result.

If that had failed it would have been time to wash the windscreen. :p

Speeding up here when a car is overtaking is a life / death decission for you and the other car, in England they do it to teach a lesson.

I've actually pulled out to stop someone overtaking when I could see the oncoming which he couldn't.

I enjoy letting rip and just laughing, I didn't realise they actually made a BMW 518i with less than 100 bhp till i came to poland, it seems to be the "ride" of choice amongst the poznan boys done good :)

LOL i had a fiat 125 overtake me yesterday and i couldnt do a thing about it with the family in the car and all that, I was like now hang on a minute thats taking the p1ss.

Sorry. I forgot to mention this was on the motorway. I was in the overtaking lane already and Touran tosspot came up behind me while I was overtaking the lorry. So I just overtook the lorry VERY VERY slowly. It wasn't a "normal" road.