Why do poles drink & drive?

hi everybody

im trying to work out why a disproportionate number of polish people are on the drink drive rehabilitation programme.

i would love to hear from anybody who might have an insight into why this is happening.

is it because polish people aren’t aware of the drink driving laws? is it because drinking and driving isn’t perceived as a serious offence in Poland? or something else?

your views would be greatly appriciated

thank you
laura

well, i think it can be about any nationality.... i live it the us and i know plenty of people, older and younger, who got DUI, DWI, courts and rehabs....

this is a fair point, also this notion of ging out to a specific place in a car is developin in poland, before people never used to 'go 'out' that much as they have done in other developed countries.. also in our culture drinking is so common it is not looked at in its fundamentals, i was in katowice a while back and found many many people acting disorderly, i thougght i was in england!

people should be educated about the dangerous effects, in general the roads in poland are safe.

this issue is not common to poles it depends on the laws in a cpuntry and the behaviour of the people, i think if people drink less alchohol they will be more concious and aware of their actions

I believe more people are caught due to the strict 0 tolerance. My gf wouldn't let me drive after 1 beer. She said if they smell alk...you're in trouble.

good n her, u should be glad the polish police is doing a good job and your partner is very mature. just think yourself there are alternatives,

hello, thank you for your response.

i totally agree with you bu3/10 people here in the UK on drink drive rehab are polish....

i just think there must be a specific reason for it

thank you for youre repsonse
so do you think its because going out and socialising is a new concept to polish people, so the combination of driving and drinking is a new one, and one that poles dont see as a problem?

i think if you take the statistics to other coutnries in the block, even move to areas in the far east (but rememeber the police are corrupt there), i think you will see a common factor. to be honest i havent looked at the results but i dont think they are that bad... polish culture in schools etc teaches resonsibility and if you look at the uk and us in the 80's then you will realise that was a huge problem.

one more thing the rate of casualites - mobile phones and ipods? can people release some of the excitement..
a friend of mine told me how bus drivers inpakistan used to have music extrememly loudly - this reulted in many accidents, the govenmnt consequently banned bus drivers rom playing music - less accidents

ok I was about to ignore this thread but how ignorant and backwarded are you?
c'mon. The education you got couldnt be that bad, could it?

You're posting your questions and remarks as if poles you write about were from a different universe and you keep forgetting that by beeing so ignorant you only make yourself look as if you were from a different universe.

grow up!

yes there is a reason. vodka is the national drink. lol

I found the opposite on my last trip in Poland. I visit a lot of my family members spread all over Poland. My"personal drivers" would never have even one drink afraid of a hint of alcohol detectable in their breath.

It is a norm in the US, when you go to dinner or parties, you have a drink or two, and then you drive home. Of course there also lots of drinking and driving accidents. Lots of lives lost and injured because of stupid bravado. Car insurance for young people, especially young men, is very expensive here.

I think, the roads and signage in Poland have also something to do with it.

dear ronek i believ you should focus on the point, laura mentioned 'dissproportionate' is a key word, hence the discussion, this is an important point - maybe not to you but thanks for sharing your comments that have been extremely 'un - beneficial'

i think in the US the problem is partially due to lack of good public transport (outside of the few major metros)

we had a wedding recently and the bridegroom had arrnaged a minbus, and there were 4 taxis on standby.. there was a swimming pool in the garden and ............. yes....... the drunks jumped in...... but no drunks drove!

thank you for your lovely response. it is clear that cross cultral differences exist between countries. i am simply trying to asscertain what they are, to come up with a solution to help educate polish people on the uk drink driving laws, to ensure they are not involved in so many accidents.

it is a fact that 3/10 people on the rehabilatation programme in the uk, are polish so there is an absolute need for this project to be carried out.

i find your comments overtly defensive, aggressive and unnecessary
thank you to everybody else for your help.

I agree with Eurola. My friends in Poland are absolutely tea-total when driving. To qualify that statement, they are mostly middle-aged professionals.
I imagine that the reason for any disproportionate figures are to do with youth, social class, separation from family and a subliminal thought that in a strange country, there may be some special leniency.

English lads in foreign countries are equally uninhibited by local laws and expect to "get away" with things which they wouldn't try at home.

you come here asking questions and now you're jumping down people's throats for those answers? wtf?

fair comment, there has been a large number of polish or lithuanian genlemn caught by police for drinking alchohol in public, i think this is an excellent point you made, in fact it reminds me when i visited tunisia in the 80's and was drvigin around with a car registration document... these things happen

...really? Which comments?

of course - english are among the worst drinkers in the world!! but we know and have plans in place to recify our native drink drivers.

our focus now is to better understand poland and find a solution to educate new immigrants.
your point about social class is intertesting. another well informed pole highlighted that recent influx of poles into the uk has mainly been manual labour workers, predominatly working class and not represenative of the entire polish community, and may go some way to explaining the high number of poles drinking here and why it isnt reflective of poland as a whole

thank you - very useful

the comments from ronek telling me to grow up and that im from a different planet, when im trying to reduce the dangers for new immigrants

everybody else, as i said has been extreemly helpful

Arriving in a culture where drink driving is accepted by certain groups of people must have an influence upon recent immigrants. They probably would not do this at home. Raising awareness of our laws has to help in the longer term. Changing our drinking culture has to be the best solution though surely?

thats a good point. there is a definate need for raising awareness of our laws. we are distributing welcome packs, translated into polish, informing new arrivals of the laws at polish recruitment companies. this is a first port of call for new arrivals so will good to educate them as soon as they arrive to reduce risk

laura - this is a great initiative, i hope you can put this forward to the general british public, binge drinking is a key problem but if people like yourself continue this hard work you will help our society.. have u thought about no alchohol as stated in leviticu's bible? maybe that will reduce alot of crime

It has been my experience that the Polish people I know are just unaware of the rules and regulations in the UK, from things such as tax issues, to how many drinks, if any, you are allowed to have and still drive.

Therefore the obvious solution is to put this info out into the public domain in many languages, not just english. The drink drive tv ads and the kill your speed are great, but not if you don't understand what they are saying.

On a side note, my Polish friends can drink copious amounts of alcohol before any effect is even apparent. I mean they can literally drink me under the table. It is prefectly normal for my friends to have a pint of Guiness and a double Jameson as their first drink, they think nothing of this. So maybe they think that because they feel ok, their judgement isn't affected yet, so are safe to drive.

If they were told precisely what the law is then they will either follow it, or if they have a blatant disregard for UK laws, they will not. If they chose to ignore the rules, then you have a civil disobedience problem on your hands!

This is just my opinion :-)

Do you mean no alcohol - period or zero alcohol before driving?

according to stats we drink less alcohol than USA citizens and Europeans at all.

I think that on emigration probably in smoe cases they can drink more than at home ...

Drink&Drive is forbiden in Poland as well. When Police catch you "drink and driving" you go to the cort get suspended sentence (if it is first time), lost driving licence (100% sure) and last time lost car. So our law isnt tolerant in this case.

and stats made by Scandinawians

another good point, we forget that when people arrive in this country there are 100's of new rules to learn, not just ones about drink driving and yes, the existing drink drives ads will have little impact if they cant understand. no its not a case of everybody having a disregard for uk laws, but a lack of understanding

thank you

Unfortunately people abroad seem to behave differently than in their home country. The new found freedom and "nobody knows me here" attitude brings out odd behavior whether it is drinking or acting loud.

i think as with any country, lower classes tend to drink more and are more reckless. the wages for manual labour in the uk is very attractive to the lower classes in poland and attracting a high number of manual workers, and this is where the problem may lie

thank you

Very true. I see Clunkshift made the same point. I vividly recall a group of senior lawyers' behaviour in Prague one day. Can't imagine they would act like that at home!

very intertesting...perhaps people go into holiday mode, because they are in a different country....hadnt thought of that before...
thank you