Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]

Ahhh, yes! I noticed that I even started slipping into this habit a few weeks ago, it's a nasty, nasty thing.

What confuses me is that the driving test is equal to the UK test in terms of demands, and is even fairer due to the microphones/cameras in cars - so why the hell do they drive so badly? I can only assume it's down to one thing - the almost total lack of enforcement. In Poznan, there are about 4-5 places where they always sit - as long as you know not to speed there, you're almost certain never to get stopped.

By the way, I was thinking more about why the driver gets the punishment - and it could be because it's easier to give the driver an effective punishment (points) than to merely fine everyone. If it was, for instance, 50zl fine for each passenger - many people would simply not be bothered to wear the belts. But with the driver getting points, the driver has the motive to make sure that everyone wears them. When you think about the rebellious Polish attitude, the carrot-and-stick approach probably works best.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


naukajazdy.pl/kodeks_ruchu_drogowego/punkty_karne.html

Here's a list of everything that you can get points for - as I understand it, they can stop you for doing 6km/h over. In practice, it seems to be more like 10km/h over - and they aren't interested on motorways unless you're doing over 160km/h.

One thing I do like here is that when the speed limit is lower, it usually tells you that there's a bloody good reason for it. It definitely means that you have more respect for the limits, because they aren't lowering limits for the hell of it.

Just wish they would do something about the dreadful amount of tailgating that goes on here... I remember one guy boiling with rage behind me because I dared to obey every single speed limit - I'd just been caught and didn't want any more points. But nooo. Mr Important in his company car couldn't stand it!

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]

More than 85%!

Having said that, generally speaking in Poland, speed limits are sensibly set. You don't see UK-style nonsense of lower limits without justification - I especially like the way that you have 90km/h sections of road, then 60km/h for a junction, then straight back to 90km/h. Fair, safe and reasonable.

News / Police and priests save homeless in Poland [29]


As they should. The situation is a disgrace - it's one thing banning people in summer when they can be blissfully wasted outside, but when it's below -10c - they should be taking anyone if they receive any public funding.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]


The word is genocide against the Polish language.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


I don't even notice mine when driving, and I'm not the tallest of people. If it's constraining and uncomfortable, then it's probably not adjusted properly.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


Aha, I get you.

It's not so much daft, as just a different way of doing things - the driver is in charge of the vehicle, and has the responsibility to make sure that it's operated in a safe manner. Polish law is pretty consistent on this.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


I don't understand - you were driving without seatbelts on, but you're saying that you didn't break the law?

How does that work?

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


Cannot? That's interesting indeed - though as I understood it, you always had the right to pay later anyway if you had permanent residency/citizenship.

(one particularly annoying thing in Poland is that EU citizens with the right of residence certificate still have to pay on the spot despite the residence certificate being indefinite. I can understand those with foreign licences, but I have a Polish licence!)

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


No no, paganism is very big among Stormfront guys. All down to Hitler, you see..

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


71km/h on an open road, on a bright morning with beautiful driving conditions, in a village with barely any houses is hardly "dangerous".


Are they even tested in the Polish version of the MOT? I wouldn't want to rely on mine...

I know plenty of people who got decent NFZ treatment. Me included. Heck, I paid 3zl for some antibiotics the other day - can't complain.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


Yep, somewhere between Klodzko and Kudowa. It was more than fair - right in the middle of the village. Okay - the road was empty - but still.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]


You mean you lose respect for people when they're doing their job?


And? The law is pretty clear - you can't start the car without the seatbelt on. It was rammed into my head when I was learning to drive - do not start the car without the belt fastened. As for the punishment - the driver is responsible in Poland.


Well yes, that's what he's supposed to do.


What common sense? It's illegal to start the car without the seatbelt fastened.

For me, it's fair enough - I remember thinking that the police were very reasonable after getting stopped for doing 71 in a 50 - it was Sunday morning, I couldn't be arsed with the speed limit and got caught. Lesson learnt.

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


Where? Certainly not in Slavic countries. In fact, "slavic paganism" seems to be only used by people who visit websites like Stormfront.


You mean "being a Polish racist myself who got into Paganism after reading about it on Stormfront".


Hardly. Stormfront doesn't count.


Filled with true Polish patriots who stay thousands of miles away and who won't actually help Poland at all.

And just in case anyone wants to doubt my connection between "Slavic Paganism" and racism - have a look here -

stormfront/forum/t98543/

Point. Proven.

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


Will you please stop trolling?

Anyone with any idea about Serbs know that they were never particularly interested in "Slavic Union", especially after what the Ustase did to them in WW2. Even Milosevic's theory was of a "Greater Serbia" encompassing all Serbian people - he had no interest in places such as Macedonia and Slovenia.


Pretty obvious that you've never been there if you think that "nearly all the people speak Russian as a second language" in the Baltic countries.


And again - pretty obvious you don't know any Czechs/Slovaks.

Why not get out of your parents basement and come to Europe to talk to people?

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


The figures I have are different - around 400 million Slavs, with around 250 million being able to speak Russian to some degree.

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


You just couldn't resist with the accusations of Zionism, could you?

Tell you what - if you can prove to me that any poster on this thread is Jewish, I'll donate 5000zl to an orphanage of your choice. How about it?

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


To the point where gravestones were used to rebuild Wroclaw.

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


You just claimed on another thread to have lived in Poland. Oh dear...


Polish people have long memories - they want nothing to do with "Slavija". They either want close cooperation with the West, or they want to be isolated.


Really? Let's see...

Slovakia = fiercely independent and proud of their country, very nationalist.
Czech Republic = sees their future in line with Germany
Ukraine = not going to give up their independence after 600 years of having lost it, are they?
Belarus/Russia = already in union
Croatia = like Slovakia, fiercely independent and proud of their country. They want nothing to do with any sort of Slavic union after the last one.

Bosnia = Not a chance. The country is fragile as it is, and they died to keep it one country.
Slovenia = more interested in Austria/Italy than in Slavija. It's really only Slavic in name.
Serbia = No chance. They have Tito's spirit in them - and that same spirit preaches independence.
Macedonia = not interested in the slightest.
Bulgaria = Too balkanised.
Poland = fiercely independent.

So - two countries would be interested. Not exactly "strong", is it?

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


One problem - Galicia was supposed to have considerable autonomy, free from such nonsense. As for taking an oath - well - when it's a deliberate provocative measure, there's everything wrong with that.


Ukrainians were hardly celebrating Russian moves in light of what happened!


The whole problem was that instead of working with the minorities, Poland often worked against them - to the point of alienating them completely.

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

Lwów was home to some very shameful events - for instance, the requirement for Ukrainians to take an oath of allegiance to Poland or be fired in the university there.

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


Surpressing the Ukrainian minority was one such example.

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


Do leave your parents basement - it's for your own good.

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


It does seem to be the general opinion - when you look at how prosperous Galician cities were, as well as how developed the Prussian part was - it's obvious to see that the Russian part was neglected.

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


There's just the little issue that "Slavic brothers" have been murdering each other for centuries and, generally speaking, it's best to avoid meeting them when other people aren't present.

What's it like being unemployed in Australia?

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


Hello, PolskiMoc. Have you missed us?

Most Slavs don't know Russian. Stop reading Stormfront with their Slavic unity fetish and start visiting this part of the world.


So - a free vote would almost certainly result in the defeat of Russian as a language. In fact, given that even Czechs and Slovaks couldn't agree, or Croats and Serbs on a common language - what hope would there be for "Slavija"?


Keep telling yourself in your basement that :)

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


Both are important when it comes to analysing what happened, though.


Given that the USSR was very opportunistic at this point - would they really have intervened if they saw Germany taking a beating from some military alliance in this part of the world?


Pilsudski's actions in 1918-1922 were somewhat different from his later ideas.

And "alexmac" - get lost.

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


Can you blame them? After the tricks of Pilsudski, they wanted nothing to do with Poland - it was certainly not his finest hour.


Both sides need a good slap for their actions at that time, to be honest.

I still find it utterly bewildering that they didn't consider Germany/Soviet Union enough of a threat to put squabbles aside and form a military alliance against them. With Romania and possibly Hungary, they would've had a formidable defence.

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

Who said anything about that being the reason?

I only put it forward as one reason why Poland was annihilated - Poland was, at a time of need, marginalising and excluding her minorities when they could have played a vital role in Poland's defence. Likewise - with the aggression towards Czechoslovakia and Lithuania - both countries that could have helped, especially Czechoslovakia.

To this day, it confuses me why so many people in Poland fell for Dmowski's idiotic views when Pilsudski quite clearly had the right idea.

News / Does Poland support the idea of Slavic unity? [142]


Pilsudski only supported it as a barrier against Germany and Russia - it had nothing to do with "shared roots" and everything to do with being pragmatic. He, rightfully, realised that the II RP was far too weak by itself to rely only on Poles.

Most of the people who support "slavic union" live in their parents basements in places like Australia or the USA and know nothing about Poland.


I can see you've never actually been to this part of the world if you think that the culture and traditions are the same. There's very, very little in common between South Slavs and Poles, for instance.


Reading threads by "PolskiMoc" online doesn't count.