Are Polish roads really this bad?

I was in Poland for the first time last September, meeting my wifes family who we have been looking for. We stayed in Wroclaw and hired a car for 2 weeks, people said I was mad to drive on the Polish roads, butI loved the motorways despite the side roads being full of potholes. We have fallen in love with Poland and will be having a holiday there every year.

Yes but they are few and far between.

Wildrover, I agree with you, I can't understand why people complain about Polish roads and the way the Poles drive. Give me Polish roads and Polish drivers, over the M25 traffic jams and British road rage, any day of the week. Every day I can see the roads improving, there are no bad roads in PL, you just have the wrong car !!!!

Now you come to mention it... i have never ever seen any road rage in Poland...

People seem to be quite happy to be stuck behind a slow moving tractor without blowing their horn and getting all wound up....

Yes..... i prefer driving over here compared to the UK.... even though its a little more risky...

Wildy, you are not supposed to go out on the Harley, when its -25 and 40cm of snow.

You have to be joking, as it is not the car it is the idiot who drives it.
Simple rule - bad roads = drive slower
However, that just doesn't compute in Poland as if you take your post in a literary manner then are you are saying you should purchase a 4x4 as the roads are so bad?

Have you driven on the roads around Krakow?
A friend on mine busted his axle after he hit a pot hole last year.

They are getting better but they have a long way to go yet.


I saw this in Warsaw where a SUV was trying to push its way through slow traffic and there was a little Fiat in the way and he had no where to go, and after two klms of this the guy in the SUV got out at the traffic lights and started to kick the little Fiat, because he didn't get out of his way.

Poles in general are good drivers, they have to be.


Yes, I have done over 100,000 klms on Polish roads over the years. The only problem with Krakow at the moment is the road works. You certainly have better roads in Krakow than in Warsaw.


You have some idiots in Poland that will not give way to anyone, bcus they don't know how to drive, also life has taught them not to give in. I would do the same if I had someone blocking my way, I would force them to the side, in order to get through, I don't see a problem with that, it is standard procedure in Warsaw. ukpl, you are enjoying too much of the good life in Pulawy.

Furthermore, I saw a car pull up on the pavement and drive past rather than through the red lights, I don't consider it the norm, it happens.

The poor guy had no where to go, so just because he has a bigger car does that give him the right to go first.... strange logic!


So, that's no achievement as we all do this regularly, and I would beg to differ about the roads around Krakow, still.....


I have to disagree with that 100%; however, it has improved in the last five years or so, but they still have a hell of a way to go.



Nice contradiction here lol

Absolutely 100% yes, first rule of the road
in PL. If you don't know and accept this ukpl, you will always be unhappy driving

here.


After the firsts 20,000 klm on Polish roads, you should understand the rules.


No, contradiction ukpl, I quoted that generally Polish drivers are good drivers, because they have to be ( quality of roads, mostly single lane roads, weather conditions) there are some bad drivers as well, a sign of a bad driver for me is someone that is not willing to give way


We base our assumptions on our daily driving experience, you drive in Pulawy and I drive in Warsaw, there is no comparison between the two, when I drive to Kazmierz Dolny, its like a walk in the park, I enjoy the peace and quiet. I am sure when you are in Warsaw, the driving experience is more stressful for you than Pulawy. Its life.

Not really my friend as at least three times a month I drive to Krakow and once a month to Warsaw when I go back to the UK for meetings, so nice assumption but totally wrong.

So get yourself a better car that can handle the roads and you won't complain so much. lol

Maybe you stop posting so much crap that goes against everything that people have been posting on these forums for the last six years and also against European statistics on road safety in Poland where in 2009 they held the worst road safety in the whole of the EU.

My car is fine thanks as I drive a Volvo S60 ;0)

Ha...my Harley hibernates in such conditions....i have a Jeep cherokee for the bad weather...

ukpl, what crap have I posted, I have mentioned that roads in Poland are getting better FACT

I have also mentioned Polish drivers are generally good drivers, because they have to be ( due to roads, single lanes and weather conditions) FACT (I am sure most Poles will agree with me)

I would also like to include, the resident motor sport expert of PF ( ex pro rider and pro driver - wildrover) who also agrees with me.




It would be interesting to find out when accidents take place, I believe if you take out bank holidays and the winter, the % of accidents per day would fall. Drink driving is still a problem here especially out side the big cities in small towns. Also in the winter there are many accidents, due to the problem, people can't afford winter tyres or maintain, their cars to a road worthy standard, but this is a socioeconomic problem.

ukpl, the reason for the number of accidents on Polish roads is more than just about " bad drivers" and you should know it, you have been here long enough.

Your S60, unless it has 4 wheel drive option is not an ideal car for Poland, the good thing about Volvo is that they have excellent safety features in the case of accident. I was involved in a road accident in PL about 14 years ago and we all walked away

without a scratch, our car at the time was a Volvo " so volvo for life" is a true quote.

The problem in Poland is that drivers are driving to fast on roads that you really should be a little more carefull on....

Most of the accidents i see around my part of Poland seem to be due to drivers making contact with other vehicles due to the narrow roads , or going off the road and hitting one of the many trees around here... yes , drink is a factor in this...Where i live you can go to a bar , get drunk , and drive home with little chance of meeting a police car on the way , that and the fact there are few taxis around here is one important factor...

I just don,t see the level of gross stupidity that i saw in the UK , when i am riding my Harley i don,t have the constant emergency stops , and major swerves to avoid death that i had in the UK , so saying that Poles are just bad drivers is not correct in my opinion....

I dare say the situation in cities is a little different , but even when i worked here as a truck driver , and went all over Poland , i did not see the level of stupidity that i saw back in the UK....

You can,t ignore the fact that Poland does have a bad accident rate , but to suggest that all Poles are idiots who can,t drive is missing something....i just don,t see it...

As Warszawski says , it would be interesting to see when and where most of these accidents happen , could it be that its at holiday times when old farts that don,t drive very often get onto unfamiliar roads and mix with fast driving young drivers.....?

Where i live i have seen several fatal accidents on the roads , most of them were accidents where only one car was involved , the car hit a tree...the driver was drunk....

I was waiting for a friend in the main street near my home (ul. Belwederska). In a ten minute period I counted 17 people going through the lights on red. That is not good driving.

LOL. Don't be so German JonnyM :-). I do jaywalking whenever I can, especially after learing how to do it in NYC and CGO :-). If it's safe go accross!

There is a difference between being able to handle a car in all weather/terrain and following the law. You and I may consider that going through a red light, is breaking the law and going against the rules of the road. In poland there is nothing wrong with it. I have a big problem with cars who enter the zebra crossing, while I am walking across with my children, but this has being going on for years here and they accept it as normal.

ul. Belwederska, as long as it wasn't the crossing at Ggarina/Spacerowa it is normally not a problem.

Me too - whenever nobody's looking. I originally come from a country where it's not illegal. We make an art of it. The 17 people who went through the red lights, however, were in a ton of steel with airbags.

Absolutely, and that is why I said:


Or did you conveniently miss that?

And it is the 4 wheel drive option, but I don't think that really matters does it as I could say I have a tank and you would come up with something else better wouldn't you lol

Just because you can ;0)


These are national averages what does it matter where they are as that is just being pedantic, as in 2009 Poland was even higher than Romania and have you driven through that country? I have last year and it was like driving through pot hole hell...

I don't expect you to agree with me but at least keep some realism here!


Who said that?

Still I will leave you boys to it so you can mislead the poor unfortunate souls that come here thinking everything is dandy ;0)

LOL :-) I wonder which country it is, now! Tons of steel help clearly and I always carry my personal set of airbags with me indeed :-) (only when I jaywalk, that is)

I was saving up the low clearance in snowy conditions, can't shoot all your bullets at once. lol


No, we would have to look at the size of population and number of cars on the road. lol
Do take into account that a reasonable percentage of accidents on Polish roads reported to the police and claimed on the insurance, are staged. Poles have been claiming money from the car insurance companies for years, as a way of making extra cash. I was in the Ukraine by car in February, I can guess it is similar to Romania.

They didn't steal your S60 in Romania, must be an old one.


Our resident, motor sport pro, Wildy was also driving in the Ukraine, thats why we consider Polish roads, bliss.

This is part of it all. Drivers going really fast with no respect for signs that are made for safety. And can they really 'handle it' when a kid runs out? Or another driver loses control at a bend. I've seen too many dead bodies in the road around Poland.


Yorkshire. But right now I'm in a place where there are no cars of any type within at least a thousand miles in any direction. Not many people can say that...

Well , it only matters because to solve the problem of the high accident rate you need to know why the accidents are happening....

try driving in England after last winter combined with council budget cuts to equal pot holes to rival anywhere in Poland :(

On Spacerowa, just up from the Blue Cactus, this is a common problem, especially in the winter


Most accidents I see involve, women, young drivers and hat men.

Spitsbergen or Antarctica then :-) Good for you!

i wonder if you'd test that theory when the police are watching.

It would be interesting to know if Poles actually have more accidents than Brits for example , or is it just that the Poles are more likely to die in their accidents due to the high number of roadside trees , and the fact they seem unwilling to wear seat belts....

i understand that a lot of deaths are pedestrians