Upping the speed limit in Poland

hahahahahahahahahhahahahhaah

Woah easy you nearly made me choke....

kaznoad: I agree with you 100% on your post.

I'm sure I've seen pics here on PF of big modern motorways being built in P-Land.

They're building lots of two lane highways here. Much like what runs through middle America.

Hi

I am going on holiday by car from norway to Zabze in summer 2011. I am wonder how the trafic on e40 (A4) is. Most of it from the German border should be finished by now.

Hugo

you're having a laugh, aren't you.

the first 50-60km from the border is as bad as it ever was.

i know because i've been to berlin and back a couple of times in the past couple of weeks.

I don't think that it's the excess speed which is the problem. It is rather those one-lane, unsafe, badly marked (the "horizontal signs", lines separating lanes etc.) and very uneven roads that are major cause of accidents. Of course there are many idiots in cars, no argument here, but the quality of what we drive on... Where does all the road tax money go? (mind you all - around 1/3 of petrol price is excise tax and this is not the only income).

So to all those who just want to drive as fast as possible.

Poland has to import virtually all of its oil, right?

So driving ever faster, in ever bigger cars, means you are sending more and more of your country's wealth to the Russians and the Arabs.

Seems pretty stupid to me, maybe you should all drive slower and do your country a huge favour!

The A4 (E40) to Gorlitz, Germany from Wroclaw is now finished, the A18 (E36) however is still the same.

i don't think 87mph is excessive on a motorway/autostrada/autobahn

i like to arrive the same day i set off.

'Free speed' for 'free people'???

Nowadays it's all about regulations, just like a driver is not able to estimate his speed and the road conditions.
Another way to disable your own ability of judging.

I think 5000+ road deaths each year shows that a lot of Polish drivers are pretty useless at choosing an appropriate speed for the road conditions.

The amount of people is see belting through city centers at 60+ Kph is not civilised at all, and then there's the ones who prefer not to slow down in thick fog......


Yeah right! How about freedom to arrive home alive, and freedom from oil dependency!

What I think they should have done was to introduce 140km/h on tolled motorways, but left it at 130km/h on free sections. Looking at the A2 as an example - 140km/h is fine between Nowy Tomysl and Poznan, and between Poznan and Konin - but on the other sections, 130km/h is enough. Heck, 120km/h should probably be introduced on the Poznan bypass!

Following your logic since Poland almost does not have it's own car brand - maybe Poles should leave their foreign-made cars and switch to donkeys, which by the way don't run on fuel. Carrots can be homegrown, so there's the solution!

Has anybody else noticed that once a Poles crosses the boarder to Czech Republic or Germany how completely nuts their driving becomes. Its like theyre trying to make a statement - look at me im Polish and look how fast i can drive.

Something else ive never failed to get a race in Poland, just play with them a little bit and a race is on, even if theyve got some old piece of crap car. Its astonishing. I'm not saying i race more like just test them.

Is the A18 the part from the german border that looks like a patchwork that is quite bumpy to drive on?
At least it wasl like that when last I drove to Poland 6 years ago.

I plan to drive 1300 km in one stretch so after 10 hours or so I will enter Poland. I think I then will have to gulp down a redbull or two to get sharp relaxing driving can be over.

Normally when I drive long stretches I just engage cruisecontrol and sit back and relax.

My biggest fear is to meet a drunk driver or somebody making a utterly stupid move.

Even if I have a car that can pass 200 km/h I think I will obey the speed limit.

Hugo

I havent driven that for 2 years, i assume youre referring to the concrete slab 60 KM section, its still there, i respect my car too much to put it through that again.


If youre worried stay behind another vehicle preferably a truck. Trucks pulling out are the biggest problem on the A4, really annoying.

Pulling out? you mean like overtaking?

I can live with staying behind a truck, saves fuel accoriding to mythbusters LOL

I have a Jaguar quite old one, but I like it. Not to sound stupid about Poland, but would it be unsafe to park at the street and not in guarded parkingplaces?

I do not worry about theft, because I will install a DIY system that make it impossible to start, even if you have the key.

But more like breaking into, get keyed and so on.

Hugo

yes on the dual carriageway, causing faster vehicles to brake suddenly.


Nice wheels not too many of those around now, i used to valet for Jaguar for a while in my younger days we took them straight off the transport trucks and prepared them for the showrooms, got to drive them around a little bit too.

Depends on the area, ive never had a problem except some bugger stealing my wing mirror, but i dont park on the street much. Theres lots of foreign plated cars parked on the streets and generally theyre are fine. I shouldnt think Jaguar spares are commonly sought after in Poland. Mercedes spares on the other hand such is my car.

I'd say it's nothing more than a jurisdiction thing, and not particularly "Polish".

E.g. people in Northern Ireland will say that those from the republic drive like lunatics when in the north - and I can attest to the converse also.

But im not Polish and therefore impartial.

It's not about impartiality though - in Ireland, objectively, it happens, simple as - southern drivers go mental in NI and NI drivers do the same in the south.

As soon as the Polish drivers cross the border, they don't care. I'm sure the same could be said for Czech drivers entering Poland too.

I don't recommend taking on Poland without being rested first - Polish drivers are much more unpredictable than their Western counterparts.


They're just as awful here, I'd say. At least in Germany, there's the threat of a decent punishment hanging over them if they get caught!

And oh yes, it's great fun to make them race off the lights - they just cannot help themselves. I remember one time, me and dnz were in his car - and some guy wanted a race. Fine and well, but he was in the car with his wife and small kids!

Merged: And now, what happend with road accidents in Poland since upping the speed limits?

Hi,

I'm new here and I can't speak or read Polish, sorry!

But I'm extremly interested into Transportation problems and would like to know where I can found official statistics about road accidents and safety in Poland. I would appreciate to get links for that on the Polish official sites that can help me.

I would specially like to find what for consequences did the upping of the speed limits had. In many states (Denmark, USA, UK) the upping of the speed limits diminished the number of road accidents.

Did it also diminished the casualities and the death rates on the Road here in Poland?

Thank you for any body who can help me with it!

Pascal

Where in the UK? I've only seen them go down.

Road deaths rose from 3,907 in 2010 to 4,142 in 2011. 2011 is when the motorway speed limits were raised from 130km/h to 140km/h, but this does not explain the rise since the motorways carry a relatively small volume of traffic in Poland.

However, this does make Poland the only EU country with a year-on-year increase in road deaths for 2010/11, and gives close to double the average number of deaths per million inhabitants across the EU (120 compared to an average of 69).

hasn't the number of cars on the road increased inline with that?

According to Ernst and Young, cars per capita in Poland rose 4.8% (from 432 per thousand to 453) 2010 to 2011. So less than the 6% increase in road fatalities.

Also, when road deaths dropped 16% between 2008 and 2009, car ownership increased 2%.

Here the News

news.sky.com/story/886243/motorway-speed-limit-set-to-rise-to-80mph

It's a pity that there are no accurate figures as to the number of RHD cars on Polish roads. I'd be hugely surprised if they didn't have an effect on the number of RTCs.

That will be fine we defo couldnt have unlimited like in Germany the UK motorways are simply not good/smooth enough, i always notice the difference when back from Germany, especially on the M20 from Dover heading towards the M25.

I think the French toll motorways are the best in Europe, but of course you have to pay for the privilege.