Article
citation information:
Gorzelańczyk, P., Pyszewska,
D., Kalina, T., Jurkovič, M. Analysis of road traffic safety in the Piła
poviat. Scientific Journal of Silesian
University of Technology. Series Transport. 2020, 107, 33-52. ISSN: 0209-3324. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20858/sjsutst.2020.107.3.
Piotr GORZELAŃCZYK[1], Daria PYSZEWSKA[2], Tomas KALINA[3], Martin JURKOVIČ[4]
ANALYSIS
OF ROAD TRAFFIC SAFETY IN THE PIŁA POVIAT
Summary. Every year, a lot of people lose their lives and
health on Polish roads, which at best ends up damaging the car. Resultantly,
the high rate of accidents prompted this study in conjunction with the Poviat
Police Headquarters in Piła to analyse road traffic safety in the
Piła poviat. To this end, road events occurring in Poland and in the
Piła poviat were analysed. In addition, the most common types of road
incidents were identified alongside the main reasons for their occurrence. By
analysing traffic incidents, a map of the most dangerous streets in Piła
was created. A survey was conducted to verify the statistical data presented on
the state of safety in the Piła poviat. The survey on road safety in the
Piła poviat was created in cooperation with the Poviat Police Headquarters
in Piła and was conducted among the residents of the Piła poviat.
Inhabitants of the Piła poviat feel safe on the roads along the roads of
their poviat.
Keywords: safety, Pila poviat, road traffic
1. INTRODUCTION
Every year a lot of people lose their
lives and health on Polish roads, which at best ends up damaging the car. The
rate of accidents is very high. Despite the construction of new safer roads,
the number of collisions is constantly increasing, and around 3,000 road users
are killed each year. On average, forty-one thousand people are injured every year.
The main causes of accidents are excessive speeding, non-conformity to current
road conditions or regulations, driving under the influence of alcohol and
random events.
Safety is a basic human need [1, 2]. Most
people asked about their most important values mention work, respect, health,
feelings, intangible goods and, above all, life. This translates into the fact
that human safety is a natural and most important life need. None of us would
like to live in insecurity. When getting into a car, we check its technical
condition, because we want to be sure that everything is fine. Before we go to
sleep, we check to make sure that the entrance door to the house is properly
closed and before going on vacation we make sure that everything has been
properly secured. It shows how at every step, we care about a high level of
security and do not want anything bad to happen to us. Lack of sense of
security causes a feeling of danger, anxiety and panic in man and social groups
with attendant considerable difficulties. In view of this fact, man, social
groups, institutions and international systems tend to operate and work towards
ensuring the highest level of security to completely eliminate or at least
effectively postpone as far as possible any such threat [3].
Safe travel on the road means compliance
with a number of established rules and regulations, which should not be
underestimated [4]. The improvement of road safety is affected by many elements
related not only to the promotion of proper behaviour among drivers [5-7] but
also to the proper organisation of traffic, the appropriate technical condition
of roads and vehicles [8-11]. Equally important are training and exams for
future drivers. Road safety is a scientific field that includes not only the
abovementioned aspects but also issues related to traffic supervision,
emergency medical services and transport psychology [12]. The problem of the
exploitation of means of transport related to their safety was discussed in [13-15].
2. ANALYSIS OF ROAD
INCIDENTS BETWEEN 2013-2018
According to the data of the Polish
Police, 201,882 accidents occurred between 2013-2018 with 18,216 people killed,
243,973 people injured and 234,5741 collisions happened. This is shown in Tab.
1.
Analysing the data, it can be seen that the
number of accidents was highest in 2013 and lowest in 2018. The same is true
for data from the Piła poviat. Over the years, however, the number of
collisions increased; there were 355,943 collisions in 2013, and 436,469 in
2017. The least collisions of 348,028 were recorded in 2014, a similar
relationship as in the Piła poviat is evident. The number of injured
people was the highest in 2013 - 44,059, and the lowest in 2018 - 37,359. The
year 2013 recorded the highest number of people killed - 3,357, the least
people lost their lives in 2017 - 2,831. It can be seen in the period under
analysis that the number of injured people is higher than the number of
accidents.
According to the data of the Poviat Police
Headquarters in Piła, 488 accidents occurred in the Piła poviat in
the period under review with 7,147 collisions, 635 people injured and 79 people
killed, as shown in the table below.
Tab.
1
Road incidents in Poland in 2013-2018 [16]
|
Year |
Number of
accidents |
Number of
killed |
Number of
injured |
Number of
collisions |
|
2013 |
35,847 |
3,357 |
44,059 |
355,943 |
|
2014 |
34,970 |
3,202 |
42,545 |
348,028 |
|
2015 |
32,967 |
2,938 |
39,778 |
362,265 |
|
2016 |
33,664 |
3,026 |
40,766 |
406,622 |
|
2017 |
32,760 |
2,831 |
39,466 |
436,469 |
|
2018 |
31,674 |
2,862 |
37,359 |
436,414 |
|
Sum |
201,882 |
18,216 |
243,973 |
2,345,741 |
|
Average |
33,647 |
3,036 |
40,662 |
390,957 |
Tab. 2
Road incidents in the Piła poviat in 2013-2018 [16]
|
Year |
Number of
accidents |
Number of
collisions |
Number of
injured |
Number of
killed |
|
2013 |
117 |
1,109 |
169 |
14 |
|
2014 |
108 |
1,017 |
132 |
14 |
|
2015 |
74 |
1,115 |
93 |
8 |
|
2016 |
84 |
1,236 |
120 |
19 |
|
2017 |
55 |
1,338 |
63 |
12 |
|
2018 |
50 |
1,332 |
55 |
12 |
|
Sum |
488 |
7,147 |
632 |
79 |
|
Average |
81 |
1,191 |
105 |
13 |
Analysing the above data, it can be seen
that the number of accidents was highest in 2013 and lowest in 2018. Over the
years, however, the number of collisions increased. In 2013, 1,109 was observed
and in 2017 – 1,338. The least collisions were recorded in 2014 –
1,017. The number of injured people was highest in 2013 - 169, while the lowest
was in 2018 – 55. Both in 2013 and 2014, the number of people killed was
14, in 2015 this number dropped to 8, however, it increased to 19 in 2016. In
2017 and 2018, 12 people were killed. It can also be observed that in the
period under review, the number of injured people was greater than the number
of accidents.
The number of accidents between 2013 and
2018 decreased by as much as 57%, the group of injured people likewise
decreased by 67%, which is a very good result. People killed in road accidents
between 2013 and 2017 decreased by 14%, however, if we take data from 2016,
where the number of fatalities was the highest, we get a decrease of 37%. The
year 2016 showed a drastic increase in the number of fatalities - 19, shortly
after dropping to 8 people in 2015. Comparing these two years, 2016 brought an
increase of 137 people. However, the number of collisions also increased by 21%
over the period considered.
The total number of accidents that
occurred in the Piła poviat over five years represents 0.26% of accidents
throughout Poland in this period. The number of collisions is 0.30%, which is
more than the incident of road accident cases. In the Piła poviat, 0.44%
of the victims lost their lives and 0.28% of the people involved were
injured compared to data from the whole country.
The most common road events in the
analysed period include: hovering over a tree and side and frontal collision of
vehicles.
The biggest direct cause of road incidents in the Piła
poviat are drivers who do not adjust their speed to the driving conditions or
give way. This demonstrates the reckless attitude of drivers and/or ignorance
of traffic rules. Data on this subject in the accessed period are presented in
the table below.
Tab. 3
Main causes of traffic incidents [16]
|
|
Speed
mismatching |
Failure to give
right of way |
|
2013 |
236 |
299 |
|
2014 |
210 |
296 |
|
2015 |
239 |
297 |
|
2016 |
246 |
300 |
|
2017 |
254 |
278 |
|
2018 |
187 |
285 |
|
Sum |
1372 |
1755 |
From year to year, a progressive upward trend of road
incidents and victims is being recorded. These disturbing data is attributable
to the slow rate of modernisation of "cities" in relation to the
constantly growing number of cars and drivers in the Piła poviat.
Over the past four years, the largest number of road
incidents in the Piła poviat occurred in Piła on Aleja Wojska
Polskiego (Tab. 4). It can be drawn from observation that they most often occur
at the roundabout, where drivers disregard the lights and force their way. More
so, it is an exit road from the city and a road leading to the beltway, which
means that drivers run at a higher speed. The two-lane route leading out of the
city is Aleja Powstańców Wielkopolskich, the second street in the
table. Interestingly, Poznańska Avenue is similarly a dual-lane exit
street, which encourages drivers to disobey road speed regulations and yet is
the last in the table. The most dangerous streets in Pila are presented in Fig.
1. It is worrying to note that almost all the main streets of the city are
affected.
Tab. 4
The most dangerous streets in Piła [16]
|
Street |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
Sum |
||||||
|
C |
R |
C |
R |
C |
R |
C |
R |
C |
R |
C |
R |
|
|
Av. Polish Army |
57 |
5 |
39 |
4 |
46 |
2 |
56 |
2 |
44 |
3 |
242 |
16 |
|
Av.
Powstańców wlkp. |
42 |
5 |
52 |
1 |
46 |
0 |
50 |
1 |
54 |
1 |
244 |
8 |
|
Av. Piastów |
32 |
2 |
29 |
1 |
26 |
1 |
31 |
2 |
39 |
0 |
157 |
6 |
|
Av. John Paul II |
28 |
3 |
35 |
1 |
22 |
0 |
28 |
2 |
36 |
1 |
149 |
7 |
|
st. Bydgoska |
23 |
3 |
36 |
2 |
31 |
2 |
35 |
2 |
49 |
1 |
174 |
10 |
|
Av. Poznańska |
21 |
2 |
32 |
1 |
18 |
1 |
28 |
1 |
30 |
1 |
129 |
6 |
|
Av.
Niepodłegłości |
n/d |
27 |
1 |
24 |
0 |
23 |
1 |
26 |
0 |
100 |
2 |
|
|
st. Zygmunta Starego |
n/d |
34 |
1 |
29 |
0 |
26 |
0 |
24 |
3 |
113 |
4 |
|
|
st. Okrzei |
n/d |
11 |
4 |
21 |
2 |
17 |
1 |
14 |
3 |
63 |
10 |
|
|
st. Kossaka |
n/d |
13 |
0 |
17 |
2 |
16 |
2 |
11 |
1 |
57 |
5 |
|
C -
collision; R - road accident; n/d - no data available
Fig. 1. Map of the most dangerous streets in Piła [17]
3. RESEARCH
A survey was conducted to verify previously presented data
on the state of safety in the Piła poviat. The survey on road safety in
the Piła poviat with the cooperation of the Poviat Police Headquarters in
Piła was conducted among the residents of the Piła poviat in December
2018 to February 2019 with 133 participants in the survey. 58% were female and
42% male. A significant proportion of the surveyed persons were adults. 33.3%
of them are young people between 20 and 40 years old. Persons between 40 and 50
years old constituted 15.2% and above 50 years old 7.6%. 10.6% of the
participants declared they were under 20 years old. Most of the respondents
lived in the Piła commune (87.8%), fewer people lived in the commune;
Szydłowo – 3.1%, Kaczory – 3.1%, Wysoka - 1.5%, Wyrzysk –
1.5%, Ujście – 1.5%, Łobżenica – 0.8% and
Białośliwie – 0.8%, respectively. The data is presented in the
chart below.
Question 1. Place of
residence
Fig. 2. Answers given
Question 2. Dominant
form of participation in road traffic
Fig. 3. Answers given
Private car drivers constituted the largest group among
those surveyed (48.2%). A much smaller proportion were drivers of company cars
(6.8%) and professional drivers (3.7%). The respondents include 23.1% of
pedestrians, 11.4% of cyclists and 6.8% of people using public transport.
Question 3. Do you
feel safe on the road?
Fig. 4. Answers given
As many as 70.3% of respondents declared that they felt
rather safe, while 5.3% felt very safe on the roads of the Piła poviat. On
the other hand, fewer respondents felt unsafe or uncertain: rather dangerous
(16.8%), very dangerous (3.8%) or difficult to say (3.8%). This means that the
majority of the Piła poviat feel safe on the roads.
Question 4. Do you
feel safe at pedestrian crossings in your surroundings?
Fig. 5. Answers given
Similar answers can be seen at the next question regarding
safety at pedestrian crossings on the roads of the Piła poviat. Almost
half of the people surveyed-48.9% feel rather safe and 1.7% very safe at
pedestrian crossings in the Piła poviat. In contrast, the other half were
of the opinion that being at the same pedestrian crossings were rather
dangerous (33.7%) or very dangerous (13.7%). The remaining 2% of respondents
declined to answer this question.
Question 5. How do
you assess the activities of the services responsible for road safety?
Fig. 6. Answers given
The National Road Safety Council is responsible for road
safety in Poland. It is equivalent to the US National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration - NHTSA. In addition, road safety is the shared responsibility
of the marshal, the voivode and the voivodship police chief as well.
According to respondents, these services do well (35.9%),
enough (30.5%) and good (16.8%) and only five (3.8%) very well. As many as
seventeen people (13%), indicated difficulty answering this question.
Question 6. Have you
or someone from your immediate surroundings been hit at a pedestrian crossing?
Fig. 7. Answers given
When asked whether the respondents or people in their
immediate surroundings were once hit on a pedestrian crossing, as many as 25%
answered yes. This is a very high value. In addition, in this case, the respondents
also had the opportunity to provide a written answer showing that in many cases
this would have happened if not for the quick response of pedestrians. This
suggests that the values would have been higher if not for the quick reaction
of pedestrians. The responses, however, included those indicating death
resulting directly from a deduction at a pedestrian crossing.
Question 7. Did you
or someone from your immediate surroundings take part in the traffic incident?
Fig. 8. Answers given
In the next question about participation in the traffic
incident, more than half answered in the affirmative (55%), which is quite a
large and worrying figure. On the contrary, 45% of respondents were in the
negative.
The interviewers also had the opportunity to provide a
written answer, which shows that they were mainly bumps or minor road
collisions. Furthermore, the answers include those that show that an accident
occurred at a railroad crossing, which at the time of this study have become a
fairly common incident due to the fault of the driver.
Question 8. Should road infrastructure in the Piła
poviat be further developed?
Fig. 9. Answers given
Road infrastructure in the Piła poviat is constantly
improving as far as budgetary possibilities are concerned. This is an extremely
important aspect of increasing the level of road safety, for example, the
condition of the surface significantly affects how the car behaves while
driving. The pollsters agreed that the road infrastructure in the Piła
poviat should be developed as much as possible. 70.4% of participants in the
survey agreed that all roads should be renovated and 17.6% that it should focus
mainly on "more important" roads (for example, construction of
expressways). Only 3% of respondents were of the opinion that the improvement
of the surface condition is rather unnecessary, and 9% could not answer this
question.
Among the open answers, the interviewers pointed out the
need for the lighting of pedestrian crossings and the construction of elevated
pedestrian crossings in front of each school, and that road infrastructure in
the Piła poviat should be planned and continuously improved.
Question 9. How do
you assess the role of the Police in shaping road safety?
Fig. 10. Answers given
According to respondents, the Police play an important
(41.7%) and very important (37.9%) role in shaping road safety. The role of the
Police is not limited to only roadside checks, it includes action as well,
leading to increased public awareness about the safety and responsibility of
each road participant. Only 15% of respondents said that the Police play little
or no role in shaping road safety and 5% of respondents did not answer this
question.
Question 10. Do you
or your children have lessons at school on road safety?
Fig. 11. Answers given
Education starts from an early age and it is very important
that children are taught how to behave properly on the road. Bad habits
perpetuated for years can result in unpleasant events. Thanks to the lesson on
road safety, young people can acquire appropriate habits and learn about the
effects of ill-considered behaviour. 71.2% of respondents affirmed that they or
their children had lessons on this subject at school. 16.7% of respondents were
unsure. This may be due to the fact that children do not always tell their
parents everything they learnt at school. 12.1% of respondents stated that they
and their children certainly did not have such lessons in schools.
Question 11. Do you think that roadside inspections in the
Piła poviat should be carried out more often?
Fig. 12. Answers given
When driving on Piła roads, you commonly find road
checks being carried out by the Police. This is to improve road safety and
eliminate drivers who pose risks to traffic. According to respondents, the
Police should carry out such checks much more often. 46% of respondents
subscribed to this idea and only 30% concurred that there was no need or
definitely not (6%). 18% of respondents could not answer this question. This
group of people may include road users who do not use a car on a daily basis.
Respondents equally had the opportunity of providing an
open answer, which they willingly used. These people mainly provided places
where roadside inspections should be carried out frequently, that is, school
areas, national roads or areas outside the city. It is a definite mistake to
carry out checks constantly in the same places. Drivers know places where you
should "pull your foot off the gas" and there they behave safely,
however, this can not be said about places where nobody expects control.
Question 12. As a cyclist, do you feel safe on the roads of
the Piła poviat?
Fig. 13. Answers given
Cyclists make up a large proportion of road users. Over the
years, more and more bicycle paths are being built in the Piła poviat to
improve cyclists' safety. In the question about road safety for cyclists,
majority-28.8%, responded that they felt rather safe, however, a similarly
large number of people-22.7%, declared that they felt rather dangerous on the
roads of the poviat Pila. The smallest group of answers with strong affirmative
for the safety of cyclists were only 11 people - 8.4%. However, 3.7% more
people replied that they did not feel safe on the roads of Piła as
cyclists. And 15.9% of interviewers were not concerned by this question. They
probably do not use bicycles.
Question 13. Do you as a pedestrian feel safe on the roads
of the Piła poviat?
Fig. 14. Answers given
A similar question appeared in the survey in regard to
pedestrians in traffic. 50% of people surveyed felt rather safe and 11.4% safe
and only 18.9% rather dangerous and 9.1% dangerous. However, 10.6% of
respondents could not answer this question. They may be people who move on the
roads of the Piła poviat only as car drivers.
Question 14. Do you feel safe as a driver/passenger on the
roads of the Piła poviat?
Fig. 15. Answers given
A significant number of respondents were drivers of private
or business cars. For this reason, a question arose to check whether drivers in
the Piła poviat feel safe on the roads. Most of the respondents feel
rather safe (64.4%) or safe (13.6%) and only 9.7% feel rather dangerous, while
2.3% dangerous on the roads of the Piła poviat.
Question 15. How
often do you enter lanes without first looking at the road?
Fig. 16. Answers given
The next question about entering lanes without first
looking at the road was to verify the constantly occurring situation where
pedestrians usually looking at their phones, get on the road without making
sure that there was no oncoming traffic. The driver has the duty to be careful
when approaching pedestrian crossings, however, most situations are
unpredictable, thus, it falls on pedestrians to take care of their own safety.
60.6% of respondents admitted that they never got on the lanes without first
looking out, which is a very good result. Nevertheless, 35.6% of respondents
gave almost no answer. Noteworthy is 2.3% of respondents who happened at least
once. For this reason, preventive action should be taken in this respect.
Question 16. How often do you enter the street using a cell
phone?
Fig. 17. Answers given
This question is closely related to the previous one,
although the use of a telephone when passing through a pedestrian crossing is
not synonymous with not looking at it or being certain that there was no
traffic. First, on the road is the principle of limited trust, hence one should
not enter the pedestrian crossing, even those with traffic lights, without
prior confirmation on whether there is traffic or not. Pedestrians should focus
and make several checks to ensure that there is no traffic before safely
proceeding to cross the street.
It often happens that the car in the second lane will not
notice the pedestrian, therefore not stop. A pedestrian looking around is able
to notice it, and possibly, avoid the event. It is worth noting that the
majority of respondents (70%) do not use their mobile phones at a pedestrian
crossing at all. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the respondents
used their mobile phone: sporadically (24.4%), very often (2.3%) and often
(2.3%)at the transition.
It should be noted that pedestrians are not aware that road
safety also depends on themselves as well. They are of the wrong notion that
only drivers are responsible for it, for example, it is difficult to spot a
pedestrian if he enters the road, especially in the evening hours and he/she is
dressed in dark colours. In this case, preventive actions should be carried out
in this respect
Question 17. How often do you get involved in traffic
without first making sure that are no incoming?
Fig. 18. Answers given
In the Piła poviat, a growing number of collision-free
intersections are created, giving rise to fewer road incidents. However, there
are still roads, especially housing estates, where there is a need for
increased vigilance and ensurance of no incoming before joining the traffic.
According to respondents, there are still people who sometimes get involved in
traffic without first ensuring that there is no incoming. Almost 90% of
respondents replied that it did not happen at all. It is worth noting that sporadically
(0.8%) or very often (1.5%) respondents join the movement without being sure.
For this reason, preventive actions in this regard are justified.
Question 18. Please indicate dangerous road places in the
Pila County
In the next question, the respondents were asked to
indicate places that they think are dangerous places that the Police should
focus on for more frequent inspections. Prevalent among the answers were
pedestrian crossings, intersections, areas around schools and kindergartens, as
well as specific streets. Moreover, interviewers indicated the lack of proper
lighting on roads mostly in the Piła district. The following table
confirms this data.
The places indicated by the respondents coincide with the
map of threats earlier presented with Avenue of the Wojska Polskiego, Avenue of
the Piastów, Avenue of the Powstańców Wielkopolskich, Avenue
of the Poznańska, and streets: Okólna and Bydgoska featured.
Respondents paid attention to dangerous pedestrian crossings usually caused by
poor lighting or lack of it. Limited visibility and difficulty of exiting most
intersections are serious enough to force drivers to give adequate priority to
them. Another problem is the lack of lighting for the bicycle path and pavement
on the way to Piła hospital.
Tab. 5
The most common answers
|
Street / place |
Number of responses
provided |
|
Pedestrian crossings |
18 |
|
Intersections |
16 |
|
Avenue of the Polish
Army |
3 |
|
Avenue of the
Piastów |
3 |
|
st. Okólna |
2 |
|
Avenue of the
Powstanców Wielkopolskie |
2 |
|
st. Bydgoszcz |
2 |
|
Avenue of the Poznan |
2 |
|
Górne housing
estate |
2 |
According to respondents, driving schools, of which there
are a lot, pose as dangers on the roads in the Piła poviat. It is true
that there are many cars from outside Piła, leading to situational
encounters of several or even a dozen driving school cars at the intersection.
Despite the constant modernisation of the city, there is still a problem with
bicycle paths, facilities for the disabled and road lighting.
Question 19. What do you think could improve road safety?
When asked the question “what could improve road
safety”, the respondents cited above all better lighting not only for
pedestrians but for streets and improving their surface as well. Other
important issues are the behaviour of drivers, police checks and sensitisation
of the public on road safety and their role in the matter. Additionally, issues
of more bicycle paths, the introduction of slow-down thresholds before
pedestrian crossings and more frequent education of road users were addressed.
Question 20. Have you recently met with preventive
activities carried out by the Police to improve safety on the roads of the
Piła poviat?
The last question was about preventive activities carried
out by the Police to improve safety on the roads of the Piła poviat.
Unfortunately, as many as 77% of respondents admitted that they had not been in
contact with such activities and only 23% answered in the affirmative. Those
interviewed had the opportunity to answer this question in writing. The
responses showed that the inhabitants of the Piła poviat do not meet the
Police during promotional campaigns apart from controlling or improving
traffic, and the Police conduct a lot of them.
Fig. 19. Answers given
Summary of research
One hundred and thirty-three residents of Pilski poviats
took part in this survey. The largest group of respondents were private car
drivers and pedestrians, while the smallest were professional drivers.
Inhabitants of the Piła poviat felt rather safe on the roads. Half
of the respondents positively assessed the activities of the services
responsible for road safety. In addition, they believed that roads should be
repaired and preventive actions taken to increase safety in the Piła
poviat. This is especially justified for pedestrians entering the crossings
without being assured, not once using cell phones and drivers joining the
traffic recklessly.
According to respondents, roadside inspections should be
carried out more often than before and in different places previously unknown
to drivers. Moreover, they believe that pedestrians and cyclists are not safe
on the roads of the Piła poviat.
Inhabitants of Piła poviat often indicate pedestrian
crossings and around schools as dangerous places in the Piła poviat. Road
conditions and lighting have great impact on safety.
4. SUMMARY
Pilski Poviat is 1,268 km2, covering nine
municipalities, however, majority of the road incidents occurs in Piła.
This is due to the large area and the number of inhabitants. The number of
drivers and cars that are not always safe on the road increases yearly. A large
number of young drivers and elderly people who may have problems with efficient
car traffic results into an ever-increasing statistics of road incidents. Every
year, 5,000 people die on Polish roads making it the second highest in Europe.
We meet with victims of car accidents often. Man can lose everything in a
second. It is disturbing to note how many people from the immediate environment
of each person can say that someone from his family or friends was a victim or
perpetrator of a road accident. Millions of people are either killed on the
roads every year or are doomed to the end of their lives.
According to police statistics, the number of accidents is
decreasing each year, but the number of people killed and injured is still
quite high. The number of road collisions involving injured persons is
similarly, rapidly increasing. National statistics is reflected in the
Piła poviat. Although the decreasing number of accidents goes hand in hand
with a large increase in road collisions, the number of people killed is
constantly at the same level. This shows that this is not just a poviat problem
but a nationwide problem. Poles drive aggressively, too fast and do not comply
with traffic rules. The most common occurrences are: hovering over a tree,
hovering over a pedestrian, hovering over a stationary vehicle, hovering over
an animal, side collision of vehicles as well as rear and frontal collision of
vehicles. Most often, the driver is guilty of not speeding up to traffic
conditions, incorrect reversing or failure to give right of way.
Inhabitants of the Pilski poviat do not have much
confidence in the Police. They believe that it is hard for one to come across
them in the street but usually find them at festivals or city/county parties.
Conclusively, it is important that residents feel „important” and
are aware that the Police are doing everything in their power to maintain the
highest level of security in the Piła poviat and the country in general.
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Received 08.03.2020; accepted in revised form 17.05.2020
Scientific
Journal of Silesian University of Technology. Series Transport is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License