The new scale of fines, approved by parliament with the support of the opposition, was published in the Official Gazette on the last day of the year, so it can apply from the New Year. The change will be felt most by those who exceed the speed limit, endangering pedestrians or drivers behind the wheel with alcohol. If the sinner commits offenses repeatedly, he will pay a double fine, such as 5,000 zlotys instead of 2,500 zlotys for speeding more than 70 kilometers per hour.
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If you drive in the village at a speed higher than 100 kilometers per hour, the police will confiscate your driving license for three months.
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If the owner of the car decides not to reveal who exceeded the speed with his car or committed another offense, he will pay up to 8,000 zlotys (CZK 43,264). The court may impose a fine of at least 4,000 zlotys, Gazeta Wyborcza warned.
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Not giving priority to pedestrians at the crossing will cost at least 1,500 zlotys (CZK 8,112), as well as overtaking another car at the pedestrian crossing. And even in this case, recidivists can count on double. Hundreds to thousands of zlotys also include fines for dangerous driving in cases of non-compliance with a safe distance, overtaking in an overtaking ban, for embracing lowered barriers at the crossing or causing an accident after drinking alcohol.
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However, pedestrians will also pay fines: from 50 zlotys (about 270 CZK) for walking on the road or bike path, if there is a sidewalk, over 300 zlotys (1622 CZK) for using a mobile phone while crossing the road up to 2000 zlotys (10,800 CZK) when crossing the tracks after lowering the barriers. The punishment will not spare the riders on electric scooters if they go to the pedestrian crossing, pick up a passenger (50 zlotys) or set off at full speed on the sidewalk (200 zlotys).
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Penalty point allocations will also increase
At the same time, sanctions in the form of the allocation of penalty points will increase, while in the case of collecting 24 points, the driver’s license will be lost. And insurance companies will have access to a history of fines for drivers who buy insurance.
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Activists seeking greater safety on Polish roads praise the changes for the better, but regret that in practice the police manage to recover only half of the fines imposed, and therefore urge the enforcement of executions.
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According to available data, this year should be the safest on Polish roads in history. The number of accident victims has been declining since the beginning of the last decade, and this year there are 280 fewer deaths than last year, while the number of accident victims among pedestrians has dropped significantly. The total number of accidents also fell by a tenth, the daily added, referring to Konrad Romik, secretary of the provincial road safety council. He also attributes this change for the better to this year’s change in regulations regarding the priority of pedestrians at crossings.
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The new fine scale, which focuses mainly on “road pirates”, promises a further decrease in the number of fatalities by one tenth next year. That would save 230-240 lives.
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