Comments on: Myth #19: Polish people can drive

By: Name

Name — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:40:32 +0000

Check the accident rates and I think you will discover so are so very very wrong

By: Glen or Glenda

Glen or Glenda — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:50:26 +0000

Polish people drive like children who have just learned how to ride a bike. It amazes me DAILY how horrible (and as inferred earlier) childishly these people drive. I actually get a laugh out of it….until, that is, i have to risk my life to cross the street.

By: mellowandy

mellowandy — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:55:17 +0000

I have to say that after living in Poland for 9 years that Polish drivers are the WORST I have ever seen in Europe.
I have driven across Europe many times (including Italy, Paris and other stereotypically bad driving hotspots) and have never felt so unsafe as in Poland.
My father rented a car here on a visit from the UK and said he would never drive in Poland again, as he had never been so terrified in his life. Driving to Zakopane he described as the single scariest event in his life as so many drivers were overtaking into oncoming traffic and then driving at him, so that he had to nearly swerve OFF the road to avoid an accident. I was in the car with him and have never seen him so shaken by driving!! He also has extensive experience of driving in many different countries.
I don’t drive very often here as I don’t want to die just yet! It seems that the more expensive, bigger and shiny the car is the (even) more aggressive the drivers are. I have been hit on a zebra crossing here, as a pedestrian, when I was almost on the other side and very little was done about it. I have been in 3 car accidents (I wasn’t driving the car) in Poland, one involving 4 vehicles because in the middle of winter, in black ice people didn’t slow down and were driving unbelievably close to the car in front.
Very few drivers stop at zebra crosses, and a Polish friend of mine who had lived in Germany for a while, told me he was scared of stopping at zebra crossings (as he did in Germany) as he was worried that the car behind him would overtake him and kill the pedestrian crossing the road in front of him!!
Basically (as mentioned in an earlier post) the bigger the vehicle, the more “get the k***va out of my way” is the norm.
I once saw in Krakow an old lady get hit on a zebra crossing, and hardly anyone appeared to look shocked at this. The lady actually limped away (I kid you not) and the driver looked quickly about, and jumped into his car, and drove off!! I was stunned to say the least…….
Polish friends of mine who are lovely people, become absolute maniacs when they get into a car. So aggressive and impatient, wheeling the car left and right whilst driving 1 metre behind the car in front out of impatience, because the car in front is not driving 3 times over the speed limit in the middle of a city. In the UK I had never before seen a car get overtaken in a small street in the middle of a city. just to get 1 car length further up the road! Nightmare.
And can anyone tell me what a red light is for in Poland? I believe it is just a suggestion to stop, a possible course of action, rather than an absolute “you must stop”!! I think the Polish government could save money on white paint by having no zebra crossings (as no one stops at them) and on traffic lights (as they are generally ignored) and on having white lines between lanes (as people invariably lane chop at all times just to get a tiny bit further up the road) Also indicators in Polish cars are a waste of plastic as they are so rarely used.
Finally (out of breathe from ranting) to compare Polish driving to being better than the Ukraine and Russia is really quite worrying don’t you think? Maybe? Just a little bit?
“Anyway, crossing the road is taking your life in your hands regardless of the fact it`s Poland or UK or somewhere else.”
I say to this comment that most UK drivers actually stop at zebra crossings because a) it’s polite and considerate, and b) it’s the law!! It is also the law in Poland, but it is generally ignored and rarely enforced.
And to Jan Rychter, you are So right about SUV’s!!!!
Well folks, this has been a rant about Polish driving and nothing else about Poland or Polish people, so please don’t disappoint me by ranting that I should leave Poland or I am anti Polish, as I have heard this all too many times. ;-P
“……but also the mentality is changing in a rythm, that is not known for us from WESTERN countries
do you agree on that ?”
Did the west MAKE you?

By: Jan Rychter

Jan Rychter — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:11:04 +0000

This is so very true. Especially the bit about Polish drivers suddenly becoming enormously more important than everybody else as soon as they step into a car.

And heaven help you if said car is an SUV.

By: Kickin77

Kickin77 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:37:03 +0000

Poles hate each other and we like to think that our cars are some sort of a Cruise missiles . I wish i had a tank

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:31:41 +0000

Being polish whole my life and living here and there I’ve seen a lot and I can put it this way: “polish drivers are OCCASIONALLY rude, but they aren’t a bad drivers”. This of course includes me (because I’m polish), but fortunately my rudeness happens OCCASIONALLY.
Also I have been in Norway some time ago and I must admit, I felt way much safer there on a pedestrian crossing then here in my homeland.
Of course I encourage all you people who thinks that polish way of driving is insane simply go to Italy ;)
Cheers

By: Dominik

Dominik — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:55:14 +0000

Hell, I tried driving in Italy – Firenze, I must say that Warsaw at her “finest” is just a bloody calm country hole in the ground comparing to what’s happening at the morning peak in Firenze, not mentioning the bikes plaque. I felt a huge relieve when I passed the Austrian border seeing less and less Italian plates… with all the respect to Italian cuisine and Chianti wine! :)

By: cristian zantedeschi

cristian zantedeschi — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:28:37 +0000

is not fine to criticise so much poland and polish people,

the true fact is , that this country is changing much more faster than the mentality of the people can, but also the mentality is changing in a rythm, that is not known for us from WESTERN countries

do you agree on that ?

By: cristian zantedeschi

cristian zantedeschi — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:26:27 +0000

polish are F1 drivers :)

the worst thing is that the want to change the LANE there where they can not ( just before the traffic lights ) .

something similar to italian way , but with the difference : without sense of what they are doing, so in a very RUDE way

i know you will not accept what i am writing, but it is the true :)

By: Iza

Iza — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:57:43 +0000

OK, this comment is waay old, but here is my 5 cents. I don’t know whether other countries are even worse, but Poles are baaaad at driving.

“And if anybody thinks that Poles can’t drive try going 100 in high traffic, cutting corners and useing strange shortcuts :)” is a case in point: going 100 in high traffic is bad driving. Poles seem to double the speed limit and add a a bit extra on top.

And for the Guest – I am a Pole, not an American. Just that I lived out of Poland and got unused to the driving habits. In Australia, the _yearly_ road toll for the country is about 300. And people tend to drive from one to two hours daily, at least a quarter of this on a highway (daily commute to work in the city is in the range of half to an hour one way). What is a road toll for an average weekend in Poland? I rest my case. Oh, and Australians are allowed a few beers before getting in a car (legal alcohol limit = .05, which means two light beers/glasses of wine in the first hour, and then one in each of the following hours). Doesn’t seem to matter.

Sorry, this is a rant, but I had a recent experience of both being driven and being a pedestrian in Poland, and still can’t get over it. I made a point of not driving myself and do not plan to do so in the future.