It was decided at a high level that driving tests taken in the voivodeship capital would be better, more effective—indeed, apparently safer for traffic.
So, every so often, hundreds of people from distant cities and towns (Bogatynia, Zgorzelec, Bolesławiec, etc.) travel to a small examining board which, in the undoubtedly large city of Jelenia Góra, subjects candidates from the provinces to a stringent examination (stringent because, out of 10 examinees, eight candidates for driving licences humbly return “defeated,” after first paying the modest sum of three hundred thousand złotys plus travel costs).
Please do not misunderstand me: I am not at all in favour of making it easy to obtain a driving licence. I simply do not know how a busy intersection in Bolesławiec, for example, differs from an identical intersection in Jelenia Góra.
If Bolesławiec (which, incidentally, lies on a busy international route) is treated as a non-district town by several institutions, why can it be a town where district-level driving tests are held? Do people already so burdened by the difficulties of everyday life really need their lives to be made so drastically more difficult?
And, incidentally (in my modest opinion, supported by the views of driving instructors and daily experience), examinations in the voivodeship capital contribute to improving road safety about as much as the sale of alcohol after one o’clock, promoted several years ago, contributed to improving citizens’ sobriety. I know drivers from small towns who drive without accidents, and I also know drivers from large cities who cause accidents. And vice versa—there is no rule.
Strict examinations can also be conducted in busy towns that are not voivodeship capitals. m.g.
(name and address known to the editorial office)