Everyday life for the residents of Godzieszów involves a real danger on the municipal road: the access link to a large complex of petrol stations with facilities for trucks, known as an autoport. Seeing a child nearly killed beneath a truck’s wheels on this road mobilized village resident Arkadiusz Szczęsny to fight for the safety of pedestrians—mainly children going to school—as well as cyclists and elderly people without motor vehicles.
The Traffic Department of the Bolesławiec District Police Headquarters warned the Nowogrodziec Municipal and City Office in a letter dated October 9, 2023, that trucks, tankers and oversized vehicles exiting onto the municipal road posed a threat to road users. The police emphasized that the municipal road is very narrow at this section and that its parameters do not meet the statutory dimensions required for vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes to travel safely. In addition, trucks exiting the autoport onto the municipal road create several collision points over such a short stretch. The police therefore considered improving safety on this narrow road a priority.
The officers also pointed out that the narrow road has neither a shoulder nor a sidewalk, and that using it is dangerous and poses a real threat to the lives and health of residents. Children and cyclists are particularly at risk. In their letter to the office in Nowogrodziec, Bolesławiec police officers called for the road infrastructure to be rebuilt so that pedestrians could use it safely. They also concluded that the location of the autoport exit should be changed completely so that it connected directly to voivodeship road 296.
The safety of residents of the Nowogrodziec municipality would seemingly be expected to be a priority for Mayor Robert Relich. However, documents presented by Arkadiusz Szczęsny show that, unfortunately, this is not the case.
Although Robert Relich listened to the residents of Godzieszów at a municipal meeting on August 8, 2023, and was asked to restrict vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes from using this road, he decided that such a solution would harm businesses and the municipality—it could expose the municipality to financial claims from business owners.
The mayor’s only efforts to improve safety consisted of sending letters: to the Lower Silesian Road and Railway Service in Wrocław, requesting a pedestrian crossing; to the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, requesting, among other things, the reconstruction of the roundabout; and to the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Road Transport Inspector, requesting a speed camera. None of these efforts by the mayor produced results.
A chance for change lies in a resolution adopted on July 6, 2023, at the mayor’s request, concerning the sale and acquisition of real estate in order to build a new municipal road that would handle truck traffic from the autoport. The municipality obtained more than 2 million zlotys for this purpose and is reportedly in the process of preparing the investment.
To prevent a tragedy before the mayor builds the road, Arkadiusz Szczęsny filed a request with the Bolesławiec Police Headquarters for police intervention at the intersection near the autoport in Godzieszów.