Polish Police Headquarters:

How many times, while driving a car or riding a motorcycle, have you seen a cross standing on the roadside? At what speed on your speedometer did you pass it? How many more tragedies must occur before you take your foot off the accelerator? Speeding, alcohol and failure to obey road signs are the most common sins of Polish drivers. On Safe Driver’s Day, we particularly want to draw attention to road safety. That is why we came up with the idea for a new Polish Police campaign spot.

Police officers:

For the vast majority of us, travelling by car is still the most convenient means of transport. The number of motorcyclists is also growing year by year. Every year, we travel thousands of kilometres. Unfortunately, sometimes these journeys end not at home, but on a bend in the road, in a roadside ditch or against a nearby tree… Later, in the best-case scenario, those injured face weeks of treatment and months of rehabilitation; in the worst case, a roadside cross is erected by their loved ones.

Every day, more dots appear on the police map of fatal road accidents, marking the places where tragedies have occurred. Unfortunately, this year’s statistics are not encouraging. Since the beginning of the summer holidays, from 21 June to 23 July, there have been 2,416 accidents on Polish roads this year alone (in 2023, there were 2,291 road incidents—an increase of 5.5%), in which 205 people died (in 2023—209 people, a decrease of 1.9%), while 2,806 people were injured (in 2023—2,658 people, an increase of 5.6%). In just these 33 days, we recorded as many as 10,099 people (in 2023—9,743 people, an increase of 3.7%) who got behind the wheel after consuming alcohol.

And they add: – Behind each of these figures are tears, fear for the health and lives of loved ones, and sometimes also despair after losing a beloved child, parent, grandparent or friend. It may seem that the regulations in force in our country should stop the growing scale of human tragedies. Unfortunately, they do not.

And they conclude:

Wanting to draw attention to the fact that safety on Polish roads remains a problem, the Police Promotion Division of the Social Communications Bureau of the Polish Police Headquarters came up with the idea of creating a campaign spot addressed to all road users. It was produced with the participation of students on the basic professional training course at the Police Training Centre in Legionowo. The actors also include police officers who work every day at the Social Communications Bureau of the Polish Police Headquarters. We also thank Justyna Iskrzycka, a representative of Poland in canoeing, an Olympic medallist and world and European champion, for taking part in the spot.

Text: Agnieszka Włodarska/BKS KGP
Photos: junior asp. Kamil Kłeczek, junior asp. Krystian Kłeczek, junior asp. Tomasz Lis, Artur Orliński/BKS KGP
Editing: junior asp. Krystian Kłeczek.