The provisions of the Road Traffic Code concern traffic on public roads and in residential zones. On internal roads (and the area around the Town Hall is one), they should be applied when this is necessary to avoid endangering the safety of road users.
The question is whether the president’s ride in a specialized heavy goods vehicle without the required licence constituted a real danger to the people who were in the Market Square at the time. We asked the police whether the president would be punished for driving a vehicle without the required licence. “We have no grounds to fine the president. The ride itself took place on an internal road. The president did not create a real danger,” replied police spokesperson, Adriana Szajwaj. Asked the same question, Paweł Petrykowski, spokesperson for the Lower Silesian Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, confirmed this position. “There must be a real danger, and if one had arisen, the police decision would have been different. In fact, however, a person should not drive a vehicle they are not licensed to operate.”
On an internal road, drivers are not punished, for example, for driving without their seat belts fastened, without dipped headlights switched on, or without documents. The legislature recognized the legal absurdity associated with internal roads. In September 2010, the law was amended. In the future, internal roads are to be converted into so-called traffic zones, where the provisions of the Road Traffic Code would apply. For now, however, the Road Traffic Code does not apply to them—unless the police interpret the act as a real threat to the safety of road users in such a place.
Following our publication, Piotr Roman went to the police himself. “As soon as I found out about it, I reported to the police myself. I was ready to pay the fine. But the officers told me there were no grounds for punishment,” said the president.
Piotr Roman told us that he would donate the money he would have had to pay as a fine to charity and support the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.
Our story, “The president took a garbage truck for a ride without the required licence,” was covered today by TVN and shown in the main edition of Fakty. The segment was titled “To the Dump.”
(information ii)