Nothing new here: Poland deadly for cyclists

From: The News
Poland is the most dangerous among EU states for cyclists, warns Gazeta Wyborcza. Statistics show that the number of fatal accidents involving cyclists in Poland is four times the average among EU countries.

Biking in Poland is not a safe pleasure. Around five hundred cyclists are killed on Polish roads every year with another five thousand injured. Contrary to a common misperception, the majority of those victims were not those biking under the influence of alcohol or on improperly lit bikes but children and the elderly who were killed on new or newly modernized roads. Biking organisations indicate the behaviour of car drivers and unclear law among the reasons for such grim statistics.

In the EU states some four cyclists are killed to every one million inhabitants, in Poland statistics point to 18 . The Polish Lower House will be debating on a project amending the road regulations in Poland. The project envisages among others special road passages only for bicycles and introducing right of way for bicycles in certain road situations. To raise the awareness that bicycles are part of the road traffic cyclists in Poland joined the Critical Mass a ride founded in 1992 in San Francisco held in some 300 cities around the world. They manifest their presence on the streets of Polish cities on the last Friday of the month, winds Gazeta Wyborcza.