Very tragically a minibus crashed into an articulated lorry this morning in Nowe Miasto nad Pilica, just south of Warsaw, killing 17 and seriously wounding one other person. The occupants of the minibus were seasonal workers sitting on top of boxes and the BBC reports that heavy fog and speed were the likely causes of the accident.
My own experience of Polish driving is that the Poles drive far too fast whenever they can as if life's sole purpose is a manic competition to overtake as many cars as possible before reaching a destination. In addition, they drive on roads that have seen little infrastructure development by a Government that's failed to catch up with a huge explosion in car ownership following the end of Communism. The result is that between 1995 and 2005, 64,000 people died in car accidents and just over 700,000 people were injured - shocking when you think about it in a country of 50 million.(Polish Motor Bureau stats)
Say what you like about government advertising spending but in the UK risk taking such as drink driving or not wearing your seatbelt is socially unacceptable and rightly so, largely because of a mixture of laws, policing and high profile advertising campaigns.
UPDATE:
Article by the Economist on measures to reduce road accidents and deaths in Poland: http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2010/10/polands_dangerous_roads
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