National Road Safety Program 2013-2020 assumes to reduce fatalities by half and seriously injured by 40% from 2010 to 2020. It means that no more than 2,000 people per year should die on Polish roads and no more than 6,900 people should suffer serious injuries in traffic accidents. The experience of other European Union countries with improving road safety gives hope that these goals are still realistic, but there is a need to intensify the activities carried out in this area. In Poland, more and more institutions are taking part in the process of improving road safety: state institutions, non-governmental organizations, local governments, enterprises, scientific and research institutions, the media and many others. The study presents the problem of road safety in the city of Bytom on the basis of its analysis in the years 2013-2017. It discusses the types of road accidents and their classification. Moreover, the paper describes the issues illustrating the situation on roads that have a particular impact on the safety level of road users, among others, the number of road accidents, reasons for their occurrence, the consequences and groups of perpetrators of accidents. It also describes actions and initiatives taken to improve road safety in the city of Bytom.

The study characterizes the basic distributions of damages in elements included in the mechatronic devices: exponential, Weibull, normal, log-normal distributions. It considers some special cases, when suitability times of elements for the mechatronic system have the above four distributions, and the mechatronic device's system is created by three elements of a serial structure and various types of time distributions for elements' suitability. The order of elements is not important. The final section of this work presents a case, when four elements work in the serial structure. Suitability times of these elements have different types of distributions.

The description attempt of the system person-vehicle-environment as an element of the system person-technical object-environment has been made. In the system analysis the reliability of the machine exploiter – a car driver has been taken into account. It has been pointed out that technical system operators (in this case – the drivers) have to be considered important in the structure of reliability of these systems. The operational and biological reliability characteristic of a human being – technical system operator has been carried out. The necessity for conducting different psychological tests for assessment of the quality of the human being – operator of each technical system – has been indicated.

For the safety of the supply, diesel generator (DG) sets are used in various stand-alone power systems using variable-speed generators. The stand-alone hybrid grid system presented in this article, with a wind generator and a diesel generator, but also the system of a ship’s network, serves as an example. To ensure the safety of the ship’s exploitation, the parallel operation of two stand-alone power supplies is required. In parallel operation with the required symmetrical active power load (regardless of the load size), the internal combustion engine of the DG set is often underloaded. This leads to deterioration of its technical properties and, consequently, to a negative impact on the environment. This article presents an analysis of the stand-alone hybrid power system of a ship’s grid consisting of a DG with a speed and voltage regulator and a shaft generator of variable speed—a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The possibility of controlling the active and reactive power distribution between the DG and shaft generator (SG) was also studied. Control over the mechatronic SG–DG system limits the harmful influence of the DG on the environment and, most of all, improves the technical qualities of the engine of the DG system, which is often underloaded. Analytic studies of the system were performed, and simulation results of the mechatronic model are presented.

The article concerns the possibility of using a fuel pretreatment system in modern compression ignition CI engines, the main task of which is the reduction of toxic emissions in the form of exhaust gases. This fuel pretreatment system consists of a catalytic reactor used in common rail (CR), and a modified fuel atomizer into spiral‒elliptical channels covered with catalytic material. In the system presented here, platinum was the catalyst. The catalyst’s task is to cause the dehydrogenation reaction of paraffin hydrocarbons contained in the fuel to create an olefin form, with the release of a free hydrogen molecule. In the literature, the methods of using catalysts in the exhaust systems of engines, or in combustion chambers, injection pumps, or fuel injectors, are known. However, the use of a catalytic reactor in the CR system in a high-pressure fuel atomizer rail is an innovative project proposed by the authors. Conditions in the high-pressure CR system are favorable for the catalyst’s operation. In addition, the spiral‒elliptical channels made on the inoperative part of the fuel atomizer needle increase the flow turbulence and contact surface for the catalyst.

The research objective of this project is to assess the possibility of making and applying annular channels on a non-operating element of spraying nozzle needle with catalytic additive and without it. The purpose of structural modifications being made is to improve the process of fuel-air mixture combustion by a compression ignition engine. The task of annular channels is to improve fuel atomisation in the combustion chamber and increase turbulent phenomena in the fuel injector spraying nozzle. A catalytic material, in the form of platinum, being applied on annular channels is to induce the dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons of the paraffin group being comprised in fuel to the olefin group with production of a free molecule of hydrogen. In addition, experimental tests were performed in a specialist laboratory to check the parameters of examined fuel injector whether they did not worsen after making the structural modifications being described. The proposed modifications are a novel idea which has never been used yet. In addition, the application of the above solution simultaneously fits into the current directions related to reducing the harmful effects of piston combustion engines on the natural environment, and thus to improve the ecological safety of motor vehicles.