The objective of road safety infrastructure management is to ensure that when roads are planned, designed, built and used road risks can be systematically identified, assessed, removed and mitigated. There are a number of approaches to road safety management. European Union Directive 2008/96/EC requires EU member states to use four basic tools of road safety infrastructure management. An overview of the methods in these countries shows a variety of approaches to how these tools are used in practice. The paper presents a systematics of these tools and a concept of how they could be developed in Poland. It looks at the life cycle of a road structure and the requirements of risk management processes. The paper focuses on elements of scientific support to help build the necessary tools. To help with assessing the impact of a road project on the safety of related roads, a method was developed for long-term forecasts of accidents and accident victims and accident cost estimation as well as a risk classification to identify risks that are not acceptable risks. With regard to road safety audits and road safety inspection, a set of principles was developed to identify risks and the basic classification of errors and omissions. In the case of road network safety management, measures of individual and societal risk were selected. A method for classifying dangerous road sections was developed as well. An estimation is given of the consequences and effects of applying the tools of road safety management on the network of national roads in Poland until 2020

According to the UN, road safety is the key to achieving sustainable development goals, yet the complexity of how road accidents happen makes this a difficult challenge leaving many countries struggling with the problem. For years, Poland has infamously been one of the EU’s top countries for road-accident fatality rates. Despite that, it has made significant progress in the last thirty years with a fatality reduction of more than 60%. A number of factors have contributed to this result: improving the socioeconomic situation, improving road safety measures, changing road user behaviour and changing national road safety programmes. This article presents Poland’s approach to road safety and, in particular, Vision Zero, adopted in 2005. Poland’s road safety changed over the years as the country learned from its successes and failures. Tools for forecasting fatalities were developed and used to identify the main factors that have helped to reduce deaths. An assessment was conducted on how Poland could implement Vision Zero until 2050 under different road safety scenarios. It was found that in order to achieve the EU’s goal for 2030, Poland must reduce fatalities to 1200. While it is an ambitious goal, it is also an important step towards zero fatalities in 2050.

Pedestrians are participants and, most likely, fatalities in every third road traffic accident in Poland. Over 30% of all fatalities on Polish roads are pedestrians. Accidents with pedestrians are very often the result of various factors related to the infrastructure and behaviour of pedestrians and drivers. The objective of the work was to assess driver and pedestrian behaviour in pedestrian crossing areas. The research also served as a pilot study for similar work to be conducted across Poland, and constituted the basis for monitoring the behaviour of road users in the area of pedestrian crossings. Parameters which must be analysed were identified on the basis of field studies. Principles of selecting test sites were adopted, and measurement methods for pedestrian crossing areas are presented. The influence of the location of the selected test cross-section infrastructure parameters on the behaviour of road users in pedestrian crossing areas is demonstrated. The results of the study will be used as a basis for new solutions involving pedestrian crossing infrastructure designed to improve pedestrian safety. The results were also used in formulating new regulations for the design and maintenance of pedestrian crossings and recommendations for road safety auditors.

Since 1991 Poland's road safety has been systematically improving with a 60% reduction in road deaths. Despite the progress Poland continues to be one of the European Union’ worst performing countries. The country's main road safety problems remain unchanged: dangerous behaviour of road users, underdeveloped system of road safety management and low quality of road infrastructure. This is why subsequent road safety programmes (implemented over the 20 years) were designed to improve pedestrian safety, reduce speeding and treat sources of roadside hazards. The article gives a short diagnosis of Poland's road safety, evaluates its subsequent road safety programmes called GAMBIT 1996, GAMBIT 2000 and GAMBIT 2005 with its far-reaching Vision Zero just as in a number of countries. The main road safety problems that Poland must solve are identified. A risk-based road safety management method is outlined. An overview is given of a method for estimating fatalities in Poland as a road safety management tool. At its strategic level, the fatality estimation method uses models built on an analysis of 60 countries worldwide and calibrates them to Polish conditions. It puts special emphasis on pedestrian safety, speed management and the design and construction of safety road infrastructure. Finally, selected examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the measures and recommended actions to reduce Poland's road deaths

Published on 19 November 2008, the European Union's Directive 2008/96/EC is one of the most important EU documents setting out a road safety orientation, in particular, road infrastructure safety management. It identifies four main areas of activity: road safety impact assessment, road safety audit, ranking of high accident concentration sections and network safety ranking and road infrastructure safety inspection.The Directive was implemented in Poland under the Act of 13 April 2012 “on amending the Public Roads Act and some other Acts”. The Act implements three of the Directive's four actions: road safety assessment, road safety audit, ranking of sections and network ranking. The Directive is further implemented under documents issued by the Director of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA).In 2011 the GDDKiA commissioned the Gdansk University of Technology and Krakow University of Technology to prepare an Instruction for Road Safety Assessment. The document helps with conducting the procedure for all newly designed national roads. Having implemented these guidelines, the GDDKiA, in an effort to improve design quality, requires designers to prepare such assessments for all planned and newly designed national roads.The road safety assessment uses a generalised model of linear regression to estimate the relations between selected road and traffic factors and selected road safety measures (number of accidents, injuries, fatalities and accident costs). The procedure comprises around twelve steps and differs depending on the type of road (class G, GP, A and S roads) and cross-section (1×2, 2×2, 2×3). It includes a number of variables representing road location, year of analysis and roadside.The authors of this article present a concept of implementing computational procedures previously used for a road safety impact assessment in the PTV Visum application. As a result, it will be possible to include models used for assessing selected road safety measures into the traffic volume forecast tool. Thanks to this it will be possible to calculate the number of accidents, victims and accident costs for all analysed variants of traffic spatial distribution. By automating this process, we will be able to speed up work and reduce analytical errors

Roadside trees are one of Poland's most serious road safety issues. Since 2009 more than 2800 people have been killed as a result of tree collisions; this represents about 15% of all of Poland's accident fatalities between 2009 and 2013. In some of the country's regions striking a tree caused more than 30% of all road accident fatalities. With no proper regulations, guidelines or examples of good practice, roadside environments are posing a serious danger to safety. Trees pose a particular hazard. The paper analyses and evaluates the following factors which cause safety risks on roadsides with trees: strategic level (historic factors – tree alleys, high vehicle speeds, lack of road safety standards), tactical level (region, road class, length of road sections with trees, type of section, time), operational level (road narrowing forcing drivers to use the oncoming traffic lane, limited visibility at junctions and exits).The paper will present ways to eliminate risks caused by roadside trees and how effective they are in reference to the three levels: strategic level (ensuring that road layouts are clear and homogenous, vehicles remain in their lane, building safe roadside environments, securing hazardous objects), tactical level (building a new road, cutting down trees, putting in safety barriers, speed management, hazard notification), operational level (improving visibility using special marking or cutting down trees where they affect visibility at junctions, using the “2-1” layout, speed reduction, special marking).Understanding the effects of roads or roadsides on safety requires a detailed study. Sections of national and regional roads were used as a basis for building models to describe the effects of selected road and traffic factors on road safety measures