For the sake of safety…

Sunday, 20 October, early afternoon, the other end of Warsaw. A 33-year-old man with his wife and child cross ul. Sokratesa to get to a nearby playground. The man is killed by a 31-year-old male, driving 130 kmph in his orange BMW. A dashboard camera from a city bus recorded the tragedy (0:15).

 

The accident has sparked off a debate how to improve safety on Warsaw’s roads, especially pedestrians’ safety, to take the extra mile to reduce the number of fatalities in the capital. The town hall officials have come up with setting up “30 kmph zones” across town, which stirred uproar with motorists.

The tragedy is incontestable, however I believe the discussion on exact solutions aimed at improving road safety should be freed from emotional overtone, inevitable in such circumstances. Especially bearing in mind no regulations will prohibit road hogs behind wheels of too powerful vehicles from speeding.

The town hall has compiled a list of dangerous streets in Warsaw where traffic ought to be slowed down. One of them is ul. Stryjeńskich in Ursynów, especially its section between ul. Belgradzka and ul. Przy Bażantarni (photo on the front cover of the most recent “Passa” local newspaper) where drivers dare to speed up to even 80 kmph.

Oddly enough, in 2016 civic budget an initiative to narrow the street down from 4 to 2 lanes in both directions and mark off cycling paths was one of the winning ones. Soon later, the citizens with support of the district’s mayor have dashed the plan.

Is the street dangerous? I witnessed the last accident there last month, when 3 cars collided and some of the passengers were injured, but this was the only collision since I moved in. The enquiry to the search engine reveals a serious accident is reported on the aforementioned section of ul. Stryjeńskich on average once a year, however pedestrians were involved in none of the accidents.

Recently mayor of Ursynów has put forward installing speed bumps to slow down the traffic. The idea has taken nearly no one’s fancy, including local residents (who say more systemic solutions ought to be considered) and the City Road Authority (reminding ul. Stryjeńskich is a G-category road, i.e. a main road / thoroughfare, therefore it is not permitted to install speed bumps there, at least without changing the road’s status).

I believe there are several better ways of calming down the traffic, with narrowing down lanes as the primary one. If a lane is narrower, a driver naturally reduces speed to stick onto the lane. As lanes are narrower, the northbound and southbound lanes should finally be separated and junctions with minor roads (ul. Jaworowa, ul. Małej Łąki) properly marked.

Traffic should definitely be slower, yet it should be smooth. A speed bump reducing temporarily speed to 30 kmph means motorist would decelerate ahead of it and accelerate after it. Everyone who has some notion about driving knows a vehicle consumes more fuel when it accelerates and less when it moves at steady speed. So what ought to be done on major roads is adjusting them to lower, yet reasonable steady speeds rather than putting on the table poorly analysed solutions on the spur of the moment.

Looking forward to seeing no more accidents on this stretch of ul. Stryjeńskich.

PiS in power, episode 1 in 2017

Not a dreamt-up start into the new year for the current government. Nevertheless, the five image-tainting slip-ups have not sent support in polls sliding. I believe this will happen slowly, gradually, as more voters reach their pain threshold (i.e. as wrongdoings accumulate).

Moving about safely is not the biggest virtue of PiS. Over twelve months limousines carrying prominent politicians had three serious accidents. In March 2016 president Duda’s BMW fell off the motorway after a tyre popped. On 25 January 2017 minister Macierewicz’s motorcade moving at excessive speed on an icy road smashed into cars waiting ahead of traffic lights. On 10 February 2017 reinforced Audi driving prime minister Szydlo home collided into a tree after hitting an overtaken Seciento. Circumstances of the latter accident remain most blurred, however most recent findings reveal internal safety procedures have been breached and the vehicle was not moving at the allowed speed between 50 and 60 kmph as police and ministry officials claimed. Truth be told disrespect for safety rules and fondness of speed have been a domain of all predecessors of PiS, however nobody has learnt the lesson so far, especially as Internet users publish films from dashboard cameras, shot after 10 February 2017, showing dangerous motorcades of government limousines.

Defence ministry spokesman, Bartłomiej Misiewicz, the embodiment of personnel reshuffle conducted by PiS in government-controlled enterprises has been locked up around a month ago (having days off to compensate him for working overtime). After several incidences of high-rank army officials saluting to the (civilian) spokesman and after his foray to a night-club in Białystok, Mr Misiewicz is no longer in the limelight. His future remains uncertain, however minister Macierewicz will rather not leave him out in the cold, despite Mr Kaczynski’s clear statement that Mr Misiewicz is a predicament for PiS. Conspiracy theorists wonder what Mr Misiewicz knows about Mr Macierewicz and what Mr Macierewicz knows about Mr Kaczynski that guarantees Mr Misiewicz irremovability.

The proposal to enlarge Warsaw by adjoining over 30 surrounding towns has struck out of the blue. The draft law, not consulted with anyone, including around two million residents of Warsaw and nearby towns affected by the law, brought in a strong backlash. Experts pointed at several shortcomings of the document, including violating constitutional rules (who cares?). Besides, local governors in unison underlined the deputy Sasin’s draft had not been discussed with interested parties. PiS had to give in and back down from the plan of extending Warsaw’s borders before local government elections. I suppose as too many potential voters have stamped down PiS intentions and thwarted boosting chances of their candidate in winning mayor of Warsaw stool, politicians of the party will have a hard nut to crack.

Lex Szyszko, or the amended environment protection law is probably the most visible outcome of PiS in power. You just walk outside and see chopped down trees, on private and public lands. And as a matter of principle, the wood is hardly ever cleared away, so sights like this are commonplace (in the background, uncanny freight train on Siekierki coal line). I am in two minds about this law, remembering that cutting down wizened trees that do not come into leafs and pose threat during gusty winds is necessary for the sake of safety of humans and their property. It will take decades to make up for the harm inflicted over a few weeks of the law in force. PiS has taken note of its mistake and announced next changes to the law, time will tell whether they block unfettered tree-chopping spree, but whatever steps they take, they will not reverse the time and those who have benefited from the amendments over the recent weeks will not be deprived of their benefits.

The debacle of Poland’s candidate, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski is Thursday’s (not deferred) vote on the position of European Commission candidate is the biggest defeat of PiS government in international politics and in my humble opinion, the most prestigious calamity of PiS since they took over power. All remaining 27 EU representatives, including our closest allies, i.e. prime minister Theresa May and prime minister Victor Orban, without hesitation backed the incumbent president Donald Tusk. Competencies of Mr Tusk and common sense of 27 EU leaders have been superior to domestic conflicts. The United Europe showed thumbs down to Poland whose voice has become finally audible in Europe. Indeed, our voice is heard, but no one wants to listed to it. Poland’s foreign policy is finally not pursued on its knees. Poland’s diplomats and leaders have gotten up of their knees to fall flat on their faces, straight into a cold, dirty, muddy puddle.

I feel no joy writing the above. The events in Brussels demonstrate Poland is becoming a quirky outsider in the EU, whose officials will sooner or later lose their patience and take revenge, namely cut Poland off generous flow of money from the EU. Sadly, the defeat will change nothing in perception of PiS government inside the country. Those who oppose it will not change their mind, while approximately 20% of the electorate who are hard-line believers of Mr Kaczynski will genuinely put faith in all of his words and accept as true Mrs Szydlo’s trip to Brussels was a huge victory and that evil EU is to blame. I hope Poland does not take umbrage with the EU, as if this happened and EU retaliated, Poland, not the EU would be worse off.

Safety first

I cannot get the accident of president’s limousine out of my head. I would have probably gotten over the affair, had journalists of Rzeczpospolita not cast a new light on the circumstances of the accident. Findings the journalists have come into possession (probably from Opole prosecutor’s office which runs investigation on the smash-up) paint an appalling picture of a string of wrongdoings that fortunately have not had tragic consequences.

The key takeaways are as follows:

1. The notorious six-year-old tyre was rendered out of use and waited in a warehouse for being recycled. Since the new tyres were not in place (previous tyres had been damaged on 20 January 2016 and new ones for some reasons have not come in), it was decided to put in the worn-out tyres, as the limousine was badly needed to be roadworthy.

2. On 4 March 2016 when the accident took place, the limousine covered a 100-metres long steep, icy, stony slope uphill to carry the president directly to a ski-lift in Karpacz. The terrain should not have been trespassed by any vehicle other than SUV of the Mountain Rescue Services (GOPR).

3. On the way from Karpacz to Wisła, on A4 motorway, the driver ignored warnings from the vehicle’s computer of too low pressure in the tyre. The quoted reason for the negligence was haste to make up for a one-hour delay in president’s trip schedule.

4. The problem with pressure in the tyre could have been ignored for a while, had the vehicle moved at the speed no higher than 80 kmph (the special tyres assembled in VIP-carrying cars are designed to withstand up to 100 kilometres nearly flat, provided the car does not exceed a specified velocity), while the actual speed was above 160 kmph.

5. The column of VIP vehicles was followed by a civil car, driven by a social media expert from the president’s office.

A few heads have rolled immediately after the accident, however senior management of BOR who oversee security of the most prominent officials, shirk responsibility for all the negligence that put the president’s life in jeopardy.

Who is then to blade for the accident? As always, the long-gone nominees of the previous government. Current executives of BOR have filed charges to prosecutor’s office against their predecessors (its content is confidential, but we know the a procedure of tyre maintenance, allegedly wrongful, had been set up in line with BMW’s guidelines).

It is beyond all doubt those no longer in service:

- crept into the garage in which the limousine was parked and installed the worn-out tyres,

- drove the BMW up the icy hill,

- ignored on-board computer signals,

- raced 170 kmph on a busy motorway.

The way BOR headship explain away the mess they have given assent for is ludicrous. PiS have managed to fire and hire thousands of people. PO- and PSL-affiliated henchmen were kicked out of their warm chairs and replaced by PiS partisans, but they have not managed to review safety procedures (which they claim were faulty) nor to come by a spare set of tyres. The pitiable blame-storming also bears testimony of competencies of new management of BOR. An average car user knows after buying a second-had car or taking over a car from someone else, it is within their best interest to have the car thoroughly inspected. An average driver also knows a tyre should be replaced after five years regardless of tread depth, since mixture from which it is made loses its properties. Exceptions to this might be taken by those who drive calmly around town, but not those travelling at high speeds on motorways. BOR’s primary responsibility is to make sure the statesmen are properly protected. The 4 March 2016 incident proves they have buggered it up all the way, sadly.

Semblances with the Smolensk tragedy spring to mind naturally. In both cases the list of irregularities that led up to the catastrophe is long and in both cases the tragic end was the aftermath of many, not one, misdeeds, including the crucial one – attempting to stick to the agenda at all cost. It finally needs to be spoken out – people responsible for security of the statesmen should always set safety procedures ahead of agendas, schedules, delays as well as comfort and whims of politicians. The (yet another) skiing foray of the president shows lesson from the Smolensk tragedy have not been learnt. I wonder what else the investigation reveals and how politicians of the ruling party, good at denying evident facts, react to those findings.

ZaPiSki z czasów dobrej zmiany

Heard the purport of the controversial speech of president Duda in Otwock has been manipulated by the media hostile to PiS. I advise you listen the speech and shape an opinion on it on yourselves. Has Mr president gone too far in diagnosing the ailments plaguing Poland and in insulting his opponents? Is Mr Duda president of all Poles or of one particular party? Up to you to decide…

In February Mrs Szydło’s government celebrated first 100 days of work. Out of five priorities on the government’s agenda only one has been carried through.

1. The 500 plus child allowance programme has been launched and first payouts to parents will be made in April. Undeniable credit to the government for delivering the flagship project, however a truly impressive attainment will be making ends meet in budgets for 2017 and onwards without containing the scale of the program .

2. Decreasing retirement age to 60 for women and 65 for men remains in the realm of promises. Mr Duda promised to submit a relevant draft law and kept his promise, nothing beyond it.

3. In progress is the law setting up free-of-charge medicines for elderly people aged 75 or more. Needless to say the list of medicines will not be endless and only some medications will qualify for 100% reimbursement. According to some estimates, an average pensioner will save no more than 20 zlotys monthly thanks to generosity of PiS government. Wonder whether administrative expenses will be higher or lower than gains of all entitled old-aged citizens.

4. CIT rate cut to 15% for micro enterprises looms far on the horizon. A few PiS politicians brought up the topic, but right now the government is preoccupied with putting out other fires.

5. Raising tax allowance to PLN 8,000 per year also stands no chance of being accomplished in 2016 and feasibility of such move in 2017, given foreseen shortfall of budget revenues, is up in the air.

The festival of traducing Mr Wałęsa was rather short-lasting, but I am sure this has not been the last word. The game is up…

The former CEO of Bank Zachodni WBK has unveiled the Responsible Development Plan, a roadmap for Poland to catch up with the Western Europe and a set of measures to move Poland forward. It is beyond all doubt Poland badly needs a long-term development strategy, yet the strategy must be viable from cover to cover, i.e. it should identify what problems need to be overcome and with what means.

The diagnosis Mr Morawiecki sets is spot-on, but hang on… How do the notions underlying the plan square with PiS’ economic agenda? It is claimed public debt is a drag on Poland’s development, but PiS’ spending spree will sooner or later have to contribute to rising public debt. Demographics is bound to decrease labour force in Poland and to counteract it PiS deputies put forward decreasing retirement age and have raised schooling age from 6 to 7.

Besides, being familiar with specifics of some sectors (e.g. shipyards, automotive, transport, capital goods), I fear goals in the programme might be to beautiful to be realistic. Harnessing banking and corporate sectors’ over-liquidity to boost investment smacks of central planning. All in all, the plan makes a good impression, but I do not believe the government “knows better” than thousands of enterprises. Lending a helping hand and setting strategic objectives for the development should remain the core areas of government’s involvement in the economy. Let’s not go beyond them and let the free market do its job.

The cursed soldiers, for years forgotten, in the days surrounding 1 March were glorified more avidly than veterans of the Home Army (not to mentioned those out of luck to join the Home Army). I have not against commemorating victims of Stalinism, tortured and murdered between 1945 and 1956, they do deserve our remembrance, but the cursed soldiers are not a uniform group and historians (other than IPN-affiliated) vary in their assessments of cursed soldiers’ deeds after the Home Army was dissolved in January 1945. In 1945, as Poland became subjugated to the Soviet Union, warfare was officially over. Some people came to terms with the fact Poland could be at best a satellite country of the Soviet Union and under those circumstances began to rebuild the country from ruins, combat illiteracy, electrifying countryside, while others did not lay down guns. The problem I have with them is that they did not fight the Soviets, but they killed their compatriots, not only the ardent functionaries of the new systems in MO, UB, PPR uniforms, but also representatives of the ethnical minorities, Jews and civilians who did not resist the new order or benefited from it, e.g. peasants granted land as part of the agrarian reform.

Romuald Rajs “Bury” and Józef Kuraś “Ogień” are two most glaring examples of bandits venerated today. I would strongly prefer the whole truth is told about those people. Locals in Podhale or near Białowieża, especially ancestors of civilians killed by brigades of “the stalwart” put up the biggest resistance when IPN- and PiS affiliated , yet their voices are rarely audible.

Besides, come to think of it with cool head. Imagine someone hiding in a forest. What would they live off? How would the procure nutrition? How would they survive harsh winters in the second half of 1940s? Locals tired of six years of privations of war did not need to embrace the idea of helping out the forestmen by offering them board and lodging…

A tyre popped. Had it happened in an ordinary Pole’s passenger car, it would have passed unnoticed. But the tyre popped in a BMW carrying president Duda; consequently the vehicle went into a skid and landed in a roadside ditch. Fortunately, the head of state came of the accident safe and sound and after the voices of conspiracy theorists (assassination could not be ruled out) and vulgar haters faded, it transpired the tyre had been produced in 2010 and should have long been out of use. Jaw drops open. Within four months PiS have managed to replace most officials in ministries and state-controlled companies and launched several opening audits to reveal irregularities and havoc wreaked by their incompetent predecessors, but they have failed to inspect fleet of vehicles carrying the statesmen.

Why did this happen? The technical conditional of the vehicle is one side of the coin, the driving style of BOR being the other. Many doubt the column of vehicles, including with Mr Duda on board, was moving within the speed limit of 140 kmph, witnesses speak of the speed of 170 kmph or even 200 kmph. BOR vehicles according to the Polish law enjoy the status of privileged vehicles, just like ambulances, fire engines and police cars. This means they do not need to follow traffic regulations. Let’s have a glance at how the column of vehicles moved at National Road DK5 before turning into A4 motorway where the accident took place. 

I know the road well, its surface if flat, has not ruts, but the road is narrow, winding, hilly and on many sections visibility is poor. Does such way of moving around contribute to safety of Mr Duda (or whoever is a passengers) and other innocent road participants?

Last Sunday a supplementary election to the upper house was held in Łomża – Suwałki constituency. Anna Maria Anders, backed by PiS won the seat in the parliament, but if you bear in mind three facts:

1. Mrs Anders’ score (47%) was mere 6 percentage points ahead of PSL-affiliated, PO- and Nowoczesna-backed Mr Baginski’s result,

2. the turnout in the election was 17%, meaning only 8% of citizens entitled to vote cast their votes for Mrs Anders,

3. Mrs Anders had been endorsed by all prominent PiS politicians involved in her campaign, while PO, PSL and Nowoczesna had not lifted a little finger to support their candidate (shame on you, Mr Schetyna, Mr Petru and Mr Kosiniak-Kamysz),

the victory is anything but swingeing and should rather be interpreted as a warning sign than as declaration of strong support.

The VeniceCommission has issued a report on recent changes in law pertaining to the Constitutional Tribunal. The final document is somewhat toned down in comparison to the draft which had leaked to the media in February. The Commission blames both the previous and the current governments for paralysing the Tribunal and urges the Polish government to rectify the wrongdoing. Commentators keep on talking about the political compromise to be worked out to reverse the unfortunate legislation. This twaddle fills me with dread. There is no room for give-and-take, politicians from all parties present in the parliament have to make a concerted effort to bring the laws in line with constitution. The PiS government is slowly realising it cannot mess with everyone around. Hope the opposition realise this time for the benefit of Poland they will need to collaborate with the government, not to reach any compromise, but to restore the legal framework spoilt in two stages by PO-PSL, PiS and president Duda.

Cycling and prudence

Winter has set in. This season of the year, apart from ample drawbacks, has also some upsides, such as absence of insects and one group of motorists you should beware of.

Generally, the warmer it gets, the more drivers give up on their cars and swap them for motorcycles and bikes. They share public roads with four-wheel-vehicle users, but often make advantages of smaller width of their vehicles what drives many car drivers, including me, insane.

Don’t get me wrong dear readers*. My intentions are far from decrying cyclists and depriving them of their right to use public roads. Cycling has several merits: keeps people healthy and fit, provides a daily does of physical exercise for those who otherwise would not find time for moving their arses, saves money and environment. But whatever you do, you should do it prudently and not expect others to think and take responsibility for your deeds instead of you, just because you are weaker [than drivers protected by bodyworks of their vehicles] or privileged [cyclists tend to be hailed as such category of road users].

According to Polish traffic regulations, cyclists should attempt to use the road and ride through pavements only when sharing the road with cars is forbidden or impractical. Cyclists are prohibited from moving on motorways, expressway, fast-traffic roads and other roads marked with relevant signage. Cyclists who use pavements should always give way to pedestrians and take off their bikes when they cross a street. This obligation does not apply when a cyclist rides a cycling path, on which they are superior to pedestrians and have right of way over cars if the path crosses the street.

I should not say “law is an ass”, but some regulations do not contribute to increasing safety on the roads. Let’s examine some imperfections of Polish traffic law and some sins committed by cyclists and motorcyclists.

Every candidate for a driver to get a driving license needs to pass a test in order to prove they know traffic regulations. Such requirement prevents people who know little about traffic rules from causing dangerous situations on the roads. A cyclist who is not under 18, subject to the same traffic regulations, as a road user, does not need to prove their knowledge of traffic law. This results in scores of cyclists blissfully ignorant of perils the may cause or they may be caused by car drivers. I opine that any person riding a bike on a public road has its command of basic traffic rules certified. It can take a little hassle and bureaucracy (that can be easily limited – test materials can be available online, test that costs no more than 50 PLN is taken in exam centre, then a cyclist picks up a piece of plastic, if someone has a valid driving license, the procedure is not needed at all), but could prevent many accidents.

The biggest sin of cyclists is taking a busy road, when there is a cycling path running parallel to it. The classic example is ul. Puławska between the boundary of Warsaw and ul. Energetyczna in Piaseczno, the section where speed limit is 70 kmph. The road was widened to 3 lanes and a very decent cycling path along it was built in 2007. Despite dreamt-up infrastructure, some inconsiderate bike enthusiasts refuse to take the cycling path and share the road with cars, risking lives. Is there any excuse for such thoughtless behaviour?

A common sin of single-track vehicle users which winds me up the most, is moving between lanes (to be precise, on lines marking them out) and thus often slaloming between them. This used to be a domain of motorcyclists and scooter-riders, whose engine-propelled vehicles are much faster and thus have edge over slow-moving cars. When weather permits them to get on their machines, even when my car is not in motion I continuously peek at both wing mirrors and if possible move to other end of my lane to let them overtake me in safe distance. The real nightmare crops up when two motorcyclists overtake me from both sides at the same time – this may happen not only on middle, but also on right lane (I tend to use it whenever I can, as the traffic law instructs), when one motor-rider dashes between middle and right lane, while the other moves on the edge of the right one. I then pray there is a few centimetres space on each side of the car…

The warrant to avoid cycling on pavements also lacks common sense to me. Much depends on the situation. The busier the roads and the faster cars move on it, the more advisable it is for a cyclist to give up on taking it. As a cyclist I do use roads, when I feel safe on them and when my common sense tells me I would do more harm than good by choosing a pavement (one nuisance of riding the pavement is having to cross curbs). When there is no pavement, I use roadside, no matter how bumpy it is. A classic example here might be ul. Karczunkowska, where I never share the road with cars, since drivers tend to speed there. Of course I am entitled to use the road, but what’s the value of this entitlement if I end up dead of disabled? When taking the road, I know responsibility for overtaking me safely rests with car drivers. When taking the pavement, I know responsibility for not harming pedestrians rests with me. I prefer to trust myself. The other reason why pavement could be preferable is that accidents on pavements would not be fatal. Have you ever heard of fatalities when a cyclist collided with a pedestrian? Of course, reckless cyclists on pavements can become ‘road hogs’ and the binding traffic law was designed to protect pedestrians. But what protects car drivers from trauma of running down a cyclist clearly violating traffic rules? Surely, after such accident a police could adjudicate the car driver was not guilty, any court would acquit them, but mental trauma could not disappear until the end of their days.

Any constructive strategy?

- Build infrastructure: cycling paths, cycling racks, expand the bike rental schemes.

- Amend the law: put in place regulations that would require road users to be familiar with traffic rules, allow them to use pavements when sharing a road is too precarious

- Punish mercilessly cyclists who slalom between cars or who use road when cycling path is at hand.

- Rely on your common sense, regardless of your role in traffic.

* I actually wrote the post after almost hitting a pinhead on bike on ul. Puławska last Monday. Around 7 a.m. (was still dark) I was driving up ul. Puławska, approaching intersection with ul. Płaskowickiej. I drove some 40 kmph and was on the middle lane. All of a sudden I noticed a cyclist (he had no lights on his bike, nor any flashing elements on himself who unexpectedly decided to veer from right lane to the left. I pushed the brake, peeked in the right wing mirror and without making sure there was no vehicle in the blind spot (fortunately no car was there) I swerved right to avoid running down the cyclist. I was scared out of my wits…