In 2024, 1881 people died on Polish roads, with 154 of these deaths being the result of an accident caused by a drunk driver, according to data from the Polish National Police Headquarters. Across the entire European Union, about 20,000 people die in accidents each year, and the issue of intoxicated drivers remains one of the biggest challenges in achieving Vision Zero, or reducing the number of traffic fatalities to zero. One proposal that could help address this issue is requiring all vehicles to come with alcohol interlock devices installed.
The report from the Polish National Police Headquarters indicates that in 2024 there were 21,500 accidents on Polish roads, which resulted in 1,800 deaths and injured 24,800 drivers and passengers.
“In the European Union in 2024 there were 20,400 accident victims, which translates to about 150 victims every three days. It’s as if a Boeing 737 plane crash were to happen every three days, with no survivors. The significant factors in these collisions are driving under the influence of alcohol and excessive speed. The former factor is responsible for 20% of accident victims in the European Union,” Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), told Newseria news agency.
Last year in Poland, over 92,000 drivers were stopped for driving under the influence of alcohol. This is an average of 252 people per day. This number remains high but has gradually been decreasing. The Institute of Transport Science (ITS) recalls that in 2022 there were almost 104,500 such cases. The decrease is particularly noticeable given that more and more tests are being carried out each year to measure the alcohol content in exhaled breath – last year there were 16,000, while two years earlier there were 12,400.
“The KGP indicates that last year drunk drivers caused 1,200 accidents in which 154 people died. The year before, there were 1,330 such events and 212 victims. According to the report by the National Road Safety Council titled “State of Road Safety and Actions Taken in 2023”, the majority of the accident culprits were drivers between 25-39 years old.
In Europe, 1.5-2% of all kilometers driven are covered by drivers who have a blood alcohol level exceeding the allowable norms. This is why the European Union has for many years pursued an integrated policy to limit alcohol abuse while driving. Already in 2001, the EU recommended introducing a maximum blood alcohol concentration of 0.5 g/l for all drivers. Currently, all member states apply this standard or more stringent limits (in Poland it’s 0.2 g/l). This is one aspect of implementing Vision Zero, which aims to halve the number of accident victims by 2030 and reduce it to zero by 2050.
“To achieve this, we need to apply what is known as the Safe System, meaning taking actions at all levels of road safety – in the areas of behavior, infrastructure, vehicles, and post-accident care,” Antonio Avenoso lists.
EU officials note that the first step in realizing Vision Zero is to eliminate drunk drivers from roads. “Some powers, such as installing ignition interlock devices in vehicles for individuals convicted of this offense, remain in the purview of the member states, but we believe that the European Union should also take action that encompasses all countries. This includes not only setting a common concentration limit for everyone, but also mandatory alcohol interlocks for professional drivers,” says the Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council.
In line with EU requirements, from July 2024 all newly produced cars must come factory-prepared for easy installation of alcohol interlock devices. “An alcohol interlock is a very simple device that instructs drivers to blow into it before beginning their journey. If the alcohol level is higher than the required limit, the vehicle won’t start,” explains Antonio Avenoso. “The European Union doesn’t require the installation of an alcohol interlock in all vehicles, but it does provide the opportunity to use this solution when necessary. The decision of whether a particular driver has to use an alcohol interlock remains the prerogative of individual countries. They must develop regulations regarding the use of interlocks in cases where, for example, someone has been found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol.”
As the expert emphasizes, the other major factor threatening road safety is excessive speed. Therefore, calls for lowering the legal speed limits on roads are increasingly common. Statistics show that speed limits result in a reduction in the number of pedestrian fatalities in the event of a collision.
“In the case of urban area collisions involving a vehicle and a pedestrian, where the car was traveling at a speed of 50 km/h, this can result in the pedestrian’s death in 90% of cases. If the speed on the speedometer is 30 km/h, in most cases the pedestrian will survive the accident. The difference between 50 km/h and 30 km/h is not just a matter of numbers, but also a matter of life and death. For this reason, many local authorities are reducing the speed limit from 50 km/h to 30 km/h,” says the Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council.
According to the ETSC, in the UK, insurers claim that the number of claims goes down in areas where the speed limit is 20 miles per hour. This also leads to a decrease in car insurance premiums. In September 2023, Wales implemented a default speed limit in cities of 20 miles per hour. Positive results were also observed in the Italian city of Bologna, which introduced a speed limit of 30 km/h in January 2024. A report summarizing the past year indicates that the number of accidents fell by 13%, the number of injuries dropped by over 11%, and the number of fatalities – by 50%. This contrasts with data for all of Italy, where increases have been observed in all of these categories.
