Over the last few days the news has been full of stories that Poland’s supreme administrative court (naczelny sąd administracyjny) ruled on the 27th of January 2010 that the minister of transport has lawful permission to refuse the registration of right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles.
If you have read the story and comments on my earlier blog post about English Cars in Poland you will know that until now it has been possible (although difficult) to register a RHD vehicle if the minister of transport gives permission.
This is against the European Union directives on free movement of goods which is why the EU reminded Poland in October 2009 that refusing to register RHD vehicles is against EU law and demanded a change in Poland’s regulations.
This new ruling by the supreme court is a result of Grzegorz Dorobek attempting to register his RHD Vauxhall Vectra and getting denied by his local authorities in June 2008. He took the matter to court from where it escalated. The voivodeship court in Kielce (Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny w Kielcach) ruled in April 2009 that “the positioning of the driver on the right-hand side has a negative effect on road safety” and that improving safety should be a fundamental target in a given country, therefore EU laws have no foundation to demand registration of this type of vehicle. This decision was upheld by the supreme court.
Dorobek’s lawyer argued that Poland’s current position is confusing given that some RHD vehicles are given permission and some aren’t. After the ruling Dorobek said he would consider taking the matter further to the EU.
to be honest i can see the point in the refusal. it surely is more difficult and more dangerous to drive a rhd in right hand side traffic. some exemptions might be made for classic cars etc but the general rule seems fair. who would want to drive a rhd on a daily basis anyway? it is simply not convenient. a classic car owner or a foreigner visiting should not have a problem though.
dorobek must have too much time and money on his hand, otherwise he would spend the resources on getting an lhd, which is the proper way to drive anyway, despite what clarkson says.
I can see the argument for both sides, but if it is so dangerous then why can LHDs be registered in the UK without a problem, and why can RHDs be registered in France and other EU countries?
I suspect Dorobek is either a car importer or was given free legal assistance for his test case – Polish car importers could make a lot of money by exporting UK cars to Poland if they were allowed.
I registered my UK van in Denmark when i worked there, that was no problem and used my Polish car in the UK with no real drama, I prefer to drive on the side of the car that is normal in the country I am in, but I don’t find it a difficult exercise. I like driving in Poland, but I probably wouldn’t want to drive a RHD car here, I find that the style is is much quicker with late changes of mind and it that case the odds against you missing something must be a little higher than say a country like Denmark. I cannot see any enjoyment in trundling around in a RHD motor here, my wife and me never considered to bring out UK car when we moved.
i think that only people like myself who have decided to live in poland and have a rhd drive car should be allowed to register their cars.
however i think that an open ticket for everybody would be wrong i have 30yrs exp driving a rhd car and i have no difficulty driving my car on the left so to comform to eu law allowing me to register my car in my country of residence that way poland would be complying and solve the problem as it is once that poland changes as it must we will be able to claim back all our exp for going back to the uk to mot/tax and another reason recently i have noticed a lot of brit /cars in warsaw with no tax disc so they cannot have any innsurrance and maybe no mot
which is pretty much the way it is now – permission granted on a case by case basis…
the ruling is totally ridiculous! there are thousands of British troops living in Germany and the majority drive RHD cars. if that was a safety breach, it would not be allowed! ah well…
the reason i want to drive my car in poland as i feel safe considering the way that a large percentange of polish people drive without taking notice of road conditions/road signs and speed limits i have a powerfull car and i can use it if necessary
Most people I have seen arguing RHD is unsafe have never actually driven one.
I have owned and driven both LHDs and RHDs and currently drive a RHD in Poland, the only real inconvenience is when you have to deal with tolls or parking barriers / tickets etc. and you don’t have a passenger in the left seat to do it for you.
I can understand the sentiment in Poland is that LHD gives a better view forward when overtaking lorries etc. on single-carriage ways but where the car is registered makes no difference to safety, does it ? If RHDs are deemed unsafe on Polish roads they shouldn’t be allowed to enter Poland at all…
Speaking of safety, how about outlawing potholes and short slipways ? They’re more dangerous than RHD.
The ruling is a ridiculous attempt by Polish bureaucracy to state that they are “safer” (read smarter) than other EU countries, only a matter of time until the ruling is overturned by European courts.
I think its hillarious that the Polish are so worried about RHD cars, when most of their drivers are spinning off the roads everyday, killing themselves, killing others at a rate which only India or Mexico can match! If the Poles would start controlling their own suicidal driving tendencies in LHD cars, they might not be so paranoid about letting RHD cars grace their roads.
You might say it’s up to the Polish Government to decide their own rules in this respect but then it is against a clear EU directive so they should comply and allow RHD. I’ve driven 10’s of thousands of miles in Europe in RHD vehicles and it doesn’t cause me or anyone else a problem.
Poland has many very dangerous roads and the standard of driving is, generally, atrocious. Drivers have terrible road manners and display open aggression, extreme disregard for speed limits and downright stupidity as a matter of common occurence. Cars are parked on approaches to pedestrian crossings which is extremly dangerous. The are countless other poor practices to which I could refer. The country has a very poor road safety record and every trip is a source of stress due to the arrogance and rudeness that is evident on most journeys. Dumb and dumber springs to mind.
The government do very little to improve matters. I wonder what they spend EU money on. They built 6 km of motorways last year. Why does the white line paint need replacing just a few weeks after being applied? It’s almost as if the paint is being ‘watered down’. Why would anyone water down the white line paint?
Restricting RHD is just another example of Polish Government dogma and bloody mindedness. The Population deserve better leadership and commitment to a much improved infrastructure, maintenance, driver education and traffic enforcement.
rodney when the polish police or government wake up to the fact that if impliment the driving regulations less accidents will occur and the amount of income they could get from these crazy drivers poland would have roads as good as germany and less people would be killed
i think that now this an issue for the eu to take action against poland not only their failure to apply the regulations as to allow an eu citzen to register their car in the coutry of which they are living in no matter what side their steering wheel is on. also the fact that the number of people killed or injured in poland is totally unacceptable and i doubt whether there is even 1% caused by people driving with a rhd car. but this has issues with the rest of the eu because some of these crazy driver are now driving throughout the eu. poland has to be made to take action to reduce the death rate on their roads but this has to come from the eu as the ministry of transport blame the accidents on bad roads and not very very bad driving
poland is being given a lot of aid from the eu to improve their road infastructure but in 2001 there were 5534 people killed and the latest figure to be published for 2008 there were 5437 people killed only in 2006 did the number fall to 5243.so why can the polish government blame right hand driven cars as causing accidents in poland.these published figures show that there has been little change in the death rate on polish roads and the polish government should be ashamed
Is Poland in the EU? Of course it is and it should abide by the directives of the EU. If not then the EU should tell them so. I drive to and fro from Poland to UK and find no problems driving my RHD car in Europe.
can anyone tell me i have just come back from holiday and someone told me that on friday there was an annoucement that poland had changed their minds and would allow righthand drive cars to be registered
In fact I just came back from Holiday last night and somebody over on the forum posted this:
http://www.britishinpoland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47&start=0
which says that the EU has decided that Poland must allow RHDs or face the consequences!
Just picking up on what Patrick commented on 14/06/2010 and Philip on 3/10/10..he is spot on.The Polish Government should hang their heads in shame.The roads in Poland are being improved with EU money, the real issue is the need to educate in road safety, starting with the children through the schools.Driving there regularly i am simply appalled by the standard of driving and what seems to be acceptable and also the interpretation of traffic regulations…bordering on comical if it wasn’t so desparately serious.The Polish government should address their road safety issues regardless of LHD/RHD..and remember that they reap the benefits of being a member state in the EU.
hi simmon the latest accident in poland i hope will shake the polish government into realising that something drastic has to be done to the drivers who ignore road signs speed limits and road conditions or the weather otherwise poland will continue with the third largest kill rate on the roads or do they want top spot and i wonder how long the eu can accept this
I agree that RHD cars as classics have a certain charm, but let’s wake up to the fact that the vast majority of the rest of the world use lhd vehicles. It is probably time for the UK to enter the 21st century. The only countries of significance that drive on the left side of the road are the UK (and it’s former Commonwealth colonies), Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.
Problem is, it’s not that easy to change an entire country over to the other side of the road. So unless that ever happens we will still have this problem…
first of all in reference to davids comments the side of the stearing wheel makes no difference if you drive with sense and safety. i feel more secure driving my right hand drive car than my wifes on the left i can react quicker as i have to do often and if you drive in poland you will no what i mean.secoundly has anybody more info as to the polish answer to the eu directive given them two months from the end of sept to reply as to how they would implement the changes allowing right hand vehicles to be registered
The UK has no problem at all registering LHD cars, so why the vice-versa in Poland. I am a UK expat with a RHD car and I am having to drive back to the UK every year to MOT the bloody thing.
wayne first of all poland is breaking eu law that allows a citizen the right to register their car in the country that they reside in. when eventualy they have to allow us to register our cars iam claiming back from the polish gov my cost for taking back my car each year. on another note as i have said before my car is legal it has a mot insu and i have to tax it in the uk to validate the insurance but iam begining to notice a lot more brit/cars in warsaw and they have no current tax disc so i doubt that they have mot/insur. they give the excuse that the roads are bad but since joining the eu and getting large grants to improve the roads the death toll is not falling and they dont realease figs that show how many rhd cars are involved fatal accidents
Philip I totally agree with you about which side you drive on. I also drive my rhd car in Poland and have driven lhd but feel safer on the right. I have no problem and would even go so far as to say I’m a safer driver in Poland because of this. I keep a further distance back from cars in front of me and only overtake when I can see I have enough distance to do so. I also take my car back to UK every year for MOT, then Tax and insurance. I only want to register my car here so I do not have to do this and still drive LEGALLY on Polish roads. So if I do not do this will I be breaking the law? Yes! But the Polish gov are also breaking the law! So how can they judge me!
In response to David 29/10/10, “The only countries of significance that drive on the left” I take it you don’t consider Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Malaysia etc. etc. to be countries of any significance. Enter the 21st century.