Road safety in Poland: magnitude, causes and injuries.

Road accidents are a serious problem of the modern world. They are one of the main causes of injuries and are the third most frequent cause of death. Every year, about one million people, adults and children, die on the roads and several millions get injured. Mortality rate due to injuries from road accidents amounts to 2.2% of all deaths in the world. The research presents epidemiology of road accidents in the period 2004-2015 with particular emphasis on the key issues of road safety in Poland, related to the dangerous behaviour of road users (disregard toward traffic rules). Between years 2004 and 2015 on Polish roads took place more than 508000 accidents with 53155 fatalities and more then 572000 casualties. Despite the various measures which are taken to improve safety on Polish roads, the number of dead and wounded in the vehicle mishap is still large, and losses borne by society are high. To improve safety on Polish roads, it is necessary to continue multi- action plan to systematically progress in the level of road safety.