As of 1 January 2004, every road traffic accident - even a minor scrape - needs to be notified to the police.
This is as a result of a new law protecting insurance companies from
fraudulent claims (too many insured drivers conspiring to bang their
cars into one another). The law does not define what 'notifying the
police' means - whether a telephone call is sufficient, or whether one
must wait by the roadside for a patrol to turn up. If the accident is
not notified to the police, the insurance company will not pay out.
Call the police on your mobile by ringing '112'. Caution - you may have
to wait several hours.
By law, you are required to carry a warning triangle, a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher
in you car at all times. This applies to tourists as well. The solution
is simple and relatively inexpensive. Most large hypermarkets with
motoring departments sell the three items together as a kit costing
around 10 GBP. Stick in in the boot and you're covered.
If buying a used car in Poland, even if the previous owner has the kit
in the car, it would be worth buying a new one, as the fire
extinguisher and first-aid kit have both likly passed their 'best by'
date.
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Daytime use of headlights is obligatory from 1 October
to 1 March. Indeed, it is worth getting into the habit of driving with
them on all the year round, as the Swedes do - it helps your visibility
while overtaking on single-lane roads that link most Polish cities.
Like in France, Poland has "Priorite a Droite". Unless
you have the yellow diamond signifying that traffic on the road on
which you are driving on has priority over vehicles wishing to turn on
to it from a side road, you must give way to traffic waiting to get
onto the road from the right.
You are not permitted to cross unbroken white lines in
the middle of the road under any circumstance. In the UK, if there is a
right-hand turn on a left-hand bend with an unbroken white line, you
may cross it to make the right turn. In Poland, you may see a left-hand
turn on a right-hand bend with an unbroken white line. There may be no
'no left turn' sign, but you may not cross the line to make that turn.
"Give Way" signs have yellow rather than white inside the red triangle and contain no text. You may be confused at first.
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