Factors affecting the psychomotor ability of drivers and road safety with respect to legal regulations and NGO Guidelines

Abstract

The data from the Central Register of Vehicles and Drivers (CEPiK) shows that currently 22,071,753 citizens have driving licenses in Poland. In 2021, nearly 23 thousand road accidents, occurring on public roads, in residential areas or in traffic zones, have been reported to the police. As a result, 2,245 people have been killed and 26,415 were injured, 8,276 of which heavily. At the Toxicological Analysis Section of the Institute of Forensic Research (PAT IES), for over a decade more than half of the cases are related to drivers. In 2021, the percentage was 53.3%, while earlier, before the COVID-19 pandemy, nearly 2/3 of all cases sent to the PAT IES concerned drivers (for example, in 2016 it was 65.8%). Taking into account only the drivers who were involved in a road accident, the number of cases has fluctuated around 40% over the last decade. Traffic safety depends on many factors including: drugs, alcohol consumption, some diseases that the person operating the vehicle may suffer from, medicines and even the age and sex of the driver, which have been the subject of research in Europe, including Poland over the years. It resulted in many guidelines of non-governmental institutions and reports from research projects like eg. IMMORTAL, ICADTS, DRUID, EMCDDA which are than reflected in European and Polish legislation. The reports of the aforementioned institutions and research projects show that the perpetrators of road accidents are more often young men (up to 24 years of age) than women of the same age. For drivers aged ≥25 years, women are more likely to cause accidents, especially those over the age of 75. Among the diseases that affect safety in land traffic there are, among others vision impairment, hearing impairment, mental illness and diabetes. The annually declining number of road accidents in Poland is somehow reflected in the PAT IES statistics. Despite this favourable trend, the factors influencing the risk of an accident remain unchanged. The occurrence of a real danger on the road is still mainly influenced by the so-called ‘human factor’, and in particular the broadly understood ‘state’ of the driver. However, other factors should also be taken into account, such as the technical condition of the vehicle which may also directly contribute to the occurrence of such an event. The guidelines and legal restrictions on road safety that have changed in recent years seem to have brought the desired effects, however, the subject still requires further research and implementation of new solutions, suitable for the dynamically changing situation.