Lessons learned: The case of road law changes in Poland

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17 Aug, 2021

In 2011, Poland introduced road legislation changes in favour of cycling. The results demonstrated how such changes can make a big difference in a “less-cycling country,” while also exposing certain weaknesses of the Vienna Conventions on Road Traffic.

In Poland, up until 2011, national legislation required people to cycle on separated cycle tracks, although complying with this obligation meant losing the right of way at junctions. There was also no distinction between “cycle track” and “cycle lane” at the time, resulting in two-way cycle lanes being suggested by ministerial regulation – and sometimes being implemented.

Cyclists were obliged to ride as close to the kerbside as possible (an over-interpretation of the general rule which applied to all vehicles), making them less visible and making it more likely for cars to overtake them within the lane or sweep past them when turning right at a junction. Cyclists and other non-motorised vehicle drivers were thus obliged to stop to allow other vehicles to overtake them.

Furthermore, cycling in general was more common in rural areas and often associated with a low social status. However, small changes started happening during the first decade of the 2000s, spurred on by the Gdansk Cycling Infrastructure and Promotion Project (a part of the Global Environment Facility 2002-06), which gave a great boost to cycling promotion and use.1

The pivotal change happened in 2011, when both the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (an international treaty designed by the United Nations to standardise traffic rules internationally) and the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals (which standardised the signage systems for road traffic) were effectively used as a legal tool to end discrimination against cycling on Polish roads.

The power of road code changes

The changes to the Polish Highway Code was the result of an eight-year campaign by Miasta dla Rowerów (Cities for Bicycles network) and a three-year effort of the All Party Cycling Group of Poland's Parliament, led by Parliament Member Ewa Wolak, which ended successfully in 2011.

As declared on the Miasta dla Rowerów website in 2011, “Poland's Highway Code will now conform with the international Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, and cyclists riding straight ahead on a cycle track, cycle lane, the roadway, or a bus lane will have priority over cars turning right (or left). Cyclists will no longer have to yield to traffic when entering bicycle crossings, unless road signs state otherwise.”

The new Highway Code, in fact, allows cyclists to ride two or more abreast (unless they obstruct other traffic), overtake slowly-moving cars on the right, carry children in bicycle trailers and ride in the middle of the lane at junctions and roundabouts. Cycle lanes were introduced to the law and defined as being always one way, while a redefinition of the rules regulating cycle tracks and advanced stop lines for cyclists at crossings was also introduced, clearing previous ambiguity and confusion. Finally, as mentioned above, all traffic changing direction must yield to cyclists riding straight on cycle tracks, cycle lanes or any other part of the road (see pictures below).

Pictures provided by Marcin Hyla.

The new law also now recognises pedelecs and tricycles as bicycles. Before the law changes, bicycles had to have only two wheels, and pedelecs were considered motorbikes.2

It is important to note in the Polish case the question of timing: these law changes were introduced before the major rise in bicycle traffic, at least in major cities, and most importantly, before most of the cycling infrastructure was built in Poland. This is of particular importance because it is crucial that infrastructure is built upon a good legal framework which is favourable for cycling.3

Similar patterns could also be seen in Italy, where new regulations were introduced to effectively dedicate more road space to cyclists during the COVID-19 pandemic. This shows that regulations must be improved before you start to design engineering solutions!

What happened after 2011?

After 2011, cycling sprung to visibility, achieving an average share of 6% of all traffic in advanced cities. For example, Poznan reached an 8.4% cycling share in 2019; while in Krakow, city counters registered an increase of +43.29% from 2017 to 2020. Road safety improved, with a steady decline in deaths and seriously injured, as the number of cyclists killed on the road decreased from 516 in 2007 (13.58 per million inhabitants), to 250 in 2020 (6.58 per million). Bicycles are now unquestionably more visible and more present on Polish roads.

The follow-up work on bringing Polish legislation in line with both Vienna Conventions also identified some weaknesses in each.

Traffic lights addressed to cyclists in Poland. Picture provided by Marcin Hyla.

In particular, some newer types of roundabouts – such as turbo roundabouts – are problematic to be signed in line with the Conventions' provisions. This is in part due to different local habits and the number of cyclists in traffic.

What’s more, the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals implies that the traffic lights for cyclists should have a black silhouette of a bicycle on coloured background (instead of a coloured silhouette of a bicycle on black background, as is practiced in most countries that have dedicated traffic signals for cyclists). Poland implemented the provisions of the Convention literally, resulting in the traffic lights addressed to cyclists being indistinguishable from the lights addressed to general traffic, leading to dangerous confusion at some junctions.

Traffic lights addressed to cyclists as practiced in most countries. Picture provided by Marcin Hyla.

Some lessons learned

Many other countries still have to undergo the same process as Poland and adapt their own highway codes to the Vienna Conventions by introducing definitions for different types of cycling infrastructure. What can be learned from the Polish experience with road law changes?

“Less-cycling countries” can be a good research field to understand issues that may be overlooked in advanced cycling countries.
Road law changes can be an effective solution to boost cycling, but the design of a good legal framework must happen before the building of cycling infrastructure. If people don’t feel safe or lose rights by using cycling infrastructure, the investment becomes counterproductive, deterring cycling.
The Vienna Conventions needs to be updated, taking into account new forms of infrastructure and practical experiences with applying the provisions of the Conventions.

1. Much of the information in this article comes from the presentation, "Poland: cycling laws and cycling safety" by Marcin Hyla (Miasta dla Rowerów) from a webinar included in "THE PEP Vienna 2021," side event at the 5th High-level Ministerial Meeting of the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme.

2. Note by Marcin Hyla: in Poland, since 2011, bicycle is defined by width. Any human-powered vehicle wider than 0.9 metre is “bicycle cart” (or rikshaw). This was to ensure backward compatibility with legal width of cycling infrastructure. Despite this, all bicycle laws apply to rickshaws. The point is not to obstruct traffic on narrow cycle infrastructure. Locally, traffic signs could be used to allow rikshaws to use cycle tracks – but this part of the reform has not yet been implemented.

3. To know more about the importance of national legislation for boosting cycling infrastructure, see the ECF article:https://ecf.com/news-and-events/news/national-legislation-cornerstone-boosting-cycling-infrastructure

Cover photo provided by Marcin Hyla.