The tariff of fines 2023. A wave of fines for pedestrians for telephone calls at the crossing – Mikołaj Krupiński, ITS spokesman comments

From September 2022, the use of a telephone or electronic device at the crossing may result in a fine of PLN 300. According to the data of the Central Police Headquarters, which was written by “Rzeczpospolita”, from January to mid-April 2023, officers caught 2,265 people crossing the road, lanes or tracks while using the phone. For comparison, in the whole of 2022, it was 4,112 people.

– Mobile phones are part of our landscape, they are already a permanent element of our functioning, but unfortunately, some drivers and some pedestrians use mobile phones when they are active in road traffic. It’s no secret that this naturally increases the risk of road accidents, but while drivers seem to be a little more disciplined here, looking at police statistics from 2022 and this year, it shows that we have a problem – he commented in “You get up and you know” on TVN24 Mikołaj Krupiński, spokesman for the Motor Transport Institute, adding that “this is not just a Polish problem, it is a European and global problem.”

Krupiński pointed out that “the driver often has to make 8 to 12 decisions per kilometer traveled, having fractions of a second to do so.” – On the other hand, pedestrians are exempt from such concentration, their duty is to be concentrated, to pay attention to other road users, especially when they cross a crossing, track or bicycle path, and therefore much less responsibility and requirements when it comes to about traffic regulations. Despite everything, we have a problem when it comes to people using the phone in road traffic – emphasized the spokesman of ITS.

The TVN24 guest noticed that the slogan “smartphone zombie” appeared in the media a few years ago. – In the vast majority, it refers to young people, people who are focused on the smartphone screen, additionally, they often cut themselves off from reality with headphones on. This means that we have statistics when it comes to mandates, and not others – he said.

Mikołaj Krupiński reported that 2,000 had already been imposed this year. mandates, “and it’s only May 1”.

In his opinion, “this is the tip of the iceberg.” – Physically, it is impossible to place an officer at every crossing, at every intersection, only in the capital we have about 4,000 pedestrian crossings. The fact that last year’s amendment to the Highway Code introduced a sanction of PLN 300 for entering a pedestrian crossing while being focused on the phone, i.e. not observing what is happening around, not caring about safety, now the police are able to collect data – said the ITS spokesman.