A well-maintained car means more safety

A frequent cause of accidents on Polish roads is the bravado of drivers, forcing priority and speeding. However, the technical condition of vehicles also has a significant impact on safety.

During the last holiday alone, more than 7,8 thousand trips were made on our roads. collisions and accidents. According to police experts, Polish roads continue to be dominated by: bravado, speed inconsistency with prevailing road conditions, right-of-way enforcement, improper overtaking, alcohol and lack of imagination. However, no one keeps statistics on the impact of this state of affairs on the technical condition of vehicles, which, after all, is one of the main conditions for safe driving. Meanwhile, it turns out that the results of the post-accident inspection of the remains of cars sometimes prove that a broken car could be the cause of the tragedy.

– During preventive examinations, we check not only the sobriety of drivers, but also the technical condition of the cars. The driver of a wrecked car can lose control at the most unexpected moment, leading to a tragic accident, explains Insp. Marek Konkolewski from the Police Headquarters. - Remember that even a ten-year-old car can be in good technical condition - provided that the owner does not save on technical inspections, necessary repairs and original spare parts.

Technical malfunctions that can lead to accidents can be many - from a partially air-filled brake system to incorrect chassis geometry.

Last year, Dekra's specialists, when examining vehicles involved in traffic accidents in Germany, found that seven percent of them had technical defects directly related to the accident. Of course, the poor technical condition of cars is a factor that directly affects the large number of accidents in Poland. Moreover, our roads are dominated by used cars, often of unknown origin.

For many vehicle users and buyers, regular technical inspections are still only a necessity or an obligation, and not a routine associated with responsible and safe driving on the roads. Meanwhile, after buying a used car, the buyer must reserve at least a few hundred zlotys for additional testing and necessary car maintenance, experts say. For a statistical Polish driver, this is quite a big expense, but drivers should understand that a technically sound car means more safety for themselves, their passengers and other road users.

The older the cars, the more regular visits to the workshops by their owners should be. Most of the cars on Polish roads are cars made 5-10 years ago. They are extremely vulnerable to seemingly insignificant, but significant defects from a safety point of view.

The results of the analysis of ads published on specialized sites in the first half of 2010 show that the most often offered for sale are cars manufactured in 1998-2000. On average, a car in Germany lives up to 8 years, travels 100 70 kilometers and “turns off” these roads onto the roads of Central and Eastern Europe. Data from the Polish Association of the Automotive Industry show that in the countries of the European Union, about 10 percent. cars no more than 34 years old. Meanwhile, in Poland, this group of registered cars accounts for only XNUMX percent.

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