Driving in Poland from the UK 

At 7:44 I meant to say double solid lines means no overtaking. And at 27:45 it's supposed to say 16.6 km/L not 6 km/L. I made these mistakes despite checking the video twice after the final edit.

tego sie nie spodziewalem

Great video, Richard. I'm a Brit who's been living in Poland for over 20 years, and I'd like to add a few things. E10 is now in all filling stations. Until a few years ago, you didn't have to stop for pedestrians at zebra crossings. Now, if you don't, police will fine you 300 quid. Overtake on a zebra and say bye bye to your licence. Diesel is very often called olej napedowy (with a diacritic like a cedilla below the e in napedowy, pronounced ohlay napendovvy). At the pumps it's marked 'ON'. No seatbelt? Definite fine. Beware of tractors in rural areas. Every week I read about drunk farmers causing accidents. Poles have a well-established tradition of flashing to warn of speed traps, so be sure to raise a hand in thanks.

This is fantastic video! You came to Poland very well prepared and you did very good research. It is impressive that you have focused not only on the road rules, but also you learned a little bit of language, pronunciation, recent law improvements and even read some of road related news. No doubts, I have to subscribe this channel.

Here is Polish guy returned home from UK learning from English chap how to drive in Poland. Got to love the internet.

I noticed that at 19:45 you've entered the worst Polish motorway stretch, the A4 Legnica-Wrocław. This stretch was built during Hitler's reign over Lower Silesia, and is cursed for its lack of hard shoulders, poor quality, and tons of road accidents. The other motorways are of way better quality, and driving there is pretty comfortable (except for my home regions of Pomeranian Tri-City metropolitan region during summer break, where people go really mad and aggressive). Also, if we took the past into account, then we would notice that Poland has achieved tons of progress for the last 20 years - I remember my trip from Gdańsk to Zakopane in 2003, it was like 14-hour-long drive on national roads of poor quality, now it's 8 hours on well-made motorways. 😀 Greetings from Pomerania, Baltic Sea, and thank you for your superb videos. 🥰

I am 80 , I have been driving to my second home in Nowy Sanz for 35 years , never had a problem , my Kia Sorento has done the trip 33 times , it's almost 15 years old now , it was 3 weeks old for the first trip !

I'm from Portugal, living in poland and got my driver's license here 9 years ago. In portugal there are also zebras on the traffic lights. When I drive in Portugal, blinkers are merely decoration on the cars for most people, and I have to pray before entering a roundabout... 😅one thing to add, people in poland thank you with the hazard lights.

19:40 when you join a motorway the moment your road connects to it that's an intersection which cancels the speed limit. All exits/entrances have low speed limits because they often have sharp curves and there are no winter-specific signs in Poland so regular speed limit signs have to make it safe in winter too.

Drove a lot in Poland in the 1990's and earlt 2000's. Those roads were an adventure on their own. Good to see the infrastructure improved a lot. Thanks for the vid, richard, very informative!

I'm a driving instructor from Poland watching your YT channel since few months. For me it is a source of knowledge and inspiration. I'm conducting driving courses for foreigners in English and once I even thoguht about going to UK and get some experience and practice with colegues from one of driving schools from there. Just imagine how suprised I was seeing that you came here to Poland. 😂 It would be even more suprising if somehow you wil drive through my city :D

I have noticed a lot of Polish drivers often have little regard for speed limits except to slam on the brakes at photo radar areas (a blue warning sign always exists 1-2 km before the speed camera device)

15:15 - traffic lights in Poland tend to not be active 24/7 but usually from 4 AM till 11 PM with some variation.It's so that night traffic isn't stopped for no reason. In cases traffic lights aren't active for any reason, the junctions function like any other junction without traffic, so in those cases zebras need to be painted onto the road anyway as to signify people have the right of way over cars. Otherwise there may be problems crossing the road, especially when the lights broke and it's middle of the day , not night, and cars go non-stop.

Nice video. As a Dutch i have been to Poland several times. First time was in the late 1970's when i was 4. I think the Polish infrastructure is now much better and way more modern then the German one. Germany is stuck in 1990.

Greetings from Poland, thank you so much for your videos 🧡

I am shocked. Been watching you very often for couple of years and suddenly a video in my country 😅🇵🇱

I'm Polish but this was quite useful - learned a lot. Thanks! funny how you said driving within speed limit causes danger here, haha

About E10, it's been introduced just in January 2024, so now we already have E10. Also true about speed limits, I'm often overtaken even if I'm doing like 65 on 50 haha, it's so typical to feel slow even a little bit over the speed limit. Thanks for polish episode and greetings from Lublin (eastern Poland, not Lubin :P, it is easy to mistake)

For whatever reason I have been watching UK driving test videos even though I passed my exam in Poland a bit more than a year ago. Now this crossover is a really nice surprise, and the fact that part is in my home city of Wrocław makes it even better. You literally rode on one of the roads I would take to the exam area from my driving school and back (the one near the Sky Tower).

Wow they have roadworks with actual works - makes me tear up. Really enjoyed the video!

Aaahh! You're an angel sent from above. I've been looking for a proper english explainations on road traffic in PL. This will surely help my practical exam this february. Thank you!! 🎉

Nice video. Just few remarks from me: 01:30 yes, you need to signal when turning right on this junction, as you are changing the direction. Priority do not impact the obligation to signal in any way. Many people in Poland do not understand this simple rule and their way of using indicators is out of any logic (or not using them at all, which is also quite common). 13:40 please do not say things like that! That is simple justification for braking the law, and simply not true at the same time. It is not you causing danger when going within the limit. It’s them, with their stupid disrespect to the law and safety rules. Poles have the obsession about overtaking, by the way. 22:28 it is much more convenient to pay by phone application. There is several of them, you need to register your car there and provide method of payment. In that case you can use one of the lanes that are on your left, which are usually much less busy, the barrier will open automatically, and the price is lower (13 PLN instead of 15 PLN per toll point). By the way, the motorway between Kraków and Katowice is one of the biggest scandals in Poland's recent history. Around 20 years ago it was handed over to the management of a private company. Now it is ridiculously expensive, and since that 20 years it’s in permanent repair or reconstruction with speed limits on much part of it. If to add huge waiting lines on toll points, using it for saving time of travel or comfort of driving is pointless. You mentioned at some moment about gaps. This is another huge problem in Poland, along with disrespect for speed limits (and maybe lack of ability of using indicator). Tailing is pretty common here. The same applies to overtaking and going back to your lane right in front of the mask of the overtaken car. This is not only dangerous, but extremely annoying when you are using adaptive cruise control and also one of the reasons for traffic jams (in high traffic the overtaking car force everyone behind to slow down).

Just did Suwałki-Kraków and back. I used to travel all over Poland a lot in past. Mixed feelings! - Roads are WAY better than 10 years ago. Like a different country now. Back then not many highways, slow, dangerous, and full of potholes. - Still a lot of lorries around but they're much less on the way due to highways. - Drivers aren't driving as crazy and as dangerous as 10 years ago, but still like to take over often, and sometimes dangerously. I feel safer elsewhere in Eastern Europe. I'm used to Eastern European traffic and often go a bit faster (as the rest of traffic), but others go even faster in Poland. 😅

I'll be honest. I've lived in Poland for 24 years and the roads have improved massively, in fact they are better than UK roads in most cases. Street lighting could be improved in some areas, especially in small towns and villages but this will happen. So it's great. The main problem is some Polish drivers. I must say that older drivers in Poland mostly follow the rules and drive too slowly sometimes! But there is a sizeable minority of idiots driving Audis, BMWS and Mercedes who are extremely dangerous and aggressive, flashing lights behind you, tailgating you, overtaking you and then slamming on their brakes, just to show you who's boss. The Police in Poland also have many unmarked cars, usually BMW 3 series, and fines for speeding have rising sharply recently, with the result being that most drivers do observe the rules. So it's not all bad news. I am happy to praise Poland, but beware of crazy drivers. If you would like to see how mad they are, there is a weekly youtube channel called STOP CHAM with a collection of dashcam footage. It's scary as xxxx. Oh, and be careful of trams in cities.

Video is very useful. Wroclaw is one of my favourite cities in Europe!

Thanks for the video. I found driving in Poland alright, except for rural roads. People don't actively harras you, but there's a fair bit of tailgating and sketchy overtakes there if you don't drive faster than the speed limit

6:30 In poland you have to give way to pedestrians entering the crosswalk. If you don't do that you could get a very painful ticket.

What a coincidence, I watched your videos before my road trip from Poland to Scotland, and now you're here, that was unexpected :) Great summary of the most basic rules, but you missed one important bit: if you don't stop before the "thin green arrow" you may get fined, because it's equivalent to a stop sign. I know, nobody does that, other drivers may even be surprised when you stop there. Nonetheless, telling people that you only need to give way might be getting them in trouble if a cop is watching.

Honestly seeing you in my country after helping me pass driving license in that country is crazy

Fun fact: you're actually required by law to keep distance between you and the car in front of you on an expressway or motorway. (equal to half of your speed in km/h, interpreted as meters)

Great video, some remarks below: 1:16 It doesn't matter if you follow the thick line or not, you never have to give way to the cars from the left, but if you're leaving the thick line, you may have to give way to the cars from the right. 1:34 The need to signal your manouver is irrelevant to the priority rules. You change driving direction or the lane you're on - you signal. 2:59 And this is the same with all other forbidding signs (the ones in circles with red border). 4:58 Sometimes that diamond isn't there, but if you wonder if you've got priority, you have to watch if there is a triangle or octagon on a crossing road (hence their shape - so you know what sign it is from behind). 5:08 Usually you're warned by an additional warning sign that you approach such a crossing or that you're entering a zone with such ones. 6:49 Sometimes you may see a small repeater on the same pole, that the main light is, but on the eyesight level, but it's quite rare. 7:28 Double line means no crossing it (and the broken parts are exclusions, where you can e.g.turn), but you're still allowed to overtake if you don't cross or touch it. 8:15 I'd say you're on the right side of the road ;) [Yeah, I know. Just had to do it :D] 15:34 It's because there's a hierarchy of signs, where the people directing traffic are at the top, if they're not present you have to obey the lights and in case they're not present or switched off (usually they're only blinking with a yellow signal then), you follow the signs, like the zebra. 16:46 Roads like that are quite common in Wrocław, it's because it was ruled by Germans and they built solid roads quite a long ago, so now they are probably maintained like that as a kind of a historical treasure. 18:46 As we can see by the behaviour of the first driver in line, he stopped even before the tram got there, because if he didn't, the people would have it harder to exit or enter the tram. 19:27 The limit is there because of the curvature of the road, as you explained later. In most cases you can expect the limits are set at a safe velocity to go on the bending road (but I've experienced the same in the UK) and when your road merges with the main motorway, this is a junction, which invalidates the limit. 29:08 Your assumptions correct :D 30:30 It seems a bit more complicated with the speed limits there. At 30:30 you're effectively going through a junction, so the speed limit is 100 (outside a city and on a dual carriageway) and it changes to 120 when you enter the expressway, but it wouldn't change if the limit were still valid, i.e. if the "60" was repeated after the roads merged. 33:10 It is not a good experience in Poland when you drive at a speed limit, but usually you're not blinked or honked at at least, as it may have been happening 20 years back ;) 34:13 There's a year-old law for expressways and motorways that you have to hold a 1.8 second distance to the vehicle before you (and this means you also shouldn't change lane too soon after overtaking), but it is followed similarly to speed limits ;] The law says exactly you have to maintain a distance in meters being half the speed in kmph, but it simplifies to holding almost 2 second distance. Thank you for the ride, it was a pleasure :D

Actually the fact that a speed limit is cancelled by an intersection (except in a 30km/h zone) also exists in France, so I guess it’s the same all throughout mainland Europe 🤷‍♂️

Dziękuję Richardzie za ten materiał. Since i never drove in Poland even though im from poland and only cycled on holidays when i was back home i was unaware of some of the infos.

Thank you for this video! I've recently passed my test in the UK, however I go to Poland quite a lot as I have a lot of family there, and with my license I'll probably be made to drive a lot from now on. From my experience in Poland, people do really like to overtake and in general don't drive as safely as I'm used to in the UK, which makes the experience a little stressful. You've helped me pass and you're still helping me and countless others become better drivers, thank you!

As a Polish Canadian, living in Canada, driving in Poland terrifies me. I've saved this video for future reference when we go back and visit.

Hello Richard.Great video and i learneda lot from it.I moved to Poland from England four years ago and like you I also found that along the rural roads while you stick to the correct speed the other drivers go shooting past you.Anyway I will rewatch this as there are a few points I need to memorise better.

7:18 - A scrap collecting men pushing his cart is thankfull for your act of kindness ;)

This video is quite a pleasant surprise Richard! I’ve been watching your videos almost religiously for the past year, and thanks to you I passed my test - In Norwich, which is quite close to Colchester 😅 I’ve lived in the UK for nearly 18 years now (I’m 24 this month) and while I’ve never driven in Poland I have often thought about it since passing. Thanks to this video I’ll have a lot more confidence when I eventually do it.

We've just introduced the E10 this New Year's Eve, as a matter of fact. It's been this whole debacle here - we have one of the oldest car fleets in the EU - The average age for a car here is about 15 years. Seeing folks in the UK rave about old Passats or Skodas makes me chuckle - we see them daily here lol As a Pole, I am really impressed by your pronounciations. Your significant other being Polish must've helped, I bet! I've been subscribed for a good little while. Thank you for this video, it's top notch as per always. I do agree about the drivers not willing to stick to the speed limit - they usually drive ~15-20 over it

The most important thing to remember for the UK people thinking about coming to Poland is that here we drive on the right side of the road, not the wrong one.

When you were entering the motorway, the 50 speed limit applied to the road leading to the motorway. The road has then intersected with the motorway, which cancelled the speed limit. The give way sign also applied to the intersection - you have to give way to everyone who is already on the motorway. This is how these signs make sense 🙂

Love these videos, Richard! The signs and rules are quite similar to Czech ones, although the speed limits on motorways are different

Once again, we have the gift of an amazing video

We went to krakow from the 26 till the 29th should have hired a car after watching this although the train was very good for getting most places. Such a beautiful city!

A terrific video. I really appreciate it. Very well done.

Świetny filmik! Bardzo dobre przykłady! 😀👍

Thanks, mate. I am from Poland, living in UK, having a driving licence for over 20 years, and I've learned something from your video. Cheers👍

Wow, what a nice informative video. I'm very impressed with your knowledge and patience in my country, you've definitely showed it in a fair light. Cheers!

Very nice and detailed explanation mate. Thank you

This was really informative. Ive done a fair bit of driving in poland, including a couple of long haul trips from the UK. I rarely drive now, as the tram and bus network in the city is so good, but this helps nonetheless..especially the signage and road markings info. I do find the Poles to drive fast ...and faster than the limits. They dont give much space for overtaking ...and there's plenty of overtaking and changing lanes. It kind of wrecks my nerves! 140kmh is just a bit fast for me too. its like everyone doing 90mph on the UK motorway by comparison. The high speeds also make it troublesome with the slow truck lane.. i found myself stuck between trucks in that lane many times waiting to have a safe space to enter the speeding cars whizzing by in the other lane. Anyway, a great video 👍🏻

Amazing video! It's very informative, and you did a great job with your research and preparation.

Great Video! Hope you had a lovely stay in Poland.

7:05 They teach in Poland - you should stop the car in the way you can see the traffic lights. The line is not a stopping line, it the limit where you can stop.

Feels a bit nostalgic watching someone drive through some of the few streets of Wrocław I used to frequent when I lived there a few years ago. Excellent video.

It is a very interesting video even for me as a Pole. Thank you!

Lovely video! Quite a surprize to see you come visit Poland (Hope you enjoyed your stay!) as I have used your British driving lessons/videos to learn for my Polish driving test! 😂

The video was very well made. You seem to know more about the traffic rules here than many of the domestic drivers (like in the case of the other drivers overtaking you when you're just obeying the limits). Great job :D

Szanuję. Wiele twoich filmów instruktażowych obejrzałem. A teraz taka niespodzianka :)

Who would have thought that a guy simply driving and explaining why he drives the way he does could be so fascinating. Some of these rules I didn't know and _I live here_ . Granted, not a driver, but still. Videos like these are the hidden gems of RU-vid.

Nice to see you driving in my country!

Twoja końcowa ocena była najlepsza z możliwych. Ja jako Polski kierowca z od 98 roku byłbym znaczniej surowszy. Fajny materiał i w ogóle content . Pozdrawiam i sukcesów

I have watched you from Poland for some time now, the way you explain things is unique. Even tho I don't need it I do watch. :D

Overtaking and going up to 10kph more than speed limit is very common in Poland. As a Polish living in Wales for last 17 years I like that in Britain people are much more patient and not so much in a hurry. But I don't like when someone goes 20mph on 40mph limit :D Also I drive to Poland in my British car and it is very hard to overtake someone especially a lorry when your steering wheel is on the outer side of the road and you can not see oncoming traffic.

This was a very informative video! I’m still a relatively new driver and I had a recent trip back to Poland where I needed to rent a car, and I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous! It’s great to have all of this info in 1 place! I will defiantly be giving it a watch when I need a refresher on some of the differences between UK and PL !

I'm about to travel to Poland, and THANK YOU SO MUCH for this clear and concise breakdown of how to properly drive there!

Just in time haha flying out for a skiing trip soon and got a rented car I remeber watching your videos to pass my test couple of years ago and thought i would not come back after passing :)

Thanks for making this video pal, I'm polish living in the UK my whole adult life... passed my test here and not feeling confident driving in Europe. I've been looking for videos like this so thanks a million👍

Great video, appreciate it

Nicely done summary that is good reminder even for me, everyday user of those roads 👌

Thank you so much for this video! I have to show it to my S.O. since he wants to learn how to drive here and he's from USA. Serdecznie pozdrawiam Ciebie i drugą połówkę 🥟😎

This is brilliant! Finally a good breakdown of road rules. Goes to say, a lot of polish drovers could benefit from such a video!

at the beginning, sorry for my english, but I'd love to say that after I passed my driving exam in Poland I was watching a lot of your videos from the other channel because you showed there very interesting driving techniques, etc. and now this video showed up on my youtube page, and after a few secound I was like wait... I know this voice 😂 and then I checked it and I was right. You're doing a great videos man, I've learned a lot from these so thank you, and good to know your secound half is from poland 😂 cheers mate

It's so nice to see a video from Poland. I'm Polish and I live in England and also I have passed my driving test in UK. Hope you had great time in Poland! :)

thank you for this helpful information, next summer i will need to be driving in another country near poland.

Hi Richard, we met at the last The ADINJC & Intelligent Instructor National Conference & Expo. Another great video.

Super cool video , you've got new subscriber !

Wow 😲😲😲 You in POLAND?😮😮😮 Man I love your lessons! I've been watching You from the very beginning. Best regards from Poland 😉

Watched that video with pleasure. Well done vid defo. As a Pole living in the UK for over 17 years, it made me emotional and a little bit homesick. 😂 thanks for that. Pozdrawiam

About driving the speed limit: A lot of people in Poland drive over the limit (usually around 10-20 km/h over) and there's A LOT of drivers who will get impatient and tailgate you. Most of the time you just have to be patient and careful. They will overtake you pretty much asap, but sometimes where it isn't legal or safe. On the motorways and expressways it's pretty common to encounter tailgaters, even when passing long lines of trucks. They'll even flash their lights. It's also pretty common to encounter cars going way over the speed limit (over 200 km/h even), they're often the most aggressive and flash lights a lot. Check your mirror frequently, because they come out of nowhere. We're working on improving this, but it's going slowly.

Wow this film is really impressive. I've never heard any Pole explaining polish Road rules better than You did!

unexpected!! thank you for a video!

Hi Richard, @RichardFander Great vid I have to say. I can’t believe that you drove through my home town. My parents come from villages close to Jarocin. Potarzyca and Nosków. I hope you enjoyed your time there!

Absolutely fantastic video. Well done Rysiu. 👍😀

Richard a huge big thank you for this video. I watched it several times before leaving for Poland and hiring a car in Bydgoszcz and then driving to Zambrow in the east. Plus driving around town and a wedding out in the countryside. Everything you said in this video was spot on and I encountered all during the week..Also it appears you are our go to for other things, I own a mazda mx5 nb and find your nd videos of great interest. My son is learning to drive and he watches your driving school tips...cheers mate. My next driving abroad will be Prague to Ostrava across Czech...hmm let me see if you have a video on it ..

Great video Richard! Give way on entering motorway - it is treated as a junction of one way road onto another road so speed limit cancells. There is also a thing that if a road painted sign is covered by ex. snow which we have sometimes here, they do not obey so be careful and good luck!

Oh! I watch your videos on Conquer Driving channel very often. I'm from Poland but really want to try driving in the UK. Your videos help me understand some rules. I was wondering if I would pass a mock test with you 😅 But I wasn't prepare to see you in my country! That was a great suprise!

Nice video. Please more from Poland 😊

Good job ! Powodzenia !

Brilliant, thanks for sharing this. My wife is Polish and we plan on visiting Poland again. Good to get the heads up on their highway code.

So I'm Polish but I'm doing my driver's license in Norway, but this is super useful for when I'm going to be driving in Poland, thanks! 😎 Super educational video, as always!

Thank you for your excellent report Richard! You have grasped the rules of driving in Poland perfectly! E10 petrol has found its way to the Polish service stations since the beginning of 2024

Just to leave in UK for a while and could be listening beautiful British accent for hours. Happy and safe stay in Poland mate. 👌👌

How unexpected! I moved back to Poland last September with my family and was about to look into getting a few lessons to acclimatise myself to driving in Poland. Your videos were very useful in helping me pass the UK practical test so I'm glad to see you've presented your experience of driving in Poland. I have to say, when you mentioned that drivers like to drive faster than the speed limit here, that is very much reflected in Szczecin to sometimes an excessive degree considering this is a big city and much of the driving is on urban roads. I've also noticed poor use of indicators with many being given so late and for such a brief period of time that they might as well not have bothered. It doesn't worry me as in rural UK the use of indicators was also frequently sketchy but I get the impression it's worse here. 17:20 - Ah, you've experienced the infamous German roads! I hope you enjoyed your massage.

thanks, very informative

At 19:40 the reason for the speed limit being 110 instead of 140 is that this section of the A4 doesn't meet current motorway standards, as it mainly lacks a hard shoulder.

Super materiał.

Im from Poland. Happy to see you in Poland 😊

7:55 just a mention, white circle with black stripe means "end of all previous restrictions". So if you had speed limit and no overtake, then behind this sign you can go faster and also overtake other cars. Very nice video, greetings from Wrocław, nice you visited us :)

Lots of very useful info ..

Great video - It's impressive how deep you dived into the traffic rules. AD. 22:04 - You can also assign plate number to the debit card with online banking app - then you can use those two lines on the left and toll will be automatically transferred from you account, it is usually way faster and toll used to be smaller (not anymore)... however sometimes those gates are blocked without that service activated