“Jedź bezpiecznie” is a joint action of ZTM, Polski Związek Motorowy (Polish Motor Union) and Komenda Stołecznej Policji (Warsaw Police Headquarters). We encourage mutual kindness which makes travelling in Warsaw faster, safer and less stressful.
Sometimes we need to show some thought for other road users. Here are some passages from the diary of…
… a bus driver…
The bus crowded with passengers. There is a traffic jam in the morning, so the delay is inevitable. What’s more, there’s a line of the cars on the left turn lane. Fast decision. I pass all the cars hoping for consideration. Maybe someone will allow me to merge. I know that everyone is in a hurry. I know that they might think of me a sly, but I carry almost 200 people and I have to stick to a timetable. If I arrive late at a terminus, the whole timetable will fall through. Will they let me in? No way. I won’t go straight. I turn from the middle lane.
I drive with a proper speed. A grey sedan overtakes me from the left turn lane. Its driver, just before the traffic island, cuts in right in front of me at the last moment. I break suddenly to avoid an accident. A few passengers, a pregnant woman including, almost fall down. Screams, swearing. There is a traffic jam so we stop behind the car. One of the passengers asks me to let him get off to have a word with the road hog. Then I stop the bus next to the car at red lights and shout: “who gave you a driving license?” and so on… He answers cursing and makes the well-known gesture.
I leave a bus stop. I wait with the turn signal on. A string of cars passes indifferently. I have no choice; I move slowly. I can see another car in the mirror that is determined to make it. Of course, he doesn’t slow down and passes me changing to the left lane.
I’m said to be a boor. They say I closed the doors in front of somebody’s nose. They say that I could stop and open the doors. But I couldn’t see the man. Mirrors are my eyes .When I leave a bus stop I have to look in the left mirror to safely merge into the traffic and usually I can’t see in the right mirror if someone chases the bus, especially if the man runs at an angle. If I see the man, then I will wait for him, but I have to stick to the timetable. For those who failed to catch the bus a few seconds are nothing, but multiply them by a few stops and you have a few minutes delay. And then, those who wait farther on the route are furious that the bus is not on time, and they write complaints.
…a tram driver…
I go from the “frying pan”, a nickname for the Dmowskiego roundabout stop towards Train Station. I haven’t gone far; there is a string of cars on my route. I could frighten them and stop just at the door and beep. Will that help? Most of the drivers treat trams as invisible, or sometimes they helplessly spread their arms. Someday, one driver got scared and reversed so that he hit the other car. My green light changes, so the cars are streaming from the other side. Another lights change, maybe this time I will go but… a taxi crosses my way at the last second. Only few inches. I will not risk; I scratched the back of a sedan not long ago. And another red lights. I lost five minutes at one junction.
…a car driver…
I’m approaching a bus stop; a bus is about to pull out, it gives a turn signal. Let him go? I will have to drag after him. I might overtake him like that sedan with a dent in a trunk in front of me, but it’s not a race. How nice, the bus flushed the lights to thank me. Good to know there are still normal drivers after those big-heads in the morning, who overtook all the cars and turned left from the middle lane.
…a public transport passenger…
I saw the red light, but sometimes legs are faster than mind. My bus arrived at the stop and it was so close. I know that they had to break suddenly. The cars horned, so what? I could have made it but that boor shut the doors right in front of me. I will write a complaint. Fortunately, I haven’t waited long for a next bus, although it was a few minutes late. Why do they have timetables if they don’t stick to them anyway? Standing in a bus, I was lucky that I was holding on to something. Some idiot in a grey sedan cut in our way. When a bus breaks you can be thrown like a doll. If only I could get him… At least the bus driver told him off.
Published 16 September 2011
Last modified 3 June 2019
