The IEP “Safe Pedestrian” competition has been settled

More than PLN 71 million – this is the total amount of co-financing from the European Funds that municipalities will receive for the implementation of projects in the IEP competition “Safe pedestrian – retrofitting pedestrian crossings and retrofitting schools in the field of transport education”.

Investments related to improving the safety of pedestrian road users are extremely important, and 257 projects with a positive competition evaluation are the best example of this.

Competition beneficiaries

Municipalities of various sizes will be involved in the implementation of projects throughout Poland. Here (on the website of the Center for EU Transport Projects in the Competition settlement tile) the ranking list and other details regarding the competition settlement are already available. The beneficiaries of the competition are municipalities, and the maximum level of EU co-financing is 85% of eligible expenditure.

The completion date of the projects selected in the competition is scheduled for the end of 2023.

Educational activities

As part of the envisaged projects, extensive educational activities have been assumed. The purchase of bicycle towns (stationary and mobile) for schools, bicycle simulators or retrofitting pedestrian crossings is important from the point of view of educating children and youth. Equipping educational institutions with teaching aids in the field of road safety, the main purpose of which will be to teach safety in road traffic without having to leave the educational institution, it is an action tailored to the needs of today’s youth.

Vision Zero

Pedestrian protection, development of the speed management system, enabling local governments to modernize pedestrian crossings in places with the highest accident rate and in the vicinity of public utility centers (schools, health clinics, etc.), will let Poland achieve the assumptions of the Vision Zero. It assumes reducing the number of road fatalities in the EU to zero around 2050. The implementation of the assumptions will be possible thanks to co-financing from the European Funds under the Operational Program Infrastructure and Environment.

Not just road construction

Measure 3.1 of the Infrastructure and Environment Program 2014-2020 includes, in addition to the construction of new roads, a number of initiatives aimed at increasing road safety. A wide range of investments includes, among others:

• elimination of particularly dangerous places in road traffic,
• retrofitting road traffic supervision units and rescue services (technical rescue),
• organization of nationwide campaigns and trainings (education), which result from, among others, from the National Road Safety Program.

Comprehensive steps

The competition “Safe pedestrian – retrofitting pedestrian crossings and retrofitting schools in the field of transport education”, as well as the amendment to the Act of 20 June 1997 “Road Traffic Law” are actions aimed at increasing safety on Polish roads. Only comprehensive steps are a guarantee of improving the safety of road users, including the special group – pedestrians and cyclists.