This knowledge will be useful to every driver. Especially when an unfortunate event occurs
You drove into a pothole and damaged a tyre, you damaged your car during a collision with a wild animal, you skidded on an icy road – all these events should be reported to the road manager. We explain who he is and what he is responsible for.
The road manager is a person or institution that supervises its operation. The definition of a road administrator is specified in Art. 19. of the Act of 21 March 1985 on public roads, which defines the road manager as: “a government administration body or a local government unit whose jurisdiction includes issues in the field of planning, construction, reconstruction, renovation, maintenance and protection of roads”.
What is the road manager responsible for?
The road manager is responsible not only for building new routes, but above all for maintaining the existing roads and the entire road infrastructure, such as pavements, traffic lights, engineering structures and road safety devices (including bollards, asylums, traffic separators, barriers road). He is responsible for the technical condition of the road, its maintenance and possible reconstruction and extension. Drivers may claim compensation from the administrator of a given road for damage to the vehicle caused, for example, by a damaged surface. But not only.
The road administrator is also responsible for protecting drivers from wild animals. It must provide fences on highways or special viaducts or tunnels to help animals safely cross to the other side. If the use of this type of protection is not possible, he should put up a road warning sign (A-18b – “attention wild animals”).
The road manager is responsible for clearing snow and ice in winter. So if we skidded on an icy road and damaged the car, we can apply for compensation from it. Also, if the car chassis is damaged as a result of hitting a speed bump, we can seek compensation from the road administrator. In both of the last mentioned cases, however, receiving it will not be obligatory. The reason for the refusal may be even too high speed of the car. Compensation may be awarded provided we can prove that the road operator was negligent.
How to find a road manager?
The total length of public roads in Poland is over 400,000. km and is divided into national, provincial, poviat and commune roads. Many people do not know which institution is responsible for a given category of public roads in Poland. Depending on the type of road in question, it is supervised by a different authority.
According to GDDKiA, the manager of national roads (including express roads and motorways) is the General Director of National Roads and Motorways, provincial roads are managed by individual voivodships, poviat roads are managed by poviat boards, and commune heads, mayors and city presidents are responsible for municipal roads. .
The exception are roads within the borders of cities with poviat rights, of which we have 66. The mayor of the city is responsible for all public roads, including national roads (except for motorways and expressways) lying within the borders of such cities. The second exception are sections of toll motorways managed by concessionaires. As a result, GDDKiA is responsible for a network of approx. 18,000 km of national roads, accounting for less than 5 percent. public roads in Poland.
Where to get information?
Information on the condition of roads and existing obstacles can be obtained on the Internet at the address:droż.gddkia.gov.pl. The source of information for all those planning to travel on national roads is also the national Road Information number 19 111 – open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
