Data collected by the police shows that in 2016, there were 64 accidents on Polish roads in areas where road works were taking place or temporary signage was in place. During these incidents, 11 people died and 90 were injured. An increase in both statistics compared to the previous period prompted FBSerwis S.A., whose employees work daily on tasks including the maintenance of Polish roads, to initiate a campaign aimed at raising driver awareness and reducing the scale of this phenomenon. The campaign will cover roads serviced by the company in the vicinity of Gdańsk and will last until the end of February 2018.
The main premise of the campaign prepared by FBSerwis is to make drivers aware of how their driving culture can affect their immediate surroundings in traffic. As part of the campaign, the company has prepared the Intervention Work Communication System (SKOPI), which operates within the Yanosik application. Thanks to SKOPI, appropriate messages about ongoing intervention works, posted in real-time by FBSerwis employees, will be displayed on the phone screens of all app users who find themselves in the area of such works. The campaign will be supplemented by a research survey that will show the sociological aspect of the problem. A series of guides and instructions related to proper driver behavior on Polish roads will also be prepared.
– Since January 2016, FBSerwis has been carrying out a year-round road maintenance contract for the Gdańsk branch of the GDDKiA on sections of the S6 route (Tri-City Bypass), S7 (Southern Gdańsk Bypass), and national roads 6, 7, 20, and 55. Both available data and many years of experience allow us to note certain disturbing signals. Despite properly securing intervention work sites, the number of accidents is increasing, including those involving our employees. Consequently, we came up with the idea of implementing a campaign to increase the safety of all road users. The number of accidents involving maintenance and intervention services should be reduced as quickly as possible. Zero accidents involving our employees is our priority – says Artur Pielech, CEO of FBSerwis S.A.
According to the European Transport Safety Council, as many as 40% of road accidents are accompanied by work-related circumstances. The category cited here also includes incidents involving road workers, maintenance services, and intervention teams. As can be seen from the example, the scale of the problem is not small.
– We are aware that we are dealing with a growing problem. Recently, along with the development of transport infrastructure, the number of road works and maintenance tasks has been increasing. With the development of the road network, and in particular the growing length of the highest-class roads, their users are getting used to driving at higher and higher speeds. Therefore, when a significant speed limit suddenly appears on a national or expressway due to maintenance or intervention work, it does not occur to some drivers to take their foot off the gas. People employed in these works are exposed to a number of threats. We believe that there is a strong need in Poland to implement this type of campaign – comments Grzegorz Cioch, Vice President of the Management Board of FBSerwis S.A., responsible for the infrastructure management and maintenance division.
FBSerwis wants to reduce the number of incidents involving road workers to the lowest possible level, thereby ensuring maximum safety for road users. The initiators of the campaign are convinced that the ideal solution to achieve the intended goal will be the company’s cooperation with the popular driver application, within which the SKOPI system is to operate. On maps supported by Yanosik, road sections where repairs and other maintenance or intervention works are currently taking place are to be marked. Driver education will also be one of the key elements of the campaign.
– We want to show Polish drivers that the problem with their perception of road works is just a matter of approach and realizing certain dependencies. We will examine their knowledge and behavior through an online research survey at the beginning and end of the campaign. Thanks to this, we will obtain a full picture of the situation and determine to what extent our campaign has influenced the awareness of the Polish driver. Our goal is to raise awareness of the problem and take care of the health and safety of all road users and those working on them – concludes Artur Pielech, CEO of FBSerwis S.A.