Catching up now quickly with the rest of Europe, especially Western Europe, is a very difficult task. The advent of the market economy has also brought a boom in car ownership, which tripled in the 15 years between 1980 and 1995. Last year Poland was Europe's fastest-growing car market, with Poles acquiring half a million new cars every year. Traffic volume has risen 40 percent since the collapse of communism, with barely a kilometer of new roads being built to handle it. Because there is no distinction between local and international roads, even long-distance trucks are forced to drive through the center of towns and villages, just meters from the front doors of inhabitants' homes.
Local residents have to put up with non-stop noise, pollution and vibration.
Look how we are driving, five kilometers per hour and look how we are polluting this air. These poor people are breathing it and they are poisoned by this pollution. I think we should have a freeway or highway or at least a bypass. But for Poland, such improvements are still just on the drawing board.