Polish Authorities Revoke 20 Licenses in Single Day Amid Strict New Speeding Rules

Polish traffic police recorded multiple violations under new speeding regulations outside built-up areas on March 17, 2026, the same day authorities in the Podkarpackie region revoked the licenses of 20 drivers caught driving too fast and prosecuted a 48-year-old man who drove with more than 3 per mille of alcohol in his blood despite holding three lifetime driving bans.

Poland has maintained a system of penalty points and license revocations as core tools of road safety enforcement. Driving under the influence of alcohol is a criminal offense under Polish law, and courts may order the forfeiture of a vehicle as an additional penalty. Lifetime driving bans can be imposed by courts for the most serious traffic offenses, and accumulating multiple such bans does not automatically prevent a person from physically operating a vehicle.

The new regulations targeting speeding outside built-up areas entered into force and produced their first recorded violations on March 17, according to the Polish Police service. In the Podkarpackie region, officers revoked the driving licenses of 20 drivers as a direct consequence of excessive speed, according to the Podkarpackie Police. A separate case from the same region involved a driver who received a high fine along with 33 (penalty points) — penalty points issued in a single traffic stop, according to Podkarpackie Police. The penalty points system is designed to remove repeat offenders from the road, and a single-incident total of 33 points represents a significant sanction under that framework.

Three lifetime bans failed to stop drunk driver in Podkarpacie The most serious individual case of the day came from the Podkarpackie region, where a 48-year-old man was stopped by police while driving with more than 3 per mille of alcohol in his blood, according to Podkarpackie Police and the regional outlet Nowiny. The man already held three lifetime driving bans at the time of the incident, meaning previous court rulings had permanently stripped him of the right to drive on three separate occasions. He was prosecuted under expedited proceedings, heard a verdict the same day, and lost his car as part of the sentence, according to both sources. The case illustrated the limits of judicial sanctions in preventing determined offenders from returning to the road.

Off-duty officer stops drunk driver, chase ends arrest in Łódź In the Trójmiasto area, an off-duty police officer intervened to detain a drunk driver, according to trojmiasto.pl. The officer acted independently while not on duty, apprehending the driver before handing the case to on-duty colleagues. Separately, in the Łódź region, a man was detained following a police chase, according to the Łódź Police service. Officers pursued the vehicle before bringing the driver into custody, though no further details on the circumstances of the chase were confirmed in the source material. The cluster of incidents across multiple Polish regions on a single day coincided with the launch of the new speeding regulations, suggesting heightened enforcement activity nationwide.

Forest fire prevention campaign launches across Poland Alongside the road safety enforcement activity, a fire prevention campaign titled "Lasy pod specjalnym nadzorem" — Forests under special supervision — was launched on March 17, according to Gazeta Olsztynka. The campaign signals the start of the elevated fire-risk season in Polish forests, during which authorities increase monitoring and patrol activity. No further operational details about the campaign's scope or duration were confirmed in the available source material.