Driving in Poland

The signs and rules with no equivalent back home.

Who has priority

You have priority

Droga z pierwszeństwem

Yellow diamond, white border. You are on the priority road. Traffic joining from side roads must give way to you. Keep going.

Your priority just ended

Koniec drogi z pierwszeństwem

Same diamond with a black slash. From here on, give way to the right. This is the one people miss — you keep driving as if you still have priority.

Give way

Ustąp pierwszeństwa

Upside-down triangle. Same as a US yield sign, but taken seriously — you are expected to stop if anything is coming.

Equal crossroads ahead

Skrzyżowanie równorzędne

Nobody has priority by sign, so priority to the right applies. Often there is no sign at all — the rule still applies.

The one that got you

The priority road bends

Tabliczka T-6a

A small white plate under the diamond showing the junction. The THICK line is the priority road. If it bends and you are going straight, you are leaving the priority road and must give way — including to a car turning across you.

you — give way priority road

You are driving up from the bottom. The priority road comes up with you and then turns off to the left. Carry straight on and you have left the priority road — so the car following it has right of way, even though from your seat he is cutting across you.

Rules with no US equivalent

Priority to the right. At any junction with no signs and no lights, the car coming from your right goes first — regardless of who arrived first. There is no "four-way stop" here. On small-town back roads this is the default, not the exception.
No right turn on red. Ever. Unless there is a separate lit green arrow. This is an instinct you have to actively suppress.
Headlights on, always. Day and night, all year. It is the law and it is enforced.
50 km/h in any built-up area, day and night — about 31 mph. Cameras are common and unmarked.
Alcohol limit is effectively zero — 0.02%. One beer with lunch puts you over. Penalties are severe.
Pedestrians have priority as they step toward a crossing, not just once they are on it. Since 2021. Slow down on approach.
Trams always win. In Warsaw, never block a tram and never pass a stopped tram where passengers are getting off.