On Thursday, January 23, 2025, the "Safe and Sober" project seminar was held at the Mercure Grand Hotel in Warsaw, the aim of which was to raise awareness of the problem of alcohol in road traffic and to promote the use of alcohol interlocks as an effective method in the fight against drunk drivers. The event was attended by experts from Poland and abroad, representatives of public administration, the private sector, scientific communities and institutions dealing with road safety. The seminar was opened by Kristian Schmidt (Director of Land Transport in DG MOVE of the European Commission), Stanisław Bukowiec (Secretary of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure) and Prof. Marcin Ślęzak (Director of the Motor Transport Institute). 

The first part of the seminar focused on the analysis of the current situation in Poland. The speakers included: 

• Katarzyna Łukowska (National Centre for Combating Addictions), who discussed the drinking habits of Poles. 
• Konrad Romik (National Road Safety Council), who presented activities related to road safety campaigns. 
• Chief Inspector Robert Opas (Road Traffic Office, Police Headquarters), who presented statistics and challenges in supervising drunk drivers. 
• Tomasz Matuszewski (Provincial Road Traffic Centre in Warsaw), who spoke about re-education courses for drivers. 
• Mariusz Krupa and Jacek Lenartowicz (Municipal Bus Company in Warsaw), who presented the use of alcohol interlocks in public transport vehicles. 

Part II: Experiences from abroad

• The second part of the seminar was devoted to international experiences in reducing the problem of alcohol in road traffic: 
• Antonio Avenoso and Francesca Podda (European Transport Safety Council, ETSC) discussed the situation in EU countries. 
• Anneliese Heeren (Belgium) and Lars Ekman (Sweden) shared examples of re-education programs using alcohol interlocks. 
• Sergey Krasaev (Alcohol Countermeasure Systems) presented the practical application of alcohol interlocks. 

The seminar ended with a question and answer session and a summary, emphasizing the need for international cooperation to improve road safety. The Safe & Sober project, implemented by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), has been engaging decision-makers, experts and key stakeholders for years to jointly reduce alcohol-related harm in road transport.