Speed limits in Poland 2026: table of limits, fines and points

Built-up area: 50 km/h around the clock, residential zone: 20 km/h, outside towns 90-140 km/h for a car. Fines are 50-2500 zł (up to 5000 zł for repeat offences) plus 1-15 points; over 50 km/h above the limit in a built-up area costs your licence for 3 months.

What the speed limit in Poland is: table of statutory limits

The general limits are set out in art. 20 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym). They apply everywhere a sign does not say otherwise. Two things decide how fast you may go: what you are driving and what kind of road you are on.

In a built-up area the 50 km/h limit applies around the clock. The old higher night-time limit was repealed, and the question catalogue checks this directly: question 12942 on the built-up area limit around the clock has the answer YES.

The Act also gives limits for other vehicles and situations (art. 20(4) and (6) and art. 31):

• a bus meeting additional technical requirements: 100 km/h on a motorway and an expressway;
• an agricultural tractor: 40 km/h (from 3 March 2026, previously 30 km/h);
• a motorcycle, quadricycle or moped carrying a child under 7: 40 km/h;
• an e-scooter and a personal transport device: 20 km/h;
• towing: 30 km/h in a built-up area, 60 km/h outside it.

The most common trap is the trailer. A car with a trailer, even a light one (up to 750 kg), becomes a vehicle combination. On a motorway you then drive at 80 km/h, not 140, and on an ordinary road outside town at 70 km/h. Which trailers you can tow with category B is explained in the article on towing a trailer with category B, code 96 and B+E.

The limit is a maximum, not a recommendation: safe speed

Art. 19(1) of the Road Traffic Act tells you to drive at a speed that lets you keep control of the vehicle. You take into account the terrain, the condition and visibility of the road, your load, the weather and the traffic. A sign with the number 90 does not mean you should do 90 in a downpour or in fog.

In practice: on a wet road, near a school, in heavy traffic you slow down below the limit, even though no sign forces you to. The examiner on the test route and the question catalogue come back to this principle again and again.

One conversion from the catalogue helps you picture the scale: 100 km/h is about 28 m/s (question 13594). Every second you cover 28 metres, so one second of delayed reaction is almost 30 metres of road.

Can a sign change the statutory limit

Yes. Under art. 21 the traffic management authority may use signs to lower or raise the limit in a built-up area, and to lower it outside a built-up area. That is why on city ring roads you will find 70 km/h in a built-up area, and on a winding national road 70 instead of 90.

There is also an individual limit for a specific vehicle (art. 21(4)). It is shown on a sign fixed to the rear of the vehicle and applies only to that car or combination.

The order is simple: a sign lowers or raises the statutory limit, but no sign releases you from the duty to drive at a safe speed.

How much the fine for speeding is: table with repeat offences and points

The amounts come from the fines tariff (regulation of 30 December 2021, table B items 72-81, in force since 1 January 2022), and the points from the regulation on the register of drivers who breach traffic rules (in force since 3 June 2026). As of September 2026.

The legal basis is art. 92a of the Code of Petty Offences (Kodeks wykroczeń): para. 1 provides for a fine for speeding, and para. 2 for exceeding the limit by more than 30 km/h a fine of not less than 800 zł (PLN). Hence the jump from 400 zł to 800 zł between the rows of the table.

A repeat offence means the same offence under art. 92a para. 2 committed within 2 years of the last final conviction. The fine may then not be lower than twice the lower limit (art. 38 para. 2 of the Code of Petty Offences). So this applies only to exceeding the limit by more than 30 km/h.

Speed is one of the most common reasons for a fine, but not the only one. In winter there is, for example, the fine for a snow-covered car, which can also cost several hundred zloty.

When points for speeding are cleared

Points from a final entry are cleared one year after the decision becomes final. With a fine, you count the year from the day you pay it. An unpaid fine does not start this clock.

There are two limits: 24 points for a driver who has held a licence for more than a year, and 20 points in the first year after the first driving licence is issued. Two fines for 51-60 km/h over the limit (13 points each, 26 in total) are enough to exceed both thresholds; two for 41-50 km/h (22 points) exceed only the limit of 20 for a driver in the first year. What happens after you exceed the limit and how to check your balance is described in the article on penalty points and losing your licence.

Licence withheld for exceeding the limit by more than 50 km/h

This is the most painful sanction for a driver who has not been drinking and has not caused an accident. The procedure under art. 135 of the Road Traffic Act and art. 102 of the Act on Vehicle Drivers (ustawa o kierujących pojazdami) looks like this:

1. The police officer takes your driving licence on the spot and issues a receipt (art. 135(1)(2)(a)).
2. The receipt entitles you to drive for 24 hours (art. 135(5)). After that you do not get behind the wheel.
3. The starosta (head of the district office, which issues driving licences) issues a decision withholding the licence for 3 months, immediately enforceable (art. 102(1c)). The period runs from the day the document was taken (para. 1e).
4. After 3 months the return happens automatically through an entry in the central register of drivers (para. 2b). You do not submit an application.

Where does this apply? Previously only in a built-up area. From 3 March 2026 also on a single-carriageway two-way road outside a built-up area (amendment of 17 October 2025). Driving at 141 km/h on an ordinary 90 road outside town therefore means losing the document for 3 months, not just a 1500 zł fine and 13 points.

There is one exception: acting to avert immediate danger, e.g. driving a person whose life is at risk to hospital. In that case the licence is not withheld (art. 135(3) of the Road Traffic Act, art. 102(1aa) of the Act on Vehicle Drivers). The catalogue asks about this in questions 10960, 10961 and 11022.

Driving despite the withholding decision is a separate problem: the starosta revokes your driving entitlements for 5 years (art. 103(1)(5) of the Act on Vehicle Drivers, applied from 4 September 2026 under art. 9(1) of the amendment). Three months turn into five years without a licence.

Young driver: 20 points and the probation period

In the first year after the first driving licence is issued the limit is 20 points, and from 4 September 2026 a driver with a first category B licence is covered by a probation period with its own consequences for offences. In the Act as worded from September 2026 there are no separate speed limits for young drivers: the general limits from the table above apply.

How the question catalogue asks about speed and where the traps are

Speed comes back in the catalogue in several variants. Here are the questions that appear in category B tests, with answers in line with the rules:

Typical traps:

1. A residential zone is 20 km/h, not 30. Question 7237 asks you to pick 25 km/h as the prohibited speed, and 13035 expects the answer NO for 30 km/h with a trailer.
2. A light trailer also turns you into a vehicle combination. Outside town 80/70 applies, not 140/90.
3. "Around the clock" in a built-up area is true. Answering NO to question 12942 costs points in the test.
4. The receipt after the document is taken gives you 24 hours, and the starosta's decision 3 months. The catalogue asks about both numbers separately.

You can practise all the questions on this topic, together with the rest of the Ministry of Infrastructure catalogue, in the list of category B test questions. A practical tip for the road: set the speed limiter or cruise control to the limit on the sign and treat that number as a ceiling, not a target.