Wales first UK nation to drop motoring speed limit from 30mph to 20mph

Motoring Motoring: In The News
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Speed limits in built-up areas will be reduced from 30mph to 20mph in Wales on Sunday - a UK first that has caused controversy with some drivers.

The law will change the speed limit on about 35% of Welsh roads where lamp-posts are no more than 200 yards (183m) apart.

The Welsh government said the £32.5m cost to rollout the new nationwide speed limit was “outweighed” by reduced impact on the NHS and emergency services, which one study said could save £92m a year.

But a Welsh government-commissioned consultation found more were against the speed limit than in support of it.

One of the Labour-led government’s own documents said longer journeys could cause a “substantial” economic disadvantage.

Its “central estimate” was an economic hit of £4.5bn over 30 years, although ministers acknowledged there was “significant uncertainty” over the figure and “active professional debate” about how it was calculated.

The UK government’s House of Commons leader, Penny Mordaunt, called the new 20mph default limit “insane” and said it was “punishing” motorists.

The Welsh Conservatives said they were in favour of a 20mph limit outside schools, hospitals and care homes - but called the blanket rollout “disastrous, frankly ludicrous and a war on motorists”.

Welsh ministers said impact on journey time would be “small”, with drivers taking less than one minute extra on average per trip.

Good for Wales … :clap:

If lives are saved then drivers will have to learn to live with lower speeds … :man_shrugging:

Of the 1,014 people killed or severely hurt on Welsh roads in 2022, more than 40% (421) were hit on a 30mph stretch of road.

Road safety campaigners Brake said a person’s risk of dying if they are hit by a car travelling at 30mph is five times greater than if the car was travelling at 20mph.

Because it will be the new national speed limit, 20mph signs will no longer be needed on those roads - except when the limit changes.

So, be warned:

Will police enforce the 20mph speed limit in Wales?

From Sunday, if you’re pulled over doing more than 20mph in a built-up area in Wales you could, in theory, be fined a minimum £100 and get three penalty points.

Police say the response will be proportionate and reasonable while drivers get used to the change.

They said the focus for the first 12 months would be on education, with officers given a level of discretion.

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It’s happened in London, drives motorists to distraction.

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Distracted motorists should not be behind the steering wheel of a motor vehicle … :018:

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Exactly!

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30 January 2023

Local authorities and devolved governments are reducing the speed limit on large swathes of urban roads from 30mph to 20mph.

There has also been updated Government guidance on road design in newly built residential areas, with an assumption that a blanket speed limit of 20mph instead of 30mph will apply. That has led to speculation that 20mph will become the default speed limit on all urban roads in the UK, but a Department for Transport spokesperson said: “There are no plans to introduce default or national 20mph speed limits in urban environments. It is for local authorities to consider setting 20mph speed limits on streets where people and traffic mix.”

The news of the lower speed limit in new housing developments has been welcomed by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) road safety organisation.

Neil Greig, the IAM’s director of policy and research, said: “We have always said that we need to refashion our roads so that they are obviously shared spaces where drivers can expect to encounter cyclists and pedestrians. When drivers have those obvious visual clues, they will drive appropriately and everyone will feel safer and more likely to engage in active travel.”

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The trouble with that is, the people most likely to have an accident through speeding will just carry on speeding. And the people who observe the 20mph limit probably never would have been involved in an accident. So we all have to suffer for the few headcases…Who will still be at large on our roads.

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or is it a lisence to print money for Wales?
we have all heard of American towns with silly speed limits just to collect speeding fines.

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funny, the London Mayor is being accused of the same thing. Presumably he collects the £Ms per day from speeding fines.

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Well I have to say they’ve designed a very diverse and inclusive sign. So inclusive that they’ve even managed to incorporate an image of Foxy :wink::+1:

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Not all-inclusive :wink: - I can’t see any cyclists on that sign! :biking_man: :biking_woman: :wink:

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It’s not exactly a sign - it’s an A4 promotion poster, available from:

The 20mph signs are illustrated and explained here:

For anyone with red paint or crayon, there is also a 20 dragon poster to colour:

https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-09/20mph-in-wales-colouring-in-sheet.pdf

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Good spot Boot!

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It’ll be interesting to see how the scheme works out in the long term. A great number of local residential roads around here have traffic calming measures like speed humps which prevent motorists driving more than twenty mph. I remember some of these roads being real ‘rat runs’ before and now they are much quieter and less dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists.

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I shall pull out my red Crayola with much enthusiasm.

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:rofl:
Yeah, I didn’t think it was an actual road sign - that was just a bit of fun - :wink:
poster, sign, whatever … I think we got the picture :grinning:

… now where did I put my crayon box? …

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I’m looking on the bright side. Not long ago it was survival of the fittest. I don’t remember our roads being dangerous, but we did drive like lunatics.

Now, I can no longer enjoy driving, things have turned bit namby pamby. Where’s all the fun gone?

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I regularly ride faster than 20mph on my bike. Does that count? Will I get points on my crossbar?

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They might still get you under the 1861 legislation of “wanton and furious cycling” :wink: :biking_man:

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Data has been collected since 1926, in which year there were 4,886 fatalities in some 124,000 crashes. Between 1951 and 2006 a total of 309,144 people were killed and 17.6 million were injured in accidents on British roads. The highest number of deaths in any one year was 9,169 people in 1941 during World War II. The highest number of deaths during peacetime was 7,985 in 1966.

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think its time to look up how to use the cruise control on my car when i next visit Wales, something i have never used, 20 mph is difficult to maintain, its almost tick over speed

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