[Travel] Speed limit to be lowered to 20mph in Wales

[Stat Brother]

hang on, so this is the same as present but reverse the default? main roads will still be 30, residental streets 20, which is pretty common these days.

Yes, I believe so.

But instead of 'pretty common' it will be law.


I'll hazard a guess it'll be law for all of us sooner rather than later.

All pretty meaningless if it's not backed up by the infrastructure that will actually take sub 5 mile car journeys off the table.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Numbers for Wales first quarter 2024 versus 2023 pre 20 mph

- Total number of casualties down from 510 to 377 - a 26% fall.
- Killed & seriously injured from 101 to 78 - a 23% fall.
- If we break that down further, the number killed has gone from 11 to five - a 55% drop.
- Slight injuries are down from 409 to 299 - a 27% reduction.

Really interesting to see if this trend is continued.

My cynical view prior to introduction, was that drivers ignoring 30Mph signs in built up areas were not going to suddenly start taking notice of 20 MPH signs. What this seems to suggest is that there are less accidents when law abiding drivers slow down.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Numbers for Wales first quarter 2024 versus 2023 pre 20 mph

- Total number of casualties down from 510 to 377 - a 26% fall.
- Killed & seriously injured from 101 to 78 - a 23% fall.
- If we break that down further, the number killed has gone from 11 to five - a 55% drop.
- Slight injuries are down from 409 to 299 - a 27% reduction.

Really interesting to see if this trend is continued.

My cynical view prior to introduction, was that drivers ignoring 30Mph signs in built up areas were not going to suddenly start taking notice of 20 MPH signs. What this seems to suggest is that there are less accidents when law abiding drivers slow down.

I suspect there is a knock-on effect whereby many drivers who were prepared to drive at 40 in a 30 would reconsider and drive at 30 or 35 and so on. In any case this is wonderful news!

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I suspect there is a knock-on effect whereby many drivers who were prepared to drive at 40 in a 30 would reconsider and drive at 30 or 35 and so on. In any case this is wonderful news!

Wonderful news and fully justifies the introduction of the policy

 

[Eeyore]

I didn't drive for many years and when I started again the 20mph limits were in place. It took some getting used to, and my gauge is occasionally a tad above, but the traffic seems to flow much easier and driving in the town centre seems much calmer. I fully support it. The roads are better to drive on.

 

[Mackenzie]

Numbers for Wales first quarter 2024 versus 2023 pre 20 mph

- Total number of casualties down from 510 to 377 - a 26% fall.
- Killed & seriously injured from 101 to 78 - a 23% fall.
- If we break that down further, the number killed has gone from 11 to five - a 55% drop.
- Slight injuries are down from 409 to 299 - a 27% reduction.

Really interesting to see if this trend is continued.

My cynical view prior to introduction, was that drivers ignoring 30Mph signs in built up areas were not going to suddenly start taking notice of 20 MPH signs. What this seems to suggest is that there are less accidents when law abiding drivers slow down.

I'd estimate that only 25% of drivers are sticking to the speed limit at the moment, so I guess as folk become more used to the lower speed the safety figures should improve further. Seeing that it's helping makes the frustration of going 20 more palatable.

It needs a bit of fine tuning in places, but I'm glad its working.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Wales Government to revert some 20mph speed limits back to 30mph | RAC Drive

Starting in September 2024, the Welsh Government will be reverting the process of changing some new 20mph speed limit roads back to the original 30mph.

www.rac.co.uk