Wales’s 20mph speed limit has cut road deaths. Why is there still even a debate?
Research suggests the scheme may be more popular than thought, with consultations dominated by a loud minority Even with the caveats about limited data and untangling causation and correlation, the statistics are striking: the first year of a scheme in Wales where the speed limit on urban roads was lowered to 20mph resulted in about 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured.Introduced in September 2023 as a major road safety project of the Labour-run Welsh government, it made 20mph the default limit for any built-up area, defined as roads where lamp-posts were no more than about 180 metres apart. This took in about a third of all roads, with the Conservative opposition saying the definition was far too broad. Continue reading...
Research suggests the scheme may be more popular than thought, with consultations dominated by a loud minority
Even with the caveats about limited data and untangling causation and correlation, the statistics are striking: the first year of a scheme in Wales where the speed limit on urban roads was lowered to 20mph resulted in about 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured.
Introduced in September 2023 as a major road safety project of the Labour-run Welsh government, it made 20mph the default limit for any built-up area, defined as roads where lamp-posts were no more than about 180 metres apart. This took in about a third of all roads, with the Conservative opposition saying the definition was far too broad. Continue reading...
