It is almost two years since Wales introduced a 20mph speed limit on most urban and residential roads. It was a divisive move which impacted over 7,500 roads that previously had a 30mph limit. But what impact has it had on Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs)?
It has been well known for some time that reducing average speed can reduce the severity and frequency of collisions. As a general rule, for every 1mph reduction in average speed, collision frequency drops by around 5%, and charities such as Brake, who support victims of RTA’s, have been actively campaigning for the introduction of 20mph speed limits in built up areas across the UK. Yet when it was introduced in Wales, it was met with a huge backlash.
Despite this, the numbers are speaking for themselves. From October 2023 to September 2024, which was the first 12 months of the 20mph speed limit being enforced, there were 28% fewer casualties on the roads than in the same period the previous year.
In July 2024, the Welsh Government responded to concerns and afforded Councils the flexibility to review the roads which had been set at default 20mph speed limits. Many of the councils asked for resident feedback to nominate roads which they would want to see revert back to 30mph.
Since then, four roads in Cardiff have returned to 30mph, with more than fifty in Wrexham doing the same. Fourteen roads in Newport are set to revert to 30mph – this was originally sixteen but following objections from residents on safety grounds, two of these were dropped.
So what is the view going forward? Welsh Government statisticians have said that they need at least three years of data for evaluation of causation versus trend effects. That said, not only is the 20mph speed limit saving lives, it is also saving money. It has been reported that, in the first nine months of the scheme, based on the Department for Transport’s estimated societal costs for deaths and injuries on the roads, the drop in numbers of RTA’s had saved in the region of £45.5m.
The 20mph speed limit is also being adopted elsewhere. Scotland have committed to having their local authorities adopt 20mph as the norm in urban/village environments by the end of 2025 and in England, more local authorities are adopting the scheme, including Cornwall where they have been rolling out the speed limit since 2022 and it now covers the majority of their communities.
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Being involved in a road traffic accident can be devastating.
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