20 is Plenty, is it F**k!

On the 17th September 2023 the Welsh Government introduced a nationwide reduction of the default 30mph speed limit on restricted roads to 20mph. A restricted road is defined as one with lamposts placed not more than 200 yards apart, typically town centres, residential and built-up areas.

The rational by the WG for the introduction is it will result in 40% fewer collisions, 6-10 lives saved and 1200-2000 people avoiding injury every year. So, introduced on a road safety agenda but by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change - the WG expect the change to be 'pollution neutral', so no change in fossil fuel usage leading to no change to carbon emissions. One wonders if the Minister's time would be better spent on other matters.*

The blanket nationwide imposition of this change is nonsensical, not all roads are equal, some are clearly more dangerous to pedestrians than others but these areas already have reduced limits or other traffic calming measures in place.

The WG say it isn't a 'blanket' change as they are allowing local authorities to exempt roads where pedestrians and cyclists don't mix with motor traffic. How many already overstretched local authorities are going to do this? Nowadays there are cyclists on most roads and with another aim of the legislation to encourage more people to walk and cycle, very few roads will be appropriate for exemption.

I was out of the country during the first week of its introduction, so today was my first experience of the new go-slow roads. I live close to a school, so existing traffic calming measures and increased traffic at peak times means you never get over 20 anyway. A little further down the road there is a wider open stretch where the natural driving speed is around 35mph, even though it was previously a 30, now a 20. The vast majority are still doing 30-plus; this morning I followed a slower vehicle and the missus says to me 'Oh my God! Is this really how slow it is now?' I had to inform her that, no - we're actually speeding at 25mph! I've taken a couple of trips around town today and no one is driving at 20, even public buses are still doing 30. I experimented by setting my speed limiter to 20; I had to switch it off as a queue built up behind me and I felt like a dick.

Whilst it is still early days, my observations are the introduction of this legislation, at a cost of £33 million and £4.5 billion to the economy over 30 years, is not going to equate to the supposed reduction in casualties every year as speeds haven't decreased - people are capable of making an intelligent decision as to the the appropriate speed of a road.

Despite all this, there is still one huge controversial elephant in the room that no one is addressing. The legislation has been introduced by the Deputy Climate Change Minister to save lives, yet ironically it is over-population that is driving climate change! Okay, it is only 10 people a year, they alone are not going to cause massive amazonian deforestation but it highlights a problem with society today. We put the sanctity of life before everything else, no matter what the cost, creating a world which cannot sustain its population. Is it really worth it?

*Correction: Lee Waters, the current Deputy Minister for Climate Change was the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport when this started in 2019.