Campaign group claims 20mph speed limit ‘has not reduced casualties or improved air quality’
Martin Shipton
A campaign group set up to oppose the Welsh Government’s default speed limit of 20mph claims the change has failed to reduce the number of casualties or improve air quality.
The Welsh Government accepts that air quality hasn’t improved, but insists casualties have done down.
The United Voices Senedd Lobby Group was established in 2023 to monitor and protest against the impact of the 20mph legislation and hold the Welsh Government to account.
Members of the group come from across Wales.
Agenda
A spokesperson for the group said: “Has the time now come for the Welsh Labour Government and Ken Skates MS, the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport to finally admit to the public that the implementation of the 20mph legislation was never about benefits to the climate, nor about saving lives or saving the NHS money?
“We question whether the decision to implement the policy was only ever about meeting their agenda as set out in the Welsh Labour document Wales Transport Delivery Plan. When the Welsh Government first announced their ‘we are listening’ exercise, it included a review of the current guidance that local authorities across Wales used to determine whether a road met the criteria for being 20mph.
“Members of the public were not just asked but actively encouraged to contact their local authority with information on roads that they felt should be returned to 30mph. This sounds good, but the reality is that no one in the Welsh Government is actually listening or explaining their agenda to the public.
“The promised benefits to the environment did not happen. This is illustrated by these direct quotes from the Welsh Government document Introducing 20mph speed limits: frequently asked questions:
“Transport for Wales (TfW) published the 20mph phase 1 air quality monitoring report in May 2024. The data shows no material effect on local air quality to date.’ As well as: ’Imperial College London found that 20mph limited areas were “pollution neutral”.’
“The Welsh Government then moved the emphasis to saving lives. This too is not supported by recently released statistics. The figures comparing Quarter 4 2022 with Quarter 4 2023, when 20mph was implemented, do not show the promised benefit of lives saved and serious injuries reduced. There has been one less death when comparing those quarterly figures and serious injuries actually increased to 92.”
Comparison
In its press release, the group reproduces a graph that compares statistics from 2022 and 2023 on a quarterly basis.
The spokesperson said: “The change in the default speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph became a legal requirement on September 17 2023. The graph shows that there were nine people seriously injured in Q4 2022 [between October and December] at 20 mph, while this increased to 92 seriously injured people in Q4 2023, an increase of 922%.”
In terms of a straight comparison, there were nine people seriously injured in Q4 2022 at 20mph and 111 at 30mph. In Q4 2023 there were 92 people seriously injured at 20mph and 13 at 30mph.
The group’s spokesperson added: “This leaves us with one more quote from the same document – one that appears to be the real reason behind the 20mph legislation: ‘We believe the lower speed limits may encourage more people to choose active ways to travel and there will be fewer polluting cars on the roads.’
“The recent announcement on the revised guidelines does nothing to dissipate the anger felt towards the Welsh Labour Government. All this legislation has achieved is more scrutiny of the Welsh Government than it has ever had over the last 25 years.
“For the first time the public are more engaged with how the Senedd works and how they operate. To date that scrutiny has found a lot to be angry about. The waste of public money, the ‘we know best’ attitude, adding 36 more Senedd Members at a time when the NHS and all public services are struggling for funding.
“The Welsh Labour Government is out of touch with the wants and needs of the people they represent. Changing the First Minister will only work if the next candidate not only says they will listen to the people they want to represent but takes action to show they have truly listened and will not make the same mistakes as their predecessors.”
Air quality
A Welsh Government spokesperson responded: “The introduction of 20mph limits in residential and built-up areas is designed to save lives. We have never claimed it would have a direct impact on air quality. However it makes places feel safer and more pleasant to be, especially where pedestrians and cyclists mix with vehicles.
“Statistics show that speeds on 20mph roads have come down and road collision data published in June shows that casualties have reduced on roads since the introduction of the new 20mph speed limits in September last year with a reduction in road casualties on 20mph and 30mph roads of 218, from 681 in 2022 to 463 in 2023.
“We’ve still got a way to go, but it’s encouraging to see that things are moving in the right direction. Every casualty reduced makes a real difference.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
From this article, the number of people injured on 20mph and 30mph roads went down overall from 120 to 105.
More were injured on 20mph roads because there were a lot, lot more 20mph roads.
Eluned Morgan is known for not listening to the public, look ar the state welsh NHS is in, the Grange is a joke, now she’s been made first minister, god help us, 20mph is here to stay, she’ll pass the buck to councils, they want to force us onto buses!
Its the whole of Wales….
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is a joke……
I don’t know who downvoted you.
Obviously they or their loved ones have never had to go to A&E or book a doctor’s appointment in Wales.
The NHS is on its backside and successive health ministers have failed it.
What buses are those?
Look, if every road in Wales was dropped down to 20mph I’d understand but it’s only around 30% – hardly bringing the place to a stop. Besides, if the policy has saved only one life it’s a worthwhile policy that should be kept. Life before poltical point scoring.
I think that much, pragmatically, depends on how local authorities have interpreted the way in which the 20 mph limit should be imposed. From what I’ve read, it appears at least possible that some have adopted a ‘super-cautious’ and even arguably ‘jobsworth’ approach, imposing the limit unanalytically on every arguably ‘urban’ bit of road – even when some of the the road has no properties alongside it and the consequence has been serial variations of the speed limit close together on the same road. That appears not to have happened in Denbighshire where I live. In our nearest town, an… Read more »
It’s hard to know how many “near misses” there have been, as they won’t appear in any statistics. But in only two weeks I’ve had three incidents of children jumping out in front of my car from between parked traffic I shudder to think what would have happened if I had been going faster than 20. That’s enough for me.
Maybe feckless parents should teach their offspring to cross roads safely.
Then the children will be the ones that get injured and worse.
But we get to drive at 30mph so not all bad.
Sorry, I think these anti 20 are just grasping at straws, and the evidence is working against them, it showed a drop in Belfast, and showing a drop in Spain and now Cymru
When a group comes out with classic lines like this: “The waste of public money, the ‘we know best’ attitude, adding 36 more Senedd Members at a time when the NHS and all public services are struggling for funding.” you know they’re from some right-wing. anti-democracy outfit. I suspect they’re a Reform UK front group. Much has been made of the relatively large petition started by a semi-literate detractor, but even though it is relatively large, it still only represents a fifth of the Welsh electorate, which is, If I’m not mistaken, a minority. This means that the majority are… Read more »
More people voted for the petition that voted for Labour in the last Senedd election.
Only 25% of the electorate voted in favour of devolution so, by your logic, that was invalid also.
Be careful with the anti-democracy accusations unless you advocate removing the Welsh Government and closing the Senedd!
The problem with the anti 20mph petition was, it was set up and ran from Sunderland England ,by a Tory councilor,and anybody from any country in the world could sign it, there are cases where Bangladesh, Germany Australia , among a load of countries on the list, and Facebook users from England boasting of signing the petition, the same can not be said for the vote on devolution where only registered voters from Cymru were able to vote..
What are these petition signers doing now.
Any demonstrations, marches.
Maybe some mass driving slowly protests through towns.
Online whinging that took seconds, not exactly a commitment for change.
Why don’t you try engaging with the issue rather than just insulting people?
450.000 welsh voters signed a petition to repeal the 20mph law 6000 voters signed a petition to support it. Who’s not paying attention?
But really that’s all they did. An online whinge that took seconds and got it off their chest.
The large majority have moved on
The significant number who didn’t even live in Cymru don’t could at all.
Arty D’s going to be rushed off his feet dealing with this “lobby group”. His 20 mph comfort blanket will be going like the clappers!
I don’t have an issue with 20 mph. I have an issue with areas that have multiple changes in the speed limit within a short distance. I do think that road safety could be improved if people had to pass a test before they can drive high performance cars.
I don’t disagree on your initial point, but I don’t necessarily agree with the latter. This is purely anecdotal, but it’s been my experience that people who buy expensive high-performance sports cars actually drive them relatively sensibly. They’re more aware of how much power is available under the bonnet. There are always people who drive incredibly dangerously, and they don’t need monstrous 250mph weapons to do it. It doesn’t matter whether they’re in a £500,000 hypercar capable of moving at 250mph, or a clapped out old Fiesta with 150,000 miles on the clock. The danger comes from the person in… Read more »
As someone who has worked in the ambulance service for quite some time There have been a number of cases where people have traded in their trusty old car for a newer model (possibly changing to automatic transmission too ) and have lost control while manoeuvring in car parks etc.
I’ve absolutely no cause to doubt or contradict your experience. I’ve seen novice and experienced drivers alike get themselves into a dangerous situation because they were not used to a newer and more powerful car. I’ve been in that situation myself. When I first rode the 1300cc motorcycle I currently have, I caught myself doing in excess of 50mph in a 30mph area. I was not used to how effortlessly that bike can accelerate and how different it felt compared to my previous bike. That’s not an excuse, and I hasten to add that I slowed right back down when… Read more »
It
s not the nut holding the steering wheel on its the nut holding steering wheelIf You shout loud enough and long enoughsome people will believe you.
I don’t. 20mph is a good investment.
Air quality won’t improve as exhaust after treatment systems only work efficiently above circa 170 DegC so not efficient at 20 mph or in traffic jams
Yeah what’s the matter with these people introducing laws to help save peoples lives haven’t they got better things to do ? Vroom, Vroom!!!
Drivers would need to be doing 20 MPH to measure anything. Not up to 70 mph on my 20 mph road. We don’t have road safety prevention, only reaction on our roads. Something has to change, because the drivers now are the most ignorant with mobiles in use and less feel as they get less feedback from the car due to vibration dampening and soundproofing of the engine. Add the increase in power andall these huge vehicles on tiny roads, disaster is never far away.
You make an interesting point Karl on drivers doing 70 in a 20 Zone.
Personally I have no strong feelings either way on the 20mph speed limit, however you couldn’t get most drivers to stick to the previous 30mph speed limit.
The argument over the difference between 30mph and 20mph speed limit policy is nothing but a political ruse to take the pressure off politicians due to the collapse of public services, the NHS, police service etc . The speed limits should be put back to 30mph as UK government research highlights that the mean speed of traffic within the 30mph speed limit zones is 22.9mph? People are not going to give up their independence by catching a bus in the freezing rain and windy condition when they can drive their own cars. And why should they be? I bet every… Read more »
” I bet every climate change demonstrator owns a mobile phone, use gas/electric central heating, buy commercially available clothes, watch a tv, use a computer “
I bet every car drivers does all that and in addition drives a car.
“and yet we the car driver represent the worst of society????”
That’s just playing the victim.
Using a car is privilege, can be a necessity but isn’t a right.
To expensive
The 20 mph has increased the amount of reckless, negligent drivers! They just pull out in front of you as your going so slow they expect you just to stop, the more people I know see in phones has increased so much it’s ridiculous, pedestrians also just walk out Infront of you for the same reason that people pull out! Safety, they are 🤡s thinking this has improved safety!
Maybe the increase in injuries is because people expect the traffic to be doing 20 mph, when in reality many motorists are exceeding this by quite some margin. I know this as I live on a 20 mph road and the vast majority are speeding.
How many in this so called campaign group are English tories? Stoke the campaign hatred, Labour failure… Anything to cause division. This 20mph rule has worked well in other countries. Fair to say we need to give it more time.
Automatic speed restrictions have come in on cars, some reduce the power to the engine, so it will be interesting to see if that improves emissions.
It was never supposed to improve air quality, so that’s not a surprising revelation!