Casualties on Wales’ 20mph and 30mph roads fall by 35%

Nation.Cymru staff

Road casualties on Wales’ 20mph and 30mph roads have fallen by 35% compared with the same period before the lower default speed limit was introduced.

Provisional police figures recorded 378 casualties on those roads between April and June this year, down from 584 during the same quarter in 2023.

The number of collisions fell by 37% over that period, from 477 to 299.

Deputy Minister for Transport Mark Hooper said the figures provided further evidence that the default 20mph limit was helping to improve road safety.

“These latest figures are extremely encouraging and provide more evidence that the 20mph default speed limit is helping to make our roads safer,” he said.

“Every one of those figures represents someone who has avoided injury, or death, on our roads.”

Compared with April to June last year, collisions on 20mph and 30mph roads combined fell by 22%, while casualties dropped by 20%.

The Welsh Government said collision and casualty figures for roads with those two limits combined were the lowest recorded on this basis outside the Covid pandemic.

The statistics combine roads with both speed limits to allow comparisons before and after the default changed in September 2023.

At that point, the estimated length of 20mph roads increased from around 870km to 13,000km, while the length of 30mph roads fell from approximately 13,100km to 980km.

Across all Welsh roads, police recorded 638 collisions resulting in 856 casualties during the second quarter of 2026. Those totals were down 19% and 20% respectively compared with the same period last year.

Compared with April to June 2023, collisions across all roads were 27% lower and casualties were down 25%.

However, the statistical report notes that collisions and casualties have generally been declining over the past decade. It cautions that quarterly figures can fluctuate and are affected by factors including traffic volumes and weather.

Longer-term trends provide a better indication of changes than individual quarterly results, it says.

The report also estimates that 294 people were killed or seriously injured across Welsh roads between April and June, using figures adjusted to account for differences in police recording methods.

Forces are moving to an injury-based system intended to make classifications more consistent. Statisticians advise against comparing severity trends until further adjusted figures are published. These changes do not affect the overall totals for collisions, casualties or deaths.

Ongoing evaluation

Mr Hooper said the government would continue assessing the policy’s effects.

“We will continue to monitor these trends closely, as part of our ongoing evaluation of the policy, but today’s figures are a strong sign that things continue to move in the right direction.”

The figures cover personal injury collisions reported to police. They exclude incidents on private land, those where nobody was injured and collisions not reported to police.

The latest data are provisional and may be revised.

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