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Last summer was the safest on Wales’ roads since record began

30 Jan 2025 3 minute read
20mph zone

Last summer was the safest on Wales’ roads since records began, according to new police statistics.

The latest police recorded collision stats, covering July – September 2024, show collisions on Welsh roads were at their lowest level for that quarter, including during the Covid pandemic.

The figures published today also provide the first year of statistics since the controversial default 20mph speed limit was introduced.

Killed

They show there were around 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured on roads with 20mph and 30mph road speed limits in the 12 month period after the introduction of the 20mph default speed limit, compared to the same period a year before.

The number of casualties on roads with 20 and 30mph road speed limits (combined) in 2024 between July and September was the lowest third quarter figures in Wales since records began.

During the 12-month period from quarter 4 in 2023 to quarter 3 2024 Q3 (after the introduction of the 20mph default speed limit), the number of casualties on 20 and 30mph roads (combined) is 28% lower than the same period a year before.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales Ken Skates said: “The data published today provides information for the first full year since the 20mph default speed limit was introduced.

“The picture continues to be encouraging with the number of collisions on our roads at their lowest level for this quarter.  We know there is a way to go, and we’ve always said it will take a number of years to see the full impact of the policy but to see the figures for this quarter at their lowest level is positive.

“We continue to build on the consensus that where 20mph is the right speed it works well.  We have listened to people on the policy, and we have empowered local authorities to make changes where it is safe to do so.”

‘Concern’

Responding to the latest figures, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, Peter Fox MS, said: “While we welcome any decrease in road casualties, these figures don’t tell the whole story. Our concern remains the way the 20mph speed limit has been implemented.

“The Welsh Labour government’s default approach has created confusion and frustration for drivers and their current review must address these implementation issues and ensure a more sensible and effective approach.

“We continue to believe a targeted approach, focusing on sensitive areas like schools and hospitals, is the right way to improve road safety without unnecessarily penalising drivers on roads where 20mph is inappropriate. That is why we would scrap Labour’s default 20mph and introduce it where it is needed.”

The latest published statistics are available in full here.


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Erisian
Erisian
7 days ago

I wonder how much lower those figures could be if the police actually start enforcing compliance. My car has a speed limiter which I use when entering a 20mph zone and I have lost count count of the selfish so-and-sos who have overtaken me.

David Richards
David Richards
7 days ago

So reducing speed limits saves lives – who’d have think it. Wonder what the barmy former welsh tory leader RT Davies has got to say about this?

Brychan
Brychan
7 days ago

If you look at the dataset and graphs in the link which shows the trend from 2010 to 2024 we see that this decline is casualties and severity is inline with the decline is casualties and severity for over the previous decade. It shows no specific effect by the introduction of the 20mph default speed limit. Just indicates the continued refinement of motor vehicle design.

Ap Kenneth
7 days ago
Reply to  Brychan

SUVs are not a refinement.

Brychan
Brychan
7 days ago
Reply to  Ap Kenneth

It relates to crumple zones, impact cushions, better brakes, automatic hazard warning electronics with the more recent features of collision avoidance software and also visibility. Not ‘looks’.

Matthew
Matthew
6 days ago
Reply to  Brychan

Motor vehicle design has got very good at keeping the occupants of the vehicle safe, but not great for anyone outside of a car. The main reason that this legislation was needed in the first place was because of this. Taller bonnets are much more likely to strike major organs and cause death or serious injuries and the increased weight of cars over time from proliferation of SUVs and crossovers means that a fatal energy transfer happens at a lower speed. Simple physics.

Gonna be awkward
Gonna be awkward
7 days ago

Congrats for putting the source, you should definitely do this more.
However it clearly shows less accidents during covid so last summer was not the safest since records began in2010.

Philip Owen
7 days ago

I support the 20 mph limit but the reduction in casualties is actually less than the established trend shown by Brychan’s source. Given the simultaneous introduction of collision avoidance, lane keeping, reversing cameras, blind spot detectors and probably other features I hae forgotten, the reductioni in casualties should have been higher. Celebration should be muted.

Matthew
Matthew
6 days ago
Reply to  Philip Owen

Safety features on modern cars are mostly designed to keep the occupants safe. Not people outside the car. Hence the need to slow the cars down to keep the potential energy transferred into a pedestrian down (the main reason for fatalities), and give the average driver more time to react to what’s going on in front of them, especially as there is an epidemic of distracted drivers. A car doing 30mph is still doing 22mph in the distance it takes a car doing 20 to completely stop.

Peter
Peter
6 days ago

Data from the NHS should be the most convincing if they keep a record of the number and severity of road injuries they treat.

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