Over 2,500 sign Buckley petition against 20mph speed limits in Wales
Over 2,500 people have signed a petition by a Buckley resident aimed at stopping the roll-out of 20mph speed limits in Wales.
Buckley is one of eight areas that are part of a pilot scheme aimed at gathering data and developing a best practice approach before the proposed full rollout across the rest of the country in 2023.
A Welsh Government taskforce backed the change to 20mph, saying that there “is overwhelming evidence that lower speeds result in fewer collisions and a reduced severity of injuries; and consistent evidence that casualties are reduced when 20mph limits are introduced.”
A Welsh Government’s Public Attitude Survey suggested that four in five Welsh adults (80%) would support a speed limit of 20 mph in the area they live, compared to one in five (20%) who would not.
However, one resident of Buckley, Adie Drury, started the petition saying that the speed limits were “causing chaos” and people were “avoiding the area” as a result.
He said that calling it a pilot scheme was “insulting” when it had already been decided that the change would be rolled out across Wales in 2023.
“The lorries are struggling to get up the hills in such a low gear and sticking to such a low speed downhill is hard on the brakes,” he said.
“This is doing nothing to reduce emissions, instead there will be more pollution from more cars struggling in a lower gear for a longer time.”
He added that drivers are “spending so much time looking at their speedometers that it is actually a cause of dangerous driving!”
‘Positive step’
Buckley, Flintshire is one of the areas taking part in the first phase. The other seven are:
- Whitchurch in Cardiff
- St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire
- Llanelli North, Carmarthenshire
- St Brides Major, Vale of Glamorgan
- Cilfrew Village, Neath Port Talbot
- Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
- Severnside, Monmouthshire
The Welsh Government said that as well as the consultation they would conduct focus groups with residents from communities involved in the first phase, and commission independent research before a full rollout next year.
The Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters said as the pilots were rolled out earlier this month: “The evidence is clear, decreasing speeds not only reduces accidents and saves lives, but helps improve people’s quality of life – making our streets and communities a safer and more welcoming place for cyclists and pedestrians, whilst helping reduce our environmental impact.
“As with any cultural change we know it takes time to win hearts and minds and inevitably we will face some challenge, but I am confident that if we all work together we can make the necessary changes that will benefit us now and in the future. ”
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Vehicle lights are set in the Mot regulations for use at legal limits on motorways. ie on the flat at 70 mph
Gearboxes on most vehicles are designed to operate with maximum fuel efficiency at I believe about 56 mph in the highest gear few if any vehicles have gearboxes designed to function efficiently 20 mph
So your precious car is more important than a child’s life?
Gosh that’s a huge jump in logic !
My understanding is that the 20mph is to reduce The impact force upon collision and Reduce emissions / air pollution in urban areas , fuel efficency is not a reason to set speed limits if it was then dual carriageways and motorways would need to be set at 56 mph , if any engine is efficent then it burns and produces co2 /no2 /voc at it’s peak rate hence the emission part of the MOT is carried out at certain rpm’s to analyse how much pollution is produced. Time to accept that lower speed limits are here to stay if… Read more »
Cars were designed with best efficiency in the upper 50’s back in the eighties. Nowadays with modern engine mapping the efficiency curve is pretty flat throughout the useful range of engine speeds. For any given gear, the greatest cause of fuel inefficiency now is drag, which is proportional to the square of vehicle speed. I can’t comment on larger vehicles. I guess that most modern cars will do 25 in fifth gear. Dropping down a gear to do 20 is inefficient and dirty. On the other hand, if 20 is very much safer than 25 then I’m all for it.… Read more »
Let’s have a petition against lowering all of our trunk roads to 50mph as well, especially the new stretches of the Heads of the Valleys. What is the point in spending millions of pounds improving the road to then reduce it from 60mph to 50mph
Because it saves lives? We killed 1390 people on U.K. roads last year!
Lower speed to save a child’s life? What? Drive slower to cut down on collisions? Really? Cut speed to save a cyclists life? The very idea that I should sacrifice a few minutes of time getting to my destination makes me feel slightly queezy. . How will I cope? And what about my poor car? It’s not designed to drive at 20, think how much damage that will do to my gearbox? Just to save the odd life? Preposterous! I won’t stand for it I tell you! I demand the right to drive as fast as precious car will go!… Read more »
These 20mph add on’s while well intentioned are but very old hat and have little effect over all in what is becoming a real mess. Each council area follows its own agenda with differing criteria, roll out, monitoring and evaluation.
This is a Cymru wide indicative. Councils will not be allowed to opt out.
Ah world 🌎 domination next ?
20 mph by schools and in seaside resorts at least…
Car brain has severely afflicted the 2,500 people who signed the petition
No Artic will struggle up a hill at a low speed today, maybe 50 years ago but not in 2022. Kids health is more important than some doddering Gammon
”Doddering Gammon”! 😂😂😂 the link between car dinosaurs & Brexit had not occurred to me but now you say it.
Are you Richard Burton ?
Living on a narrow residential 20mph road I would say that about 1/2 of drivers make no attempt to slow down and it is those drivers who’s actions need to be affected, even 25mph is better than 35mph. Driving an old ICE car at 20mph in a hilly area can be difficult without watching the speedo too much, they were not designed to be driven any distance at that speed. However, with EVs taking over, which will not have gears but have regenerative braking, and with automatic recognition by the car of speed limits compliance will increase over time. But… Read more »
That must be 2,500 arragant idiots in Wales.I have never heard such Tory bleating about their precious cars; they certainly don’t care about a child’s life. I regularly drive through the 20mph zone at Llantrisant with no trouble at all, and drivers are respecting the new law. In America, 20mph zones in residential areas are very common. So why the spluttering outrage?
Thanks for the replies
The point being made was that vehicle design and specs need to be dramatically reviewed
Driving standards are in separate league