Welsh roads safer this spring compared to last – new data
Collisions and casualties on 20mph and 30mph roads have fallen by almost a quarter compared to the same period in 2023 – the lowest recorded outside of the pandemic.
The new data released today (October 24) reflects personal injury road collisions reported by police in Wales from April to June (quarter 2) 2024.
On 17 September last year, the Welsh Government introduced a new 20mph default speed limit on restricted roads – these are usually residential or busy pedestrian areas with streetlights.
During the spring of 2024, there were 361 road collisions on 20 and 30mph road speed limits combined.
This is 24% lower than in the same quarter in 2023 (477) and is the lowest quarter 2 figure recorded in Wales outside of the pandemic.
Casualty
Data shows that police-reported road collisions on 20mph and 30mph roads has declined steadily over the last decade.
During the spring of 2024, there were 444 road casualties on 20 and 30mph roads – among these, 6 were fatalities, 98 were serious and 340 were slight casualties.
This is 24% lower than in the same quarter in 2023 (584) – this figure has also been gradually declining over the past ten years.
Pandemic
In the first nine months since the introduction of 20mph in Wales, the number of collisions (26%) and casualties (28%) on 20mph and 30mph roads were down by more than a quarter.
The three quarterly reductions within this period are the three largest quarterly reductions outside the pandemic period.
However, the latest data for April and June also shows that the number of collisions on 20 and 30mph roads combined is 14% higher than in the previous quarter.
The Welsh Government says that because data is impacted by seasonal factors such as traffic volume and weather conditions it is advisable for statistics to be compared with the same period year on year rather than for consecutive periods.
For example, data recorded between April-June historically tends to be higher than between January-March – this has been the case in 11 of the last 15 years.
The data showed that in 2024 quarter 2 on all speed limits there were 730 police reported road collisions in Wales – 16% lower than in the same quarter in 2023 (869).
Significant
Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates said: “The data published today provides encouraging signs that things are moving in the right direction, with a fall year-on-year in collisions and casualties – the lowest on record outside the Covid pandemic period.
“We recognise there is still a way to go, we’ve always said it will take many years before we see any significant impact, but these figures are beginning to show a positive trend towards making our roads safer for everyone.
“Local Authorities are currently reviewing the feedback from their citizens and assessing it against our revised guidance to make sure they have the right speeds on the right roads, with road safety being at the heart of any decision made.”
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Let’s ignore the data which shows that the reduction to 20 mph, although implemented cack-handed by Welsh Labour, has made our roads safer by following like sheeple those on the right who have a political agenda not our children’s safety & wellbeing.
One wonders how many of the accidents that happened were caused by people that were breaking the speed limit ? Just a thought.
Why are 20mph and 30mph data figures combined?
If you were looking at the effect of smoking say, you wouldn’t combine smokers and non smokers!
Yes you would. You’d ask “are fewer people dying of lung cancer?” But you’d have to wait decades to find out.
Smokers and non smokers equals 100% of the population as there is no other category. The 20 mph and 30 mph only cover a proportion of the road network and fatal accidents can and do occur on these faster roads.