Residential roads in Wales will have a default speed limit of 20mph later this year. And one politician thinks the rest of the UK could follow suit in a few years.
The Welsh Government hopes the dramatic change - coming into force in the country on September 17 - will reduce road crashes, protect vulnerable people and encourage more residents to use sustainable modes of transport. Mark Ruskell, of the Scottish Green Party, has campaigned for lower speed limits in Scotland since 2019.
The Member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife told inews.co.uk recently that he believed most UK residential streets would be 20mph in a few years. He said: “I think we are at a nationwide tipping point, and I think in a few years’ time, the whole UK will inevitably be 20mph as default.”
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He added: “There will be exceptions that will be needed on urban roads that are more arterial in nature, for key bus routes into towns and cities, but 30mph will no longer be the default speed limit where people live, work and play. It has been the default for generations, and now it’s now.”
It comes after new 20mph limits were introduced on a number of roads in Nottingham last year such as the southern section of Mansfield Road and streets surrounding Nottingham Trent University.
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