Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition opposing the Welsh Government's plan to change the default speed limit across the country from 30mph to 20mph in 2023. A vote in the Senedd held in July backed the government's proposal to limit residential roads and busy pedestrian streets to 20mph.
The Welsh Government say cutting the speed limit will reduce the risk and severity of injuries as a result of collisions between vehicles and vulnerable road users, encourage more people to cycle and walk, make Wales more attractive for communities, and bring physical and mental health benefits. You can read more about the government's plan here.
But not everyone agrees with the proposal. As of Friday, July 29, more than 39,160 have signed a petition calling on the Welsh Government to reconsider the decision. Adie Drury, who started the petition, is from the Flintshire town of Buckley, which is one of the eight places that has been chosen to pilot the scheme.
Read more: The town being made to move at 20mph now living with chaos, congestion, and abuse
In a statement alongside the petition Adie said that the scheme had been "causing chaos, people avoiding the area, and people having to take new routes" and claimed the new speed limit had caused more accidents as "people [were] now spending more time looking at their speedometers than they are on the road ahead".
They added: "Many of these roads aren't suitable for a 20mph speed limit. They are busy access roads on steep hills. 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. 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.
"It has caused bus delays making environmental commuting more inefficient than it was before. It is also going to affect property values on specific routes and traffic to be diverted into more residential areas to bypass this limit.
"There have not been high occurrence rates of road traffic accidents, deaths, or injuries on roads in and around Buckley that require a change to our regular 30mph limit on these roads. It’s entirely unjustified and was not supported by the community making it a non-democratic change. The community already support the 20mph zones outside schools and other significant areas and would fully support keeping these in place."
The rule will come into place in September 2023. The direct financial cost is around £33m but the Welsh Government say improved road safety resulting from a reduction in average speeds could result in a positive financial return over 30 years of around £25m due to cost savings associated with reduced emergency services and hospital treatment.
For this reason Public Health Wales has supported the plan saying it could have substantial health benefits as it reduces "the risk of crashing and the severity of crashes that do still happen" and encourages more people to walk and cycle, helping to fight obesity and improve mental wellbeing in the process. But on the other hand automotive services company RAC has argued that compliance with 20mph speed limits is "quite poor" with research showing an increasing number of drivers believing the limit is inappropriate for the road. The company suggested that rather than setting a default 20mph limit on all restricted roads it would be better to target areas where they are needed the most.
Climate change minister Julie James said such a change would have a positive impact on both the public health environment and communities. In her speech about the plans in July, the minister said: "We will use the principle that walking cycling and active travel must remain the best options for short urban journeys and a 20mph default speed limit will help achieve this.
"The introduction of a national 20mph limit would be an important and far reaching policy. If passed Wales would be the first country in the UK to introduce the change. We're asking you all to be part of this change and make our communities understand the wider benefits of 20mph.
"This change is a generational one and when the time to embed it will need to be accompanied by an important communication and marketing campaign and behaviour change initiatives. Achieving behavioural change is challenging but Wales has previously shown that we can do it successfully with policies such as organ donation, the banning of smoking in public places, and limiting the use of plastic bags. It does, however, require a collaborative effort between agencies, local authorities, and by communities. We need to bring speeds down."
In response to the petition, a spokesperson for Welsh Government said: "Legislation to lower the speed limit on residential roads and busy pedestrian streets from 30mph to 20mph was approved by a large majority in the Senedd earlier this month. The new legislation will not apply a blanket speed limit on all roads, it will simply make the default limit 20mph. Decreasing speeds not only reduces accidents and saves lives, it also helps improve quality of life."
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