How refreshing to read an article about the Welsh government’s default 20mph speed limit policy that unemotionally sets out the facts and leaves readers to decide whether or not it has been a success (Wales’s 20mph speed limit saves lives and money. So why has it become a culture-war battlefield, 18 November?). The policy is working: it saves public money, reduces the number of serious traffic accidents and lightens the load on the NHS in Wales.
The latest data vindicates Lee Waters MS who, as transport minister, masterminded the policy and argued long and hard for its benefits. He suffered much criticism, ridicule and verbal abuse at the time, not least from Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives. In September 2023, Waters survived a Senedd vote of no confidence initiated by Davies and his party, but has said he will step down from the Senedd in 2026.
I imagine it is too much to expect Davies to do the honourable thing: publicly acknowledge that the 20mph limit is achieving its objectives, and apologise to Waters.
Mike Pender
Cardiff
• If the government is serious about reducing NHS costs in England, it need look no further than a 20mph limit in residential areas. There are people who would be dead or seriously injured but for the courage of the Senedd. There will have been huge savings to the NHS in Wales. Everyone wins, not least the accident and emergency services.
Bill Bytheway
Swansea
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