Wales’s reduction of speed limits in urban areas from 30 mph to 20 mph has come into effect. WalesOnline runs through the controversial law and what it means for motorists. Here’s an excerpt:
The law in Wales has now changed and the default speed limit on restricted roads is 20 mph. A last-minute attempt to get the policy thrown out failed in the Senedd only days ago and despite polling showing a majority of people oppose the policy the Labour-run Welsh Government has continued with its implementation saying it will save lives and soon feel normal for drivers.
Here we look at the biggest questions drivers will have.
Are all roads going to have a 20 mph limit?
No – it will affect most 30 mph roads but not all. The official definition is that it is for restricted roads.
What is a restricted road?
There is no definitive definition but restricted roads are usually located in residential and built-up areas where there are lots of people. They often have street lights placed no more than 200 yards apart on them. Not all 30 mph roads are restricted roads and those remaining as 30 mph will be signposted.
How many roads are affected?
Latest data shows currently 37% of Welsh roads are 30 mph but that will drop to 3%.
Who decides which roads are exempt from the new law?
It is up to councils to decide the roads which will be exempt from the change and maps of all the roads affected by the change, as well as the roads remaining 30 mph, have been published and you can see those here. Councils have already made some exemptions but they can continue to assess whether roads should be exempt.
Will I be fined or banned if I’m caught speeding?
There are a number of ways the limit will be enforced. There are the fixed roadside cameras and mobile vans or officers run by GoSafe. Police can also stop people and issue fines and fire service staff will also be able to stop speeding drivers in 20 mph areas and offer them the opportunity to watch an educational video rather than face a fine or prosecution. The video warns about the dangers of excessive speeds and highlights the benefits of slower speed but it will only be offered to those motorists not driving excessively over the speed limit.
Communities will be able to run their own schemes and if they notify GoSafe of a speeding driver the motorist will receive a letter warning them they were caught speeding and run the risk of prosecution in future.
GoSafe say the main initial plan is to educate people. GoSafe and Welsh police forces say they support the new national 20 mph speed limit and will be “engaging with motorists and communities, to ensure the new speed limit is respected”. Go Safe say enforcement will take place “where it is needed… and will be carried out through a combination of mobile enforcement vehicles and fixed cameras as is the case now”. They have extra funding to pay for education for the next six months which they hope will be increased to last for 12 months. …
Will this make my journey take longer?
The Welsh Government say many cases lowering the speed limit to 20 mph will have little or no impact on journey times. Where there is an impact Welsh Government analysis showed that most journeys would only be around one minute longer but this would make the roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
How will I know if I’m in a 20 mph or 30 mph zone?
The Deputy Minister for Climate Change Lee Waters has admitted that different councils are taking different approaches. “We know that some councils will have all their signs up on Sunday and others have decided to take a different approach in sequencing the change,” he said. His advice to the Senedd was: “‘See street lights, think 20 mph’ is the clear piece of advice we can give our constituents.” …
Do bikes have to follow the speed limit?
Bikes are exempt but when asked about electric bikes or scooters Welsh Government officials pointed out electric scooters are illegal and should not be used on roads anyway.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Mail reports that Welsh residents have begun responding to the recently implemented 20 mph speed limit by taking matters into their own hands, painting over road signs for the reduced speed zones.
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Do all you can to resist.
Or start getting a horse and cart, because I think that’s what they seem to want to go back to. Stagecoaches perhaps.
The horse and cart would not be enough for these people They would have you back in the stoneage where they would be out with their placards telling us we are running out of stones
Horses probably fart and cause climate change, don’t you know.
https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245548
We are. It was noticeable yesterday that once past the one or 2 zealots who were complying most drivers were breaking the new speed limit. Anyway, it is extremely confusing….this is what one wag wrote on a local FB page….
“There seems to be some significant confusion here in Wales regarding the Speed Limit change and so, I thought I would help by briefly explaining how the change works so that there can be no confusion:
“Any roads that were previously 30 will now be 20 apart from the roads that aren’t going to be 20, which will still remain as 30. When you see street lights you have to assume that the roads will be 20 even if the signs still say 30 because despite the signs saying 30, the roads could be 20, apart from, of course, the roads (as explained above) which will remain 30 despite them being 20. It’s also important to remember that there will still be a number of roads which despite them having streetlights will not be 20, and in these cases they could be 30, 40, 50, 60 or even 70, however, always bear in mind that even if the signs on these roads still state 30 they could, of course, be 20 unless they are one of the roads that have been designated 30, in which case the 20 restriction will not apply.
“I trust that clarifies. It’s really not difficult.” Complete chaos….
So being hit by a bike at 30mph is OK?
When I was 18 or so I lived in a town with a very long, straight, 1:10 dual carriageway hill leading down into the town centre. Halfway down the hill the speed limit dropped from 40 to 30mph. On one occasion while riding my bike ‘hell-for-leather’ down into town a police car with a squawk speaker on the boot overtook: ‘Slow down you f*****g idiot!’ (50 or so years ago the cops didn’t get into trouble for that sort of language). He was right, of course. I’m sure I thought 18 year-olds are immortal.
Updated to add: Bike riders can’t get ‘done’ for speeding but sometimes can be done for riding like loonies.
If they are on the road getting in the way of other road users they should be obeying the speed limit, full stop. Far more dangerous to crash your bike at 30mph than your car, surely?
Oh, without a doubt.
A few weeks back, I was walking along the pavement next to a main road and an electric bike went past me at about 50-60mph on the pavement. As it had electric enhancement, it was almost silent. Scared the heck out of me. If I’d dithered (as is my right on a pedestrian walkway) or suddenly decided to move towards the inside edge of the pavement, rather than next to the kerb, I’d have been killed.
What’s the law wrt electric bikes? The article above states that electric scooters are illegal, so why are electric bikes allowed and what’s more, it seems, don’t even have to obey the speed limit?
According to my local bike shop electrical bikes (ones with pedals attached) are not allowed to go more than 15mph. Most I think are primed for that limit. But of course going downhill they can go any speed
Many people modify them, and add bigger batteries to go faster! It is probably an offence.
Thanks, I didn’t know that. Like you say I’m sure they don’t stick to it on the hills.
Totally, utterly, completely (I could go on…) pointless and stupid. A globalist plan if ever I saw one. Driving at 20mph means driving in 3rd gear. It will lead to worn out gearboxes especially with the over zealous speed nazis able to stop you and order you to be brainwashed, and more old cars off the road. Most drivers, myself included, find it almost impossible to drive at 20mph for long periods. It’s a kerb crawl. Does it save lives? Where are the stats? What is the evidence? Furthermore, as A.Contrarian implies above, being hit by a bike at 30 mph can cause a lot of injury. Some bikers don’t care, they’ll ride on the road, on pavements, undertake cars etc endangering pedestrians and themselves in the process. People must resist this nonsense because it’ll come over here – to England – soon enough. This is just another brick in the wall with the nanny state imposing its ridiculous, unworkable, unenforceable laws on people, taking away common sense and personal responsibility all for the twin gods of health and safety.
This was trialled in a number of towns in Scotland in 2020. Although it was trialled, it didn’t go away again. It doesn’t make much difference to actual journey time if you stick to 20 although it could feel like it in some places. However, overtaking in a 20 zone was more common than when it had been 30. Traffic speed seems to be about 25-30 including the police and ambulance under non-emergency conditions.
About a year later, some roads reverted to a 30 limit.
Interesting downvote given that was a first-hand observation not an approval or criticism.
The downvoters are a mystery unto themselves…I let them graze in the pasture and pay them no heed.
I think that we need to accept people will not always agree with us, which is what the Sceptic is all about.
At least they are paying to do it!
But they don’t police it anyway. I live on street with 20mph limit and idiots are regularly flying past my house at 50 on motor bikes and cars. One car recently flew around the corner so fast he took a guys wall and gates down. Then you have those silly road bumps everywhere ruining peoples car. Why not just put up a speed camera and catch all the boy racers and fine them and that way the sensible drivers can have a smooth road to drive on? ——But braindead politicians always have this need to ACT, no matter how absurd their actions are.
Being hit by a bike at that speed can kill, it can kill at lesser speeds. My friend lost his sister to that cyclist who mounted the pavement in London a few years back
It’s not the speed per se, it’s the idiot in control or not of the bike/car that is the problem.
A nanny state is bad enough, but getting people to snitch on members of their community and inform GoSafe of speeding motorists, who can tell if a car is doing 25mph or 20mph, is far more sinister.
I give it 6 weeks maximum before the first government minister gets caught driving at more than 20mph.
Oooh let’s hope!
If everyone gets out and spray paints the signs black regularly, then the speed limit goes back up to the Highway Code definition of 30 and any violations of the alleged 20 speed limit are invalid as it wasn’t signposted.
I think that’s the point of the petty dictator’s change to the regulation. In the absence of signs to the contrary, the speed limit is 20mph in built-up areas.
Sorry for referring to the ‘petty dictator’. (Not actually sorry).
Can a Welsh law be enforced in an English court?
Wow. Just wow. News flash: the old joke about “making the speed limit 21 and the drinking age 55 would save even more lives” was NOT meant to be taken literally as prescriptive advice! (So when will the other shoe drop?) Rather it was meant to satirize the histrionic “if it saves even ONE life, it’s worth it” crowd. You know, the very same crowd that gave us those awful lockdowns and stuff like that. And now this. SMDH.
In south London, one of the cities afflicted by 20mph (was it one of Saint Boris’s bright ideas, when he was mayor?), I drove my car in a bus lane, as was allowed at the time, at exactly 20mph. (Incidentally, driving test candidates would fail for NOT using a bus lane when allowed, because of the rule about keeping left where possible.)
I was overtaken by a bus. There was a delicious irony to this.
Just about to feed the dogs then drive from Caernarfon to LLanberis and back. The rozzers ‘ll never catch me.
Saw someone pulled over by blue flashing lights just before I got back to Caernarfon. Two new 20 mph zones in Caernarfon, LLanberis high street is still 30 mph should you ever be able to get up to that speed before someone comes along in the opposite direction. Main delay was all the recabling work for Dinorwig power station but that probably started over a year ago and is nearly finished.
We’ll find out more about it in due course. The link to WalesOnline was useful as they are posting an interactive map that indicates the current choices of various local Councils. The latter probably have more bumf on their own sites, like swansea.gov.uk and the other towns/cities.
Even though I am stupid, even I can see that a 1 minute difference in journey times equates to 1 mile of a journey. So the conspiracy theories are all wrong -they are not 15 minute cities, but 3 minute cities (and towns).
I thought Rapeford was stepping down !!
Looking forward to seeing all those emergency vehicles being held up by 19 mph cars
Driving yesterday the first day of this virtue madness was not good. Pedestrians walking across the road at random, because I suppose, as the traffic is slower there is less need of care, and certainly no need of using any pedestrian crossings. The driving speeds were all over the place, panic breaking just in case they missed a road sign, cars pulling out of side roads in to traffic thinking they had more time to do so because of the slower speeds. 20 mph limits? A decision made by a little man whist having to grasp his one moment in history.
The eco socialists’ point of view is that anything that saves one life is a great thing. But if that is the case why don’t we just ban cars altogether? That way no one will be killed at all on the road.———- But wait a minute what would happen to the entire economy and our ability to move around? Even those people who have had family or friends killed in road accidents would not for one second want cars banned. The overall benefit to society is too great and banning them would be absurd, and that is what this 20mph thing is—-absurd. But that just about sums up everything eco socialists who now seem to run every show are. We are soon going to be jailed for not installing a heat pump, and i can tell you now that if we keep allowing these people to dictate to us based on phony claims about climate etc then we are going to end up right down the rabbit hole with no way out.
I wish I had a horse. It is so much better, cleaner?, and greener than a car. Come to think of it though the methane emissions are way higher than a car emissions, and it is a proper “greenhouse” gas. Then the C&&P, not exactly particulates but much worse. Filling up is time consuming too. Nice idea…
RESIST DEFY DO NOT COMPLY.