Will other nations follow Wales 20mph landmark move?

This week, Wales implemented its landmark 20mph speed limit across residential streets and busy pedestrian streets across Wales.

Starting Sunday 17 September 2023 the move, approved by the Senedd in July 2022, is expected to result in fewer collisions (circa 40%), save 6 to 10 lives and 1,200-2,000 people avoiding injury.

Naturally there has been some pushback and quite a few ‘war on motorist’ headlines and political rhetoric, presumably from those who have accurately weighed up the value of saving lives and public money against driving 10mph faster on residential roads.

The Welsh Assembly’s stated aims for the change include making streets safer for playing, walking and cycling, to encourage more people to walk, wheel or cycle, to improve health and wellbeing and reduce noise pollution. Which you might expect to be broadly popular. In fact, 63% of people in Wales support a lower speed limit where people live.

Implementation of the 20mph speed limit is expected to cost £32 million, with possible reduced impact on NHS and emergency services of up to £92 million – every year, which is quite the return on investment. There is a growing body of studies that examine how investment in active travel and cycling has vast economic, environment and health benefits.

There are 20mph zones peppered throughout the UK, not least in London, though nothing on the scale being enacted by Wales on its residential streets.

Wales has been something of a leader on active travel, memorably bringing in the Active Travel Act in 2013. England has made up some ground, albeit a decade behind – in June of this year, Active Travel England became a statutory consultee for all large planning applications.

Will other home nations look to introduce 20mph zones? A recent study by Edinburgh’s Napier University has looked at a slightly different target for 20mph zones – rural areas. A 20mph trial in the Scottish Borders (including 97 villages and towns since October 2020) found that 85% of drivers dropped their speed by 3mph. It also found that the largest speed reductions were observed in locations where higher speeds had been seen in the past, with those areas seeing an average reduction of 5.4 mph. There have been signs of a change in driver behaviour – with average speeds still well below previous levels eight months after the start of the trial.

Professor Adrian Davis of Edinburgh Napier’s Transport Research Institute led the research. He said: “Previous research has shown that 20mph speed limits are effective in large towns and cities in both reducing speed driven and in reducing casualties. Our work looking at speed changes reveals that speed reduction to 20mph from 30mph in rural settlements produces similar results for speed reduction as in urban areas. Communities which have been asking for action to reduce speeding have been given a response, in this case by Scottish Borders Council who have taken action to address the dangerous and anti-social impacts of inappropriate speed. Our research findings consequently support the switch in Wales from default 30mph to default 20mph speed limits.”