COMMUNITIES across Wales have voiced their opinions on how the 20mph speed limit has affected their lives following the first official six months of the policy.

Since being implemented in September 2023, the controversial policy has elicited considerable contention amongst the public, with some supporting the move towards safer roads, and some criticising it as a monumental waste of money.

The Welsh Labour Government claims that the policy has been a success in ‘reducing collisions, saving lives and reducing injury’. Statistical evidence has shown that crashes have reduced by eight per cent, and figures from Transport for Wales have shown that speeds have dropped by four miles per hour on average.

However, six months in, and the controversy has only continued to build.

Criticism of the policy

Many opponents claim the government has waged a "war on motorists". They criticise the blanket enforcement of the policy (as opposed to just being implemented around schools, high streets and other busy pedestrian areas) as "ridiculous" and "non-democratic".

The announcement of the policy back in July 2022 elicited a sleuth of national protests calling for an immediate end to the policy. More than one in ten Welsh adults have signed a petition against the policy, and there have been at least 145 incidents of damage and graffiti to 20mph limit signs since September last year.

Many members of the public seem to agree that the chief impact of the policy has been noticeably slower roads.

Veronica Del Malvo, a site machine operator who commutes through Wales every day, commented: "I do feel a noticeable difference between Cardiff and other major cities throughout the UK in a sense that it is much slower moving."

She also said that there was completely inadequate signage at the start and finish point of the previously 30mph roads.

Interestingly, Del Malvo also pointed out ‘While the limit gives more time to see around for pedestrians, it also gives more time for people to be distracted by other things like food, phones and speedometers’.

In combination with the lack of clear signage, many seem to agree that the confusion surrounding the policy undermines its safety initiative.

In particular, it is the price of the scheme has proven particularly controversial. The introduction of the scheme has cost around £32 million per year and is estimated to reach £4.5 billion following 30 years through reduced productivity.

An anonymous Cardiff and Newport driver working for Uber called the policy "extremely annoying" claiming that "20mph is nothing in the car, you can’t go anywhere. It's not good business". 

Critics claim that existing estimates are likely to underestimate the total cost figures if the policy continues to be implemented in the long term. Dr James Davies, MP for Vale of Clwyd, claims that "along with economically damaging approaches to road building and tourism [...] and underperforming devolved health and education services, this [policy] will disproportionately affect the lives of the poorest in society."

On the other side of the argument, those who support the policy have welcomed the changes to Welsh roads.

UK-based NGO 20’s Plenty has praised the Welsh government for its national implementation of the policy as opposed to the ‘street-by-street’ approach in the rest of the UK.

By their estimates, 12,133 Welsh people will avoid being hit, injured or killed by vehicles, and 513, 800 children will find walking and cycling safer in the next 10 years.

They claim that the 30mph limit, established in 1934, was chosen arbitrarily without evidence or research on survivability.

Arguments for the policy are supported by findings from a study conducted by the Edinburgh Napier University Transport Research Institute. Their evidence claims that a person is around five times more likely to be killed when hit by a vehicle travelling at 30mph than they are from a vehicle travelling at 20mph.

Compliance

Whether motorists are compliant with the law is highly contested, as research has shown that drivers are far less likely to comply with a speed limit if they don’t believe it is appropriate.

Just two weeks ago, Kayleigh Lloyd, a student at Cardiff University, was involved in an incident in which a speeding taxi collided with her in a 20mph zone on Crwys Road in Cathays, a busy student area. Although she was unhurt, she was left shaken by the incident.

"The driver was over the speed limit definitely, using the bus lane to overtake all the traffic. If the car had been going slower it is likely that they would’ve had more time to break, or that I would have seen them."

It seems that there is a widespread lack of compliance with the policy, despite enforcement efforts using roadside teams and monitoring equipment.

Unwavering frustration and anger on the part of motorists worryingly point to growing chaos and danger on Welsh roads.

Kayleigh continued: "I think that the 20mph speed limit is more likely to cause traffic and create more incidents like the once I was involved in [...] the 20mph speed limit doesn't seem to be able to be effective unless followed by every driver on the road.

"The implementation of the policy [...] has actually seemed to create more danger on the roads."

Misinformation

Impassioned reactions to the policy have produced swathes of misinformation, making factual evidence of the policy’s impact difficult to discern.

Studies and statistics are often misinterpreted and taken out of context to suit each side of the argument.

In an interview with Times Radio in January this year, new Welsh First Minister Vaughan Gething committed to a review of the policy and ‘to look again at how it’s been implemented and some of the particular and specific issues that members of the public have’. Calls are mounting for this review to come to fruition.

Conservative MP for Monmouthshire David Davies has hit back at the Labour policy.

He said: "The people of Wales are speaking with one voice. They want Labour to scrap its absurd 20mph blanket limit that it has unilaterally imposed."

The disputes surrounding the 20mph policy have certainly dominated community discussion for the past six months.

Regardless of whether revisions are made to the policy, such polarised reactions within the community have demonstrated an urgent necessity for the First Minister to address concerns and review the policy’s effectiveness six months in.