Speed limit to be lowered to 20mph in Wales
Speed limits in built-up areas look set to be reduced from 30mph to 20mph in Wales from next year - a UK first that is controversial among some drivers.
Ministers say a 20mph speed limit will lower road collisions and traffic noise and encourage people to walk and cycle...
Latest police data shows the largest proportion - exactly half - of the 5,570 people hurt in collisions in Wales happened on 30mph roads.
The statistics also show that of the 1,131 people killed or seriously injured on Welsh roads in 2018, 40% of the incidents happened in 30mph zones.
It's interesting that this is tagged by the BBC as a climate change article. The key words are obvious enough - encourage people to walk and cycle.
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From the article:
"Ministers in Cardiff are also promoting sustainable travel - like cycling or walking - after Wales declared a climate emergency in 2019 and aim to become carbon net zero by 2050"
Crikey, that's some emergency! Imagine other emergency services having those kind of reaction times.
It was, though, reassuring to see a woman with blue hair being against the new proposal. Normally blue hair would indicate a profound distrust of technology, speed, efficiency, and progress.
NI has always been subject to political enthusiasms. Scotland has great enthusiasms. And now Wales strikes out for enthusiastic authoritarianism. There are parts of the United Kingdom that make England look great again.
Perhaps we should (keep) blaming Blair for devolution?
Is the First Minister exempt from this, just as he's exempt from the new taxes on "second homes"?
Vehicles crawling along in a low gear will not reduce noise, polution, or fuel consumption.
Will cyclists be mandated to fit speedometers?
It must just be a revenue earner.
Presuming the law and the attitude of Chief Constables to 20mph limits here, and I lived on one until recently, it will be a waste of time, as they consider them to be unenforceable beyond giving out warnings.
My old one now has an average speed cmera in place which is placed each side of a pinch point, so it is hard to break the limit anyway, and after all that expenditure the send warnings, never prosecute.
The locals in what is now a rat run thought they had a result with the cameras only to find that somewhere in the region of ^)k has been pissed up the wall.
Yet more and more cry out for these ridiculous unenforced 20 limits.
A friend of mine was "killed or seriously injured". He got a minor cut to his forehead which bled a fair bit and he was next to an A&E which was quiet, so he got the nurses to clean him up and stick a plaster on it. That added him to the dreaded statistic.
By the way, since when was "exactly half" "the largest proportion"? Is that like half of everything being below average?
And another thing: we've had 20 mph limits in most of Edinburgh for years.
End of moan.
Walking and pedal cycles are, after motorcycles, the most dangerous form of road transport per billion passenger miles travelled - see fig. 3 (p. 13) here:
https://www.pacts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/PACTS-What-kills-most-on-the-roads-Report-15.0.pdf
- car or bus the safest.
30mph speed limits are imposed in the places where the people are. I'm surprised that 'only' half the collisions which injured people took place in 30mph zones. Plod states the bleeding obvious while apparently thinking it momentous. It's also true that, since devolution, 100% of road injuries and deaths in Wales have happened under Labour government. When will Drakeford do something about that?
Once TPTB in Wales gets the Taffs to drive at 20mph in built up areas, perhaps they will get them to use their bloody indicators!
Penseivat
Sam - I found the blue hair woman reassuring too. It's a sign that the idea really has gone too far if women with blue hair are opposed to it. Or does that simply mean she's a modern Tory?
DJ - I think we should blame Blair for devolution. Making an authoritarian mess of things can't be worse than the constant low-level moan we had be fore. Now we have both.
dearieme - he'll be exempt if he is travelling in order to minister to the sustainability of his bodily functions.
Doonhamer - there is a hill not far from us where cyclist commonly travel at well over 30mph downhill. It's a main road too.
Wiggia - I imagine they expect cars will eventually comply with speed limits automatically.
Alan - I suppose A&E is bound to make the most of the stats. I'd be surprised if there is a tick box for something like "Shouldn't have come to A&E". I bet they wouldn't tick it anyway.
Sackers - we see lots of blind bends on roads with 50mph speed limits which are clearly dangerous for cyclists yet still they use them. Narrow country roads too - we wouldn't walk on them but cyclists don't appear to see the danger.
decnine - I'm also surprised that 'only' half the collisions took place in 30mph zones. That one doesn't feel right to me.
Penseivat - not using indicators isn't much of a problem round here. People even do it when driving onto the pavement.
Sure, I'll walk or cycle to the supermarket - it's only four miles away up a hill, so no problem at all - and walk or cycle back with a week's shopping. Nothing to it.
And of course, I can easily pick up my 7Yo grand-daughter from school and walk or cycle her to her swimming lesson two miles away, along with all her school bags and swimming kit, in time for her lesson half an hour later. Easy.
What world do these people live in? I assume it's the non-raining always-daylight world of all-young all-fit people who never have any luggage or small children or any other sort of encumbrance - you know, the ones who always appear in the photo when this sort of nonsense is being pushed.
I'd almost respect them more if they came straight out and said "we want you to stay at home all the time and just send us money"; at least it would be honest.
Anon - "I'd almost respect them more if they came straight out and said "we want you to stay at home all the time and just send us money"; at least it would be honest."
It would be more honest and much of what they do seems to be angled at just that. Nothing they do suggests they value our freedom at all - nothing whatever.
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