I have published this video this morning. In it I argue that Labour has already introduced a 20mph speed limit in Welsh towns. That's already working to reduce the severity of accidents, saving money and lives, and helping the environment. Labour could extend this to the whole of England at almost no cost to the government.
The audio version of this video is here:
The transcript is:
I'm making a series of videos on the changes to the rules that apply in this country that could benefit the lives of millions of people. I want to suggest one that Labour's already done in Wales. They have not done it in England, they have not done it in Scotland, and Labour now likes to claim that it has the power to operate in all three countries because it has a parliamentary majority in all of them. I should add the caveat. The SNP won't agree with that in Scotland.
But they could most certainly do what I'm about to talk about in England. It's entirely within their legislative power. And that is to introduce a 20 mile an hour speed limit in all urban zones throughout the whole of England. This, as I say, has already happened in Wales.
It's already cut the number of accidents in Wales significantly. In fact, I've seen reports that suggest the cost of repairing cars on insurance claims in Wales has already fallen, on average, by 20%, which is a saving that is going to be passed on through insurance premiums to motorists.
And just imagine, if cars are being damaged less as a consequence of there being lower speed impacts, how many people would have been protected by that? There will have been vast numbers of people who will have just suffered a bump, a bruise or a graze who were previously in intensive care. Or at least in A& E with broken bones.
There is a massive human gain as a consequence of having 20-mile-per-hour speed limits.
And I know the petrol-heads don't like it.
I know those in the bigger SUVs who want to show off don't like it. But every one of those SUVs is a threat to a child, because we know the threat of being hit by one of those at 30 miles per hour is, in the case of a child, near certain death.
So, I want to see this change, and I want to see the change to the environment that it will also give rise to because, almost certainly, this will benefit all of those with asthma as well.
It's a simple, it's a straightforward, it's a costless change with no downsides and vast numbers of upsides.
Come on Labour, let's do it.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
If the aim is to reduce the result of accidents then getting rid of SUVs is the best thing to do ( for example @ 30mph the risk of death to pedestrians is 50% greater than with a normal car – US data).
In the case of other road users – & speaking as a cyclist – I’d much rather a car overtook me. If I’m doing 20mph (and sometimes more on a bike) I neither want a car behind me (impatient) nor do I want to be stuck behind some person in a car wombling along @ 20mph.
All that said, I avoid cycling in towns – dangerous places for bicycles.
We’ve had numerous “Twenty’s Plenty” zones in Scotland for some years.
It is policy to extend this nationally before the next Holyrood election, probably in 2025.
https://framework.roadsafety.scot/info_hub/scotlands-national-strategy-for-20-mph-speed-limits/#:~:text=The%20Scottish%20Government%20is%20committed,but%20pedestrians%2C%20cyclists%20and%20communities.
The police won’ even enforce it where I live
I spend a lot of time in Wales, and have noticed the difference in driving conditions since the implementation of the 20 mph speed limit. Overall speeds have reduced, so that in urban and semi-urban areas, most people stay well under the 30 and 40 mph limits, and driving is much less stressful, and people are much more polite, as they have time to allow for joining traffic.
Initially, and before the limits were actually introduced, there was a great deal of manufactured opposition, and scaremongering, by those who always oppose the Welsh Senedd; many of the polls that showed hundreds of thousands of opponents were of dubious validity. Then, after the limits were introduced, there was much gnashing of teeth, and various problems cited to discredit the scheme. Buses, taxis, delivery drivers etc couldn’t get places on time; people were all driving aroud in second gear, so how is that helping the environment? Why is a particular road reduced to 20mph when there are no houses on it? And so on.
But now that there is clear evidence that it increases safety, reduces accidents, much of the griping has gone quiet. I predict that a few roads may have their limits changed, as it was always the plan to review the limits, but that people will get used to what is clearly a sensible and successful policy.
Thanks
Average speeds have fallen, I gather to 24 mph
I live in England.
I drove to Porthmadog over Easter.
Admittedley mostly over ‘rural’ not urban roads
But my suggestion might be that many of the places I drove through that had a 20 mph limit you would probably need to be spme sort of lunatic to exceed the 20 mph limit.
My house is on a suburban side road and used by children going to the local secondary school. Despite that there are plenty of motoring morions that see fit to use it as a racetrack. What I never understand – and look at the man sentenced for the killing of a baby on the A1 recently is why we cant see Speeding and Criminal Driving for what it for what it is, a child protection issue with penalties to match.
Say we are introducing 20mph limits to protect your children from people who will kill and injure them.
Mothers in SUVs are the worst speeders around me. There are others. But they are the biggest group.
“But my suggestion might be that many of the places I drove through that had a 20 mph limit you would probably need to be spme sort of lunatic to exceed the 20 mph limit.”
From what I have seen on British TV shows, most of all the non-highways (motorways???) roads seem to be very narrow and in very bad shape (compared to USA roads) so driving at anything above 25 mph seems very dangerous to me.
I promise, they are nut all like that, but living where I do, I know many that are.
Speaking as a cyclist, pedestrian, and also a life long ‘petrol head’ (i.e. I’ve always liked cars and motor racing), I fully support a 20mph limit in towns/urban areas. I suspect there are plenty more like me and that the hostility to the 20mph limit is yet another example of the right wing, anti woke mob – including the usual suspects in the MSM – making more noise than their numbers warrant.
The road I used to live on had a 20 mph limit introduced several years ago. Unfortunately, cars still speed at double that and more and there is no enforcement. Every time a politician (of all parties) canvassed at my door, I asked why was there no attempt to enforce it. The answers varied from it is a county decision, not local authority, and one ludicrously claimed that when drives see the 20 mph sign and the same painted on the road they would adhere to the limit.
I am all for lower speed limits, but hitherto, they are a waste of metal signs and paint on roads without enforcement.
Got veg the job to local government, with cameras. The problem is the police.
In the USA any law enforcement office (state, county or city) can and will enforce a speed limit.
The proper starting point for discussions about changing speed limits is enforcement of existing limits.
Randomly set up hidden cameras with no warning should be used…. why we are warned about speed cameras I have no idea.
Agreed
Sydney, Australia has speed camera boxes everywhere but a limited number of camera’s which are moved around. So a less costly deterrent as you you have no idea whether the box has a camera inside unless you stop and have a good look.
“why we are warned about speed cameras I have no idea.”
How does this work in the UK if someone else, say my mother, is driving my car and gets caught by a speed camera?
How does Law Enforcement know to send the ticket to my mother and not me?
The car owner is asked if there was another driver
They can be imprisoned for not telling the truth
In London 20 zones have proliferated, but its often difficult to know whether you are in a 30 or a 20 – and lots of people who would be law abiding get caught.
Having an universal 20 would make urban journeys much less stressful.
There are many reasons for introducing SUV restrictions both for safey and environmental reasons.
At the expense of Major Thread Drift (MC & Bar) Traffic Police are the most ‘productive’ in terms of arrests for ‘non traffic’ matters so clearly road policing is a win win. Sadly however it isnt a Home Office priority
Now being a non-driver and otherwise mobility-restricted, I take a lot of taxis to get anywhere.
My current guilty pleasure is reporting to the taxi company when I have been driven too fast along our local 20 mph road. The worst was 53 mph including going over the “sleeping policemen”.
One day I’ll find the courage to complain to the driver. I wish more people would join me.
Can you share the links to the evidence that its been beneficial in Wales?
As a walker and cyclist I like 20mph zones but I think they’re useless since there is no enforcement.
When I go for my walks most drivers go way above and the young drivers do 40 or even 50mph on straight bits of residential roads. The motorcyclists in particular.
I also noticed an increase in cars with very loud exhausts. I was stunned to learn these are factory fitted by VW on their Golf range. They make really loud noise when the car is accelerated harshly and make loud bangs. The drivers do this in 20mph zones nonchalantly.
I am sceptical these zones have any beneficial effect unenforced, so interested to see how the studies collated and interpreted the data in Wales. Also the roads in Wales are no where near as developed as in England so driving slower there is bound to result in less accidents?
PS I dont blame the police for not enforcing these zones. If you defund your public services you get a semi developed world economy.
I did in earlier posts on this issue.
I am out and about right now, so sorry, but no is the answer.
I’ve worked as a motorcycle courier in London for the last 21 years and I hated the 20mph limits when they were introduced but now I approve because they make the roads so much safer. They don’t even slow me down very much because the traffic lights are always the limiting factor in town anyway.
In the last year been driving in Wales extensively three times. The 20 mph limit is occasionally frustrating but is clearly safer and improving driving habits. I’m a supporter.
As for the SUVs driven by mums, we have a rash of them round here. I live 50m from the school my wife works at and said SUVs bomb around or park on the pavements!
Ah, but “if cars are being damaged less as a consequence of there being lower speed impacts” then this will mean lower GDP! Labour won’t like that. LOL
I’m much the same and fully agree. 20 is plenty in built up areas or the kind of small village I live in with narrow country roads. If you want to drive fast, go to a circuit. And yes we have the same plague of SUVs driven by youngish mums. I’ve been knocked off my bike twice, fortunately without serious injury, both time by one of those SUVs.
30 mph isn’t ‘fast’.
Enough to kill many more than 20mph does
What about that do you not understand?
Some US statistics on injuries and speed :
https://medium.com/modern-city/traffic-speed-is-killing-pedestrians-aabc127fa9c9
and SUVs increase risk :
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4462-suvs-double-pedestrians-risk-of-death/
Thanks
In the Scottish Borders we had 20 limits implemented in all towns and villages (Tory Council) a few years ago as a trial and then made permanent with a few modifications where a higher limit was considered acceptable on the outskirts etc.
They said it wouldn’t be enforced but it seems to have been reasonably successful, with the usual exceptions.(there was an academic assessment). As a cyclist (and driver) i welcome it. Infact when driving the motorhome through other 30mph zones I automatically go slower. (All limits are maximums, not targets)
But I’d also like to see more done on preventing dangerous and inconsiderate parking. It can be a free for all with too many drivers thinking they can park anywhere, on bends, on pavements, on shared use tracks (Lorries pull into a lay-by and drive the nearside wheels onto the track).
It’s also time for government to tell manufacturers to start fitting in-vehicle technology to monitor, if necessary modify, and report driver behaviour. You want to speed? ok, but your bank balance will be charged at the end of the month to pay for your disregard for the safety of other road users. Best wishes, Ministry of Transport.
Ok, just joking, about automatic fines, but it’s ludicrous that we can allow 2-40 tonnes of lethal metal to joust with people walking and cycling, and that we consider it acceptable to have thousands of deaths and life-changing injuries every year, plus the effects of pollution and environmental damage, when we could reduce that dramatically with some sensible legislation to curb vehicle use (and size), driver behaviour and proper investment in public transport.
Now is the time to do it, nationally. There’ll be a hell of a fuss, but long before the next general election it will have become a non-issue, like seatbelts, breath tests and smoking bans on trains.
What happened to democracy?
Surely it should be out to the vote to see what the population want? Historically, consultations have shown little appetite for widespread 20mph limits.
Have you noticed they are the government?
This might work where you live Richard and I did support this in Birmingham which has had many areas at 20mph… But as we have had absolutely no enforcement by West Midlands Police it has led to the opposite – people driving faster as they have twigged via the 20 that the police have given up on pretty much any traffic enforcement. Now if anyone dares to do 20mph (which is pretty much no one) they get aggressively overtaken at high speed – I originally tried to stick to 20 but gave in as so many drivers were beeping, tailgating then overtaking, brake testing, throwing things out of the window at my car it was intolerable. Me, my family and pedestrians in my opinion are sadly more at risk so I decided It was safer to just ignore the 20 and go back to 30 (mob rule has won). I respect the maybe 1 in 100 (best guess) who are trying to do the 20 but it just leads even more crazy driving to get around everyone. You must live in a not very urban, well Policed part of the country to think this might work without huge numbers of police being dedicated to it, sadly in urban-urban central Birmingham its a complete failure, just getting the 30/40mph enforced would be a start. My only hope is that driver-less cars will become the norm faster and that they will do the limit followed by it being too expensive to insure a non driver-less car, for now I have lost all hope of almost any existing laws being enforced let alone someone doing 30 in a 20 making it to court/conviction. Best wishes, keep up with the policies thoughts and opinions, Pete
We may head that way as people realise there is no enforcement
I hate to say it, but the police need to be taken out of this.
Why do the police need to be taken “out of it”???
In the USA speeding is policed by state, county and local law enforcement. There are dedicated groups of “traffic cops” who patrol the major highways, state divided highways and local city streets looking for speeders, DUI people, running stop signs and engaged in waiting for accidents and incidents to occur. I was involved in a fender-bender on a major county road (four lanes divided) and a policeman was there in 5 minutes.
When people are new to most police forces (not NYC, Chicago or San Francisco), as a rookie, they are usually assigned to a traffic division or team to learn the ropes.
I think local authorities should do this in urban areas, as they can run parking offences.
Speed is as much subjective as it is objective. In urban areas I suspect that most people probably drive around 30 – 35 mph when they can. To be realistic a 20 mph limit would reduce speed by about 10 mph. This appears to be the case in Bristol.
There is no way that enforcement could result in every driver sticking to 20 mph without draconian policing or universal speed limiters.
With a consistent, clear message from government and public health that lower speeds are good for everyone the perception of speed will change over the long term and going slower becomes the new norm. After all, prior to the internal combustion engine 12 mph was seen as outrageous.
It is a question of having the political will to counter the “freedom to speed and kill brigade” over the long term. Some people will get tickets for doing 23 mph – just think of it as a civic duty.
If you impose it then it will be framed as the war on motorists, wokism etc.. Like anti-pollution measures. They must be good, but they are introduced by edict, by our betters.
So it should come after a long and well-organised publicity campaign, about injuries (not just deaths), children etc., a better quality of life.
Ok
But still do it