After a drop in road fatalities in Wales, debate rages in England, with several states seeking to introduce the same speed limit of 32 km/h.
Several in England want to introduce a ban on speeds exceeding 20 mph in urban zones. The debate about a stricter speed limit has begun after Wales introduced something similar in September 2023.
According to the government, this led to a significant decrease in the number of traffic injuries.
Between July and September 2024, Wales recorded 410 injuries in road accidents on roads with speed limits of 32 km/h and 50 km/h.
This is reported by Auto Express .
Three of these accidents resulted in fatalities, 90 people were seriously injured, and the rest suffered minor injuries.
Compared to the same period last year, when the speed limit of 32 km/h had not yet been introduced, the number of fatalities and serious injuries has decreased by approximately 100 cases.
This represents a total reduction of 28 percent, which is the lowest number in Wales' history, that is, while there have been cars on the country's roads.
The decline in the number of injuries has led many to call on the British government to introduce similar speed limits in England and Scotland.
Luca Straker from the organization Brake, which works for road safety, believes that drivers should be slowed down by a ban.
– It is clear that lower speed limits lead to fewer accidents and fewer deaths and serious injuries – and Wales has proven this once again.
The organisation is calling on the government in England to follow Wales' example and introduce speed limits of 32 km/h in urban zones without exceptions.
However, the Welsh Transport Minister, Ken Skates, is more cautious about linking the lower speeds with the lower number of deaths and injuries in traffic. Especially since the speed limit has been dropped again.
He tells the country's media that the Welsh government will carry out three evaluations to be able to say with a greater degree of certainty whether the new policy has made the roads safer.
The opposition is also skeptical about whether forcing drivers to drive slower than mopeds in the country has any effect.
Conservative transport spokesman Peter Fox points out that the figures do not tell the whole story, as the 20 mph speed limit has been a controversial issue in Wales and the rest of the UK since its introduction.
Critics believe that lower speed limits create unnecessary traffic congestion and that the Welsh government should instead focus on improving the roads around schools and hospitals.
Several local authorities have already gone against the government and changed the speed limit to 50 km/h again.
The British government has no plans to introduce 20 mph speed limits in England and Scotland. A Department for Transport spokesman said speed limits were a local matter as local authorities knew their roads better than the national government.
Here at home, the government, led by Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen (V), has proposed a bill that prohibits municipalities from reducing speed limits on roads. Read more about it here .
