Automotive fleets across the UK should consider backing calls to widen the use of 20mph speed limits.
That is the view of fleet management specialist FleetCheck, following publication of the latest data on road casualties by the Welsh government.
It reveals that for the first full year that Wales had a default 20mph urban speed limit, 100 fewer people were injured on the roads affected.
In fact, the number of casualties on Welsh urban roads between July and September 2024 represented the lowest for any three-month period since 1979.
Safest roads since the 1970s
The Welsh government switched the urban speed limit to 20mph across the country in September 2023. It was one of the first places in the world to introduce this lower limit at a national level.
Following trials in eight areas, Wales adopted a 20mph speed limit on all restricted roads where a 30mph limit would previously have been applied.
The aim was to reduce the number of serious injuries from traffic collisions, with the added benefit of lowering the impact on NHS resources.
The move has not been without controversy, though. Almost 470,000 people signed a petition opposing the decision, while 10,500 have given feedback on roads where they believe the speed limit should be reassessed.
Is twenty plenty?
Peter Golding, managing director of FleetCheck, said: “These are apparently the lowest Q3 figures for road accidents involving injury ever seen in Wales – about a fifth less than the previous year.
“While it is fair to suggest more experience is needed to find out whether this pattern is sustained, results of this type suggest that lower limits are having a dramatic effect on casualties.
“Organisations such as Brake and Cycling UK are backing the call for wider use of 20mph zones and the question is whether the fleet sector should do the same. It’s arguable that there is not just a moral imperative to do so but that it is very much in the spirit of the driving at work risk management culture.”
Acknowledging that the changes are not without debate, Golding noted: “There remains the potential for hundreds or even thousands of fewer road casualties every year if we adopted similar measures in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. That’s something very difficult for fleets to ignore, in our opinion.”
Scotland aims to implement a similar blanket 20mph urban limit by the end of this year, while London has already restricted all roads within the Congestion Charging Zone to 20mph.
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