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Road safety charity Brake calls for default 20MPH speed limits on urban roads
10 July 2023
Road safety charity Brake is advocating for 20MPH speed limits to be introduced as default on urban roads throughout the UK.
Currently, the standard speed limit on this road type is 30MPH. However, a new consensus from road safety professionals says that 20MPH is the maximum safe speed limit in areas where traffic and pedestrians are in close proximity.
Whilst local authorities are permitted to introduce 20MPH limits at their own discretion, the requirement for new infrastructure to support these changes, such as new signage, creates a barrier.
According to Brake, former Transport Minister George Freeman responded to a parliamentary question on implementing default 20MPH speed limits in urban areas in 2020 by saying, "The Government has no plans to consider making 20MPH the default speed limit on urban and restricted roads in England.
“In November 2018, the Department published its comprehensive three-year study of the effect of 20MPH limits.
“Some of the key findings from the research include that 20MPH limits are supported by most residents and drivers, and that introducing a 20MPH limit may reduce traffic speed by around 1MPH. Encouragingly, vehicles travelling at higher speeds before the introduction of the 20MPH limit have reduced their speed more than those already travelling at lower speeds. However, there is not enough evidence to conclude that that there has been a significant change in collisions and casualties following the introduction of 20MPH limits in residential areas."
In Wales, default 20MPH speed limits were initially backed by the Welsh parliament (the Senedd) in July 2020, but the plans still require a consultation by the Welsh government before the Senedd can vote on, and potentially implement, these limits.
In Scotland, a parliamentary bill to introduce default 20MPH speed limits was initially introduced in 2019, but fell at the first of four stages with 26 votes for, 83 against, and 4 abstentions.
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