In September 2023, new Welsh Government legislation will introduce a default 20mph speed limit on restricted (street lit) roads across Wales in place of the current 30mph limits. This is being done to:
- Improve road safety
- Create safer walking and cycling areas
- help improve our health and wellbeing
Selected roads which have a strategic role and are less of a risk to walkers and cyclists may be an exception to the legislation.
The County Council has assessed all roads within Carmarthenshire to map the impacts of the legislation and to identify these exceptions. You can view the default 20mph and 30mp exceptions here.
Wales is due to become one of the first countries in the world, and the first nation in the UK, to introduce legislation to have a default 20mph speed limit on roads where cars mix with pedestrians and cyclists.
Cllr Edward Thomas, Cabinet Member for, Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste, and Infrastructure Services said:
We, as a Local Authority, are implementing the Welsh Government’s legislation to set a speed limit of 20mph on most of our restricted roads. The key aim of the 20mph speed limit is to improve road safety, particularly for vulnerable road users, and encourage more walking and cycling. The change in legislation will require a fundamental change in driver behaviour to achieve its goals and we will be working closely with the Welsh Government to educate the public of the changes that are afoot”.
For further details on the changes and to make a comment, please visit our website.
Absolutely ridiculous decision. How will it be enforced ? Will they be self-governing with traffic calming measures in place? Speed ramps and cushions are reducing tyre wear and increasing driver frustration. Vehicles are becoming far more technologically advanced with collision avoidance systems. Frontal impact zones are increasingly pedestrian friendly with resessed windscreen wiper mounts and less rigid cross structures across the front of vehicles that would be the main danger for pedestrians in a collision. EV is reducing the climate impact of vehicles on the road, and mild hybrid vehicles that would use electric only for urban driving are being ‘punished’ in the pursuit of reduced emissions from a 30mph to a 20mph limit. Drivers will become frustrated, the wear and tear on vehicles at 20mph will increase costs owing to the constant gear changes and clutch riding and for what? Do children play in roads anymore? Pavements are increasingly acceptable for safe and considerate cycling where non-designated cycle lanes exist. It’s the traffic taliban gone mad and trust me I know my stuff and those that know my background will know that I come from an informed position.
Sorry the only 20MPH should be around schools, there is enough traffic congestion as it is.