Wales' 20mph speed limit: How has the first month gone?

"Some roads need to go back to 30mph"

By Nick Servini
BBC News

"You can practically run faster than drive at 20mph - you see push bikes go past you!"

Julian Wakeford agrees with the 460,000 petition signatories wanting to axe Wales' new law lowering built-up area speed limits to 20mph.

Although Usain Bolt has not been spotted in the Rhondda lately, Julian's point highlights a frustration some drivers feel with the new limit.

A record Senedd petition suggests all-round anger - but what do people think?

I went on a road trip a month on from the controversial change - billed as the biggest change to driving in a generation in Wales and affecting 35% of roads - with an open mind.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," said Julian, who is not sitting on the fence as he sits drinking coffee with friends outside a cafe on Tonypandy's High Street.

Julian Wakeford was one of those I spoke to who was strongly against the 20mph speed limit change

He is one of the first people I speak to on my journey up the south Wales valleys - Welsh government Labour heartland - speaking to people to see how arguably the most divisive law change in Wales since devolution almost 25 years ago has sunk in.

"I find it terrible and it's not easy sticking to 20," Julian added.

"If someone is doing 20, you have a proper tailback."

Wales was the first UK nation to lower speed limits in built-up areas to 20mph last month and I'm travelling up the Rhondda Fawr valley from Pontypridd up to Treherbert - which is without its train line to Cardiff which is shut until the new year - for a snapshot of reaction from the public.

It is a tight, narrow valley with one main road in and out, lined with shops and those stereotypical Welsh terraced houses.

My trip up the Rhondda was to get a sense of what people in Wales think of 20mph one month on

Even though authorities have discretion to keep roads at 30mph, many around here will have to be 20mph as the government wants to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

"I feel safer crossing the road," said Christine Nicholls, who was out shopping in Tonypandy with daughter Donna.

"If they brought this law in a long time, this generation of drivers would be used to it and for those driving a long time, it's a lot to get used to. It's got its pros and cons."

Getty Images

Car is king in Tonypandy and the Rhondda at the moment as there are no trains because of a line upgrade

The Conservatives, in Westminster and Wales, have called it "insane" and a "war on motorists" and the Welsh Labour government's own consultation found more were against it than for it.

"By schools and hospitals, it's a good idea," said Joanna Davies, who lives locally and was out shopping with friend Stephanie.

"But if you're driving at 20mph on a normal road, it's causing mayhem. I don't drive actually but my husband thinks it's awful.

"Congestion has got worse. I don't think there's many people for it around here and the buses are late too as they're going 20mph as well."

Heading towards Tonypandy, I pass a few blocks of flats but interestingly the road outside remains at 30mph - one of more than 1,150 stretches of Welsh road, and 84 in Rhondda Cynon Taf, that are exempt.

This is where councils have successfully argued there are not significant numbers of pedestrians and cyclists "travelling along or across" that part of road or are not "mixing" with traffic.

Heading up towards Gelli, I quickly go from a 20mph zone into a 40, then 30 and back to 20mph in a short space of time.

People have told me lots of speed limit changes in a short stretch of the road like this mean drivers are focusing so much on their speedometer - especially when your car's sat-nav might not yet show the new speed limit - and feel they are not concentrating as much as they would like on the road.

Getty Images

Rhondda Cynon Taf spent the most of any council in Wales on implementing the 20mph change - more than £4m - with lots of residential streets dropping from 30mph

One car parts firm half way up the Rhondda is frustrated and experiencing, what it said, was tangible differences.

"Delivery times for customers are changing so we have had to cut down the number of deliveries we do a day," said Rob Williams, who works at LMF Motor Factors on Gelli Industrial Estate.

"Our business depends of getting to places quickly and if you're dropping the speed limit, it's increasing the time we're getting to garages."

His son and colleague Robert points out it is affecting delivery times too - creating a knock-on effect.

"Where drivers were doing 110 drops a day before, now they can only do 70 or 80," he said.

The Welsh government said the change would only add a minute to average journey times but in this part of the Rhondda, where car is king, people argue journeys are taking longer.

Father and son team Robert and Ron Williams say the 20mph change is affecting their business

Now 20mph is the residential default in Wales where lampposts are no more than 200 yards (183m) apart, and the only signs are when you enter the slower limit - and drivers say the lack of signs adds to the confusion.

Rob echoes what some people told me, that no matter what the speed limit, people are doing 20mph.

"If there's nothing signposted anywhere, you're finding now people are doing 20mph in a 40 because they're not sure to be on the safe side."

Further up the valley between Treorchy and Treherbert, parents and grandparents on the school run have mixed views.

"If it's going to save people's lives, I agree with it. Especially in built-up areas around schools," said grandmother Susan Collinson, outside Penyrenglyn Primary School.

Her husband Steve broadly supports the change, although he does say people who commute to Cardiff, Swansea and Newport have to leave half an hour earlier "because there's so much traffic going down the valley."

The 30-mile drive between Treherbert and Cardiff can take about 90 minutes at rush hour and a few people are blaming 20mph for making it worse.

Although, coming from the valleys myself, I wonder how much 20mph is becoming a fall guy as congestion here is long-standing frustration and queues can be so bad, you would be lucky to get up to 20mph.

The Welsh government say "Change can be difficult, but this will help save lives and make our communities safer, including for motorists."

Motorist Clive Rees said he was finding going at 20mph on some roads a "struggle" but added: "Around schools and in certain areas that weren't before, it needs to be 20mph."

What I've found talking to people here, there are mixed reactions and some remain to be convinced while others are shrugging their shoulders and moving on, albeit a bit more slowly.

Related topics

More on this story