Default 20mph speed limits under consideration in England
A blanket 20mph speed limit in England is currently under consideration, in a bid to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries on the roads.
Last week, the Transport Committee met with an expert panel to discuss whether the Government could implement lower speed limits as part of its Road Safety Strategy, and whether England should adopt a 20mph default policy similar to what is in place in Wales.
The panel was made up of four experts, including Transport for London (TfL)’s chief safety, health and environment officer, and the former chair of the Welsh government’s 20mph task force group.
Each expert was strongly in favour of bringing in a 20mph default speed to England’s roads. A similar policy is already in place on Wales’s restricted roads, which make up around 35% of its road network, having been introduced in 2023. A public consultation into the proposed changes revealed almost half of respondents were in favour of reducing the default limit from 30mph to 20mph, with the Welsh Government estimating it could save 100 lives per year – but there has been significant backlash from motorists since it came into force.
A petition from anti-20mph campaigners garnered almost half a million signatures – the most in the Senedd’s history.
However, at the Transport Committee’s meeting, the panel of industry experts argued that a speed limit reduction is pivotal to achieving the Government’s goal of reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured (KSI) in road accidents by 65% before 2035.
“In central London, we made 20mph the default on the main road network in 2020,” said Lilli Matson, chief safety, health and environment officer for TfL. “That has very quickly delivered very tangible reductions of around 24% of people being killed and seriously injured.
“Reducing speed is at the heart of making roads safer. It’s the first and most important systemic change that the Government and local governments can make.”
Adrian Berendt, Director and Community Champion for campaign group 20’s Plenty for Us, criticised the Government’s proposed Road Safety Strategy for not specifying an enforced lowered speed limit.
“There’s no commitment to a 20mph speed limit on residential streets, and because around 50% of KSIs occur on 30mph roads, without reducing that speed limit down to 30[mph], you simply can’t achieve that target of 65%,” he said.
Berendt went on to suggest that a 20mph default limit could reduce road casualties by as much as 10-15%. Indeed, recent data published by the Senedd shows that KSI casualties on Welsh restricted roads decreased by 11% from Q2 2023 to Q4 2024 following the 20mph introduction.
However, other industry experts argue that any 20mph limit must be carefully implemented, with more consideration given to higher-risk areas, rather than a blanket approach.
IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy and External Communications Nicholas Lyes said: “Early evidence in Wales paints a positive picture in terms of a reduction in serious casualties since the 20mph policy was implemented. However, understanding whether this is directly because of the limit change requires more research as there can be many contributory factors in collisions.
“Authorities should be using 20mph limits where they believe it will have the biggest impact on reducing serious collisions, which may be more palatable for the public than a blanket approach. However, what matters most is the evidence and we should be guided by that.”
It’s anticipated that meetings like the Transport Committee’s one last week will inform the future of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy, which means there is a chance the 20mph default speed limit could be introduced in the coming years – but nothing has been confirmed yet, and the proposals are merely in a discussion stage at the moment.
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