One year on: How 20mph remains the most-discussed piece of Welsh legislation ever passed

A grey cross sprayed onto a 20mph sign
-Credit: (Image: Phil Rees/REX/Shutterstock)


On September 17, 2023, a new law came into force in Wales which made 20mph the default speed limit. What has followed in that year has included the biggest opposition petition in Senedd history. Almost 40,000 drivers have now been caught exceeding the limit - with some ending up in court.

It became probably the most-discussed piece of Welsh legislation ever passed. Anger over the law led to tens of protests, discussion on national media outlets and in both the House of Commons and Senedd. The politician in charge of it faced - and survived - a no confidence motion.

At numerous sites, 20mph signs were defaced. There was even a row over the design of a street sign a child drew as part of a school competition.

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At the six month mark, just as he left office, Mr Drakeford said there would be a review. By then, the cabinet minister who had pushed the default speed limit through, Lee Waters, had said he would not be in the cabinet under incoming First Minister Vaughan Gething, and so it fell to Ken Skates to take over transport brief, and work out the 20mph conundrum. Eventually, the Welsh Government was forced into accepting it would look at returning some roads to 30mph.

A woman holds a sign during a protest against 20mph speed limits on September 23, 2023 in Cardiff, Wales
A woman holds a sign during a protest against 20mph speed limits on September 23, 2023 in Cardiff, Wales -Credit:Getty Images

The 20mph policy was introduced under Mark Drakeford's administration, but it was spearheaded by Labour politician Lee Waters, who that drizzly morning met with journalists in Roath in Cardiff to talk about why this policy was so important.

On that day, he was honest and admitted the 20mph scheme was the first bit of a much bigger change to make Wales cleaner and greener. There was no way he expected the backlash that followed and yet, within days, a petition had started. The petition, by Mark Baker, gathered 469,571 signatures and was debated in the Senedd six months later.

The Welsh Conservatives were the main objectors-in-chief, bringing up 20mph time after time, session after session. Their repeated description of it as a blanket ban led to a rebuke by the Senedd's presiding officer Elin Jones who said MSs should "ensure they do not intentionally make imprecise and inaccurate statements in the Senedd and elsewhere", however a complaint against Andrew RT Davies that he had breached Senedd rules on social media was not upheld.

By May, Mr Waters had accepted things "should have been different". He accepted that the communications campaign was too late, there wasn't enough support or buy-in from within the government itself and there was "poor consultation by local councils with their communities". You can read that here. But he maintained speeds were down and "the policy is working".

In May, Mr Skates announced a three-stage review and "genuine listening exercise". He announced plans for councils to review the roads which people want to see return to 30mph. The Welsh Government had spent tens of millions on the policy, and then allocated millions more to its review.

GoSafe publishes monthly data about the number of drivers caught exceeding the 20mph speed limit. In south Wales, the first drivers were caught in November, 95 of them, but the number has risen month by month, and the figures for August show 7,326 drivers were caught in the south of the country.

In mid and north Wales no offences were recorded until March, when eight drivers were found to have exceeded the 20mph limit. By August that had jumped to just shy of 8,000.

20mph sign
20mph signs were put up across the country -Credit:WalesOnline/ Rob Browne

The average offence speed peaked in north Wales in June at 32.4mph, while the highest offence speed recorded was 88mph tracked on three separate occasions, twice in north Wales and once in mid and south.

In total, 39,337 offences where the speed limit has been exceeded have been recorded across Wales since last September. It has not been made public how many fines or criminal offences that has led to, or how much money that has generated for the UK Treasury because offences can result in educational courses, points and a fine, court referrals or exemptions.

Operation Ugain was a roadside engagement programme in 20mph where, if drivers were caught exceeding the limit, they'd be offered a roadside awareness course instead of points or a fine, if they were eligible. We joined the scheme when it was taking place in Abergavenny, you can see that here.

Fast forward to 2024. Early data suggests accidents are down, as are insurance premiums. GoSafe say published speed data from Agilysis and Transport of Wales (TfW) shows that people are driving slower. The provisional police recorded collision data also shows that the total number of people killed or injured on Welsh roads was 16% lower than in the same period of 2023. But the anger isn't subsiding. Labour's newest First Minister Eluned Morgan has admitted it has been one of the things most frequently discussed with her while on her "listening tour" of Wales, and said the way it was brought in caused problems. "If you impose too much without laying the ground out then, obviously, that's going to create a problem. And it created a problem, we have got to acknowledge that," she told a podcast. For the latest politics news in Wales sign up to our newsletter here.

"We have got to have a reset, we have got to have that revision and, you know, literally hundreds of people have written in to their local council saying 'how about changing this road back?' So we'll see where those councils come up with those exemptions.

"We're revising the guidelines. There were opportunities for councils to make exemptions and some councils took that opportunity and put loads of exemptions in place. And in those areas the grumblings are not so great. Other councils are saying 'okay, we'll have a look at those exemptions again' but generally around schools, around hospitals and around playgrounds people want to keep that 20mph," she told the BBC's Newscast.

A statement from GoSafe in August said: "Whilst we need to take care when interpreting data over a short time period, it's encouraging to see a decrease in speeding offences. This is alongside the reduction in speed and lowest recorded figures for casualties on 20mph and 30mph roads combined, outside of the Covid pandemic.

"We remain committed to reducing the number of people killed or injured on Welsh roads. We’ll continue to work with our partners across Wales to make our communities safer for everyone."

The numbers of roads being reviewed by councils hasn't been possible to obtain fully. We asked every council in Wales to provide their data; some didn't reply, some weren't able to, but those who did reported large numbers.

Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales' third largest council, says it has had 300 requests to change speed limits back from 20mph. The authority could not however confirm exactly how many roads those refer to. Flintshire council says it has received over 956 requests. In Cardiff, 933 requests to revert specific roads have been received, relating to 235 streets or locations. Of those, 28 referred to street names that were incorrect or were unclear about the street or location, a spokesman said.

Speaking ahead of the anniversary, transport minister Ken Skates said he expected some roads could change soon but the new year was more realistic.

"Traffic regulation orders take about four weeks so we're anticipating, and it does come down to local authorities and how swiftly they wish to proceed, bearing in mind they have to do it safely. But we expect the vast majority of changes to be made in the early months of next year. There is some hope that we may see some changes by the end of this year, but in all likelihood, we're going to start seeing 30mph signs returning in the early months of next year. "

Asked if he apologised for the rollout of the law, he said: "I think the the implementation of the policy could and should have been better. But I hope that through the figures that have been published, people will recognise it has led to fewer serious injuries and to safer communities. But I appreciate people's frustrations over this policy, how it was implemented.

"I'm just incredibly grateful that people have stuck with us in contributing to the listening. Exercise has taken place, which in turn will ensure that, that the changes that take place in the coming months are the right changes and that by summer of next year, we will have that general consensus across Wales that right speed limits now apply on the right routes."