New UK speed limit 'causes problem' for drivers' and will be 'disastrous'

A new UK speed limit has caused a "problem" for drivers, it has been admitted, after MONTHS of a backlash over the Labour Party slashing the speed to 20mph in parts of Wales. First Minister Eluned Morgan admitted that some mistakes had been made when rolling out the speed limit rules

A petition was launched to call on the Welsh Government to scrap the "disastrous" 20mph law as the creator of the petition, Mark Baker, said the "foolish idea" needed to be stopped. Speaking to the BBC's Newscast podcast, she said: "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.

"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?' 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'."

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Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservative Party in the Senedd, said: "The first minister will know from her summer 'listening exercise' that people in Wales want the default 20mph speed limit scrapped, but the policy remains in place.

"The Welsh Conservatives would scrap the policy and keep 20mph speed limits in places they’re needed, like outside schools." Rod Dennis, road safety spokesperson at the motoring organisation the RAC, said: “We are very supportive of 20mph limits being implemented in places where there’s a greater presence of pedestrians and cyclists, as they are proven to reduce road casualties.

"But when used on roads that are clearly better suited to 30mph, there’s a risk drivers don’t obey the limit and their effectiveness is undermined.”