Did lowering the speed limit work?

On 17th September 2023 the Welsh Government introduced a standard 20 mph speed limit on all restricted roads in Wales. The majority of these roads are located in residential and built-up areas, and previously most restricted roads in Wales followed the UK standard speed limit of 30 mph. This change increased the approximate total length of roads in Wales with a 20 mph limit from 540 miles to 8,077 miles and reduced the approximate length of 30 mph roads from 8,140 miles to 610 miles.

One of the key reasons for introducing this change was to reduce the number of collisions and the severity of injuries resulting from them.

The police in Wales recently released provisional statistics for personal injury road collisions up to the end of September 2024, giving a picture of the first full year since the change. So what do the statistics tell us?

Looking at combined figures for all 20 mph and 30 mph roads for the same September to September period before and after the speed limit change, we can see that there have been falls in the total number of collisions reported to the police on these roads from 1928 to 1428 (a drop of approx. 26%) as well as falls in the number of fatal collisions (30 to 22) and serious injury collisions (421 to 351) with similar falls in the numbers of individual casualties.

While these figures are positive, care should be taken when interpreting data over such a short time period, as there can be a certain amount of volatility with any one year’s figures. It is also worth noting that the number and severity of road collisions reported to the police in Wales have generally been declining at a steady rate for many years. While the decline is to be welcomed, it is likely that a number of factors are involved in this decline; it is too early to give credit to any one factor at this point.

A report of the latest police data can be found on the Gov.Wales website.

Driving is one of the most dangerous things that many workers do. If your employees drive for work, whether in company or their own vehicles, then you need to assess the risks and put in place measures to control those risks. Typical factors to consider include planning and managing journeys, making sure drivers have the right training, competence and instruction, making sure that vehicles are suitable and maintained in a safe condition and making sure that drivers have access to suitable welfare facilities.

If you have any questions or would like support with managing issues at your workplace, please speak to your usual contact or get in touch using the form below.