This stupid idea of maximum 20 miles per hour

If it cuts deaths in residential areas I think it is a good idea.

The lower the speed the lower the emissions .

Fact check Infoman.

EVs are not totally silent at low speed -ie in urban areas where pedestrians can hear them
from 1 July 2019, manufacturers must fit acoustic sound systems to new types of quiet electric vehicles to prevent them being too silent, improving safety.
Electric vehicles will now have systems to produce a sound when they are reversing or driving below 20 kilometres per hour (km/h, about 12mph) providing greater confidence to vulnerable road users

Lots of 20mph roads near me I don’t find it a problem. I don’t see how the speed limit will make a difference re: electric cars as they are silent at any speed as far as I know.

Surely fewer pedestrians being killed is a good thing, isn’t it, infoman?

Sunak appears to think that motorists have no other interests other than the ability to drive their car.

Well, I have news for him, motorists are interested in avoiding killing fellow citizens, avoiding pollution and supporting their local authority to make these decisions - who are in the best position to know their locality.

Sunak is doing the ‘dead cat’ and taking the pressure of leveling up and HS2 by inventing the idea of the plan for car drivers.

I live in a town centre, and I'd be thrilled if the speed limit was 20mph. I'd be equally thrilled if drivers were prosecuted for leaving their engines on when they are clearly not intending to move.
Air pollution is a big deal. Asthma and similar lung problems are a big deal. Reducing traffic accidents is a big deal.

A wonderful idea. In thirty years I attended twelve funerals of pupils who did or had attended the school I taught at. Speed a contributory factor in each case.

What 'stupid idea of a blanket 20mph' is this? Perhaps infoman could tell us a bit more about it?

It sounds like one of Sunak's completely made up scare stories, on a par with compulsory car sharing, flight taxes and 7 bins for recycling...

20mph, sensibly applied to built up areas, where there is the most likelihood of accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians, seems like a perfectly OK initiative to me.

Recycling, rubbish, food, paper, garden, glass. I drove through a part of Essex where there were six different bins and plastic sacks for collection, all on the same day.

I worked for an authority which insisted people attending courses (in your own time, weekends and evenings) had to car-share, having to drive miles to collect people but only being able to claim petrol from the place of work.
I believe 20mph is a blanket ban in Wales.

Flight taxes I know nothing about.

20mph outside schools - yes, that should be the limit, and responsible drivers should be doing that anyway.

Apart from that, we should stick to 30mph. Most drivers simply will not be able to stick to 20mph - it's too slow - and this will inevitably see an increase in fines - which is exactly what the authorities want - more revenue for them!

I have been driving at 20 mph for the last week or so. You do get used to it and if it saves just one life it is worth it. Sadly there is no cure for stupid as a man who stepped out from behind a van without looking was almost run over. As we were doing 20 the car was able to stop. At 30 he would have been hit.

Opal

20mph outside schools - yes, that should be the limit, and responsible drivers should be doing that anyway.

Apart from that, we should stick to 30mph. Most drivers simply will not be able to stick to 20mph - it's too slow - and this will inevitably see an increase in fines - which is exactly what the authorities want - more revenue for them!

Anybody who is capable of driving can quite easily adapt to driving at 20mph. You need to be fully conscious of what you are doing at all times to drive safely, whatever speed limit you are adhering to. If people can’t do that, they shouldn’t be driving at all in my opinion.

MaizieD

What 'stupid idea of a blanket 20mph' is this? Perhaps infoman could tell us a bit more about it?

It sounds like one of Sunak's completely made up scare stories, on a par with compulsory car sharing, flight taxes and 7 bins for recycling...

20mph, sensibly applied to built up areas, where there is the most likelihood of accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians, seems like a perfectly OK initiative to me.

I thought Drakeford had made it mandatory on ALL roads in Wales now? Not just built up areas, nears schools etc (which I think is a very good idea). Seems a bit daft on a nearly empty dual carriageway though ...
🤔

Urmstongran

MaizieD

What 'stupid idea of a blanket 20mph' is this? Perhaps infoman could tell us a bit more about it?

It sounds like one of Sunak's completely made up scare stories, on a par with compulsory car sharing, flight taxes and 7 bins for recycling...

20mph, sensibly applied to built up areas, where there is the most likelihood of accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians, seems like a perfectly OK initiative to me.

I thought Drakeford had made it mandatory on ALL roads in Wales now? Not just built up areas, nears schools etc (which I think is a very good idea). Seems a bit daft on a nearly empty dual carriageway though ...
🤔

No, that’s not the case at all. Areas which are fully residential or built up are 20mph. Pre-existing speed limits still apply on safer stretches of road through towns and villages.

Sunak is taking us for idiots.

He has seen that the only chance he has of staying in power is to scour the media every day to find issues that the public are supposedly up in arms about, and to then make a big deal about them. That's all he intends to do - make some noise that (he hopes) will fool the gullible that he is on their side.

Bargain basement politics, with no need to do any more than that.

Is there a name for this style of government? If not, I guess it will end up being mockingly referred to as 'Sunakism', or something equally ridiculous.

I heard an academic on the radio saying that studies show it takes just a few weeks to adjust. I think it was 4 but can't quite remember.

There will always be idiots breaking the law. I have no issues with the 20 mph areas where I have driven. I do realise that they are spreading - but it doesn't bother me. I would appreciate it I think.

Ah. Thank you for the clarification Casdon. 😊
In that case I’m a fan!
Perhaps long term the awful ‘speed bumps’ might become a thing of the past.

I’m not really a fan tbh. Keeping looking at the speedo does not appeal to me and strikes me as a significant danger.

Urmstongran
20mph through villages, 20mph on a trunk road here, 30mph on some other A roads and 50mph on a motorway.
Other A roads remain at the national speed limit of 60mph.
We think.

Confused? 😁 Join the drivers around here.

Speed humps still remain, some are gentle tarmac ones, others are quite vicious so anything more than 10mph is impossible.

If only I could still walk or cycle!!

I've recently returned from France, entering a built up area there's either speed bumps or a narrowing of the road and then it's a 20mph limit. I was only there a week but soon got used to it.

foxie48

I've recently returned from France, entering a built up area there's either speed bumps or a narrowing of the road and then it's a 20mph limit. I was only there a week but soon got used to it.

It's a good idea in built up areas where there are pedestrians and through villages on main roads.

At the moment the speed limits are all over the place around here.

I don’t have a problem doing 20mph though it is hard to stick to it , what I don’t like is the driver behind me right up my bumper wanting me to speed up ,then they usually overtake me on the inside and cut me up giving me one of those looks ,