Wales introduced their new 20mph speed limit in towns on September 17 under their Labour minority government. There's been much stink about it, mostly from Conservatives. The Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, seemed particularly perturbed about it when the issue was brought up recently.
But that's probably understandable. Mordaunt is the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North, the city which enacted Britain's first 20 mph speed limit way back in 2008. She's probably been ruing it ever since.
(Please excuse the link to GBNews, the UK equivalent to Fox, Newsmax, OAN, etc.)
Source: GBNews
A new 20mph speed which will cost the Welsh Government £4.5billion has been described as “insane” by a cabinet minister.
The new scheme, which first minister Mark Drakeford insists will save lives and reduce noise pollution, will see the speed limit on 7,700 miles of road go from 30mph to 20mph.
Wales became the first nation in Great Britain to lower its speed limits in urban areas last year.
But leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt said the Welsh government "have ignored the public" and are "pushing ahead with this scheme despite huge opposition".
“This is absolutely insane, even by the standards of Labour’s Welsh government," she said.
She added: “There are circumstances where of course 20mph speed limits are a good idea but having them as the default for many roads is crazy."
She then went into some absolute twaddle (from a right-wing think tank, no doubt) that the move will "cost the Welsh economy £4.5billion," that it will "increase individuals’ fuel bills considerably and actually be harmful to the environment.” None of which is true, or makes any damn sense. But to Conservatives everywhere, facts just don't matter.
What is true according to the National Library of Medicine, based in Bethesda, Maryland, is that the evidence of increased pedestrian safety at 20 mph is strong. "The chance of a pedestrian being seriously injured or killed if struck by a car is 45% if the car is travelling at 30 mph but only 5% at 20 mph."
