MPs will consider reducing the default speed limit in England to 20mph in a bid to reduce road casualties.
The Transport Committee is meeting to discuss whether lower speed limits could be imposed as part of the government’s road safety strategy – and whether England should adopt the same default 20mph limit as Wales.
MPs will quiz an expert panel in a session next Wednesday, including Transport for London’s chief safety, health and environment officer and the former chair of the Welsh government’s 20mph task force.
Wales reduced its default limit on restricted roads – making up around 35% of the country’s road network – from 30mph to 20mph in 2023.
Despite earlier consultations suggesting almost half of motorists supported a reduced urban limit and government-backed research suggesting it could save 100 lives over a decade and avoid 14,000 casualties, the move prompted significant backlash.
Anti-20mph campaigners formed the largest petition in the Welsh parliament’s history, with nearly half a million signatures, in the wake of the roll-out.
The Welsh Conservative Party has also been a vocal opponent of the Labour policy, which cost £32 million to implement, and – they say – cost the Welsh economy up to £9 billion.
The Tories had pledged to scrap the 20mph limit if they had won the 2024 general election.
However, recent data suggests the change is beginning to have a positive impact on Wales: serious or fatal collisions fell by 19% in 2024, while casualties on 30/20mph roads dropped by more than a quarter.
A recent study found cutting the limit by 10mph added just two minutes to the average journey time in Wales.
Ministers will consider all of this as they evaluate the best means of achieving a targeted 65% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on UK roads by 2035.
This latest session on the subject will have “witnesses discuss whether the strategy’s commitments on speed are sufficient to support its casualty reduction targets”.
These witnesses, the Transport Select Committee said, “could be pressed on whether England should follow Wales and move towards 20mph as the default national speed limit on roads”.
20mph zones are already prevalent in cities and towns across England, particularly in London, where more than half of roads are subject to the reduced limit.
Recent data from the European Transport Safety Council suggests that the proliferation of 20mph zones across London between 1989 and 2013 led to a “sharp fall” in road injuries and deaths.
Total collisions in the city fell by 35% over the period, the body said, casualties were down 36% and there was a 75% reduction in children being killed on the road.