I recently joined a Facebook group called 20s Not Plenty because I am becoming increasingly exasperated by the growing trend to change the reasonable and long-held 30mph speed limits in villages and towns, down to 20mph. I’ve not read anything that supports this change in terms of decreasing accidents and deaths or reducing pollution, so it seems to me that this is just another Net Zero mad cap initiative. I know Wales has done this wholesale but they have an insane government, whereas a lot of these changes going on in England are in villages and towns where the Green party doesn’t rule the roost. For me, this is just another nail in the motoring coffin so I’m hopeful this Facebook group has some good ideas on how to turn the tables on these motoring fascists.
Couldn’t have put it better myself 
Wales is currently reviewing the 20mph blanket limit at the mo.
Seems like it is not just the motorist who has had enough.
It’s so tiresome that the government continually think up new ways to use the taxpayers money against them.
So many ill-conceived initiatives that would have been shot down before a penny was spent by anyone with an ounce of common sense.
Smart motorways spring to mind.
i was at weston supermare today… they have 25… 
The first one I have seen initially I thought it was made up and someone was pulling a fast one but nah… they actually have 25 on the coast road where the old piers are…
Unpopular opinion, but having spent a couple of years being paid to drive thouands of miles mostly through London’s 20 mph zones I have no issue with 20mph if that is what communities and councils want, but what I do strongly object to is the insane use of sleeping policeman to implement them. If you want to calm traffic and reduce speed and pollution sleeping policeman is not the way as it encourages harsh acceleration and braking between the lumps in the road, chicanes are a far more sensible approach to the problem reducing speeds and encouraging a much smoother approach to driving.
If people had obeyed 30 limits I suspect that the pressure for 20 limits wouldn’t have been so great . I cant say they bother me much , if at all ,although it seems to be compulsory in many motoring communities to regard having to do 20mph in a built up area as the end of the world as they know it,
Sensibly located (as they are where I live) I have no issue with 20 limits at all. It isn’t as though I miss the adrenalin rush of doing 30 mph . And I think that in built up areas pedestrians should have as much, or greater priority than cars. Why on earth should someone in an expensive tin box lord it over people on foot ?
On the open road , I drive briskly and sometimes fast . But near homes , shops and schools who the hell am I always to take priority ?
I think if they actually ever filled all the millions of pot holes etc in,we could drive as we used to looking ahead,instead of studying the road surface all the time for pot holes,driving would instantly become much safer,I can remember when I was young many years ago,we drove along looking ahead,not actually studying the tarmac in close detail,we are now most def approaching a Third world country status.
Old chap Simon
The “20mph when lights flash” near schools etc is a great idea.
It reduces the speed when required for safety.
It is the blanket 20mph that seems crazy.
Yep the Club Rules are no ‘Politics’ or ‘Religion’ as debates can get over-heated
But how to have a discussion about speed limits without mentioning the ‘Powers that Be’ could prove challenging 
We defo not doing politics here …just chatting about ‘Powers that Be’ e.g. groups who have campaigned for the 20 mph in their area 
driving across london the last few weeks I have seen more dangerous manoeuvres than I have ever
seen, people overtaking me the other side of keep left signs, someone waiting front of a junction had been overtaken by the second person round the front of them,I’ve seen that a few times, seems like the 20 mph is making them so impatient
must say 20mph is ok out side schools and other places like, think instead of using speed as an excuse they should be concentrating on teaching people to a higher standard, the driving in this country now is terrible!
most of speed limits are an excuse to grab cash of the motorist I always said stopping people smoking all that tax had to come from somewhere and I am afraid motorist is an easy target .at the end of the day its all about money
by the way I am not blaming and political party just rules in general
British Medical Journal: 20 mph speed limits have little impact on crashes, casualties, driver speed.
I agree it will not cut speed of some drivers, usually those involved in the most accidents. Idiots are always searching for a Darwin award.
I was driving our Mazda3 in and around Cardiff on Friday, first time in maybe ten years. My sat-nav advised me the speed limits accurately, matching the signage and road markings, and it warned me where the cameras were, pinging extremely frequently!
However, while I was travelling at the same speed as the great majority of other cars, and even most white vans, we were all being cut up left right and centre by random pop-bang idiots ignoring speed limits, road signs, cameras, general rules of the road, even driving out the wrong way from one-way streets. Nutters.
My local guide told me the (under-resourced) police do nothing, ignore dash-cam evidence supplied by normal road users, and the nutters get away with it until they write off their car (stolen? no licence? drunk? mind blown?) Many locals don’t want to become involved by reporting it, simply because drug gangs seem to be running much of the area and retribution happens.
So, what can one do? This is a symptom of something deeper, but I have no idea what that might be or how to cure it.
The 20mph speed limit doesn’t seem to be obeyed where I live, like at all.
The issue we have here is that if you take off from my house to say, Glasgow, the roads go from 20mph → 40mph → 60mph → 20mph → 40mph and this just goes on and on and on until you’re on the motorway. Sometimes you can see 3 different speed signs on a single stretch of road, with almost nothing to suggest it couldn’t just be a 60 → 30 → 60
This is tiresome, a complete waste of fuel and the reality is these speed limits are screwing with peoples heads. Almost everyone drives 30-40mph in the 20s, and when they get onto the 60s? Still 40mph.
I’m not actually sure what 20mph is trying to acheive in the majority of areas, then you have the speed bumps no one cares about either because everyone is in a cross over that clears them.
The only 20mph zone I agreed with is flashing school zones, housing estates and highstreets.
Hiya ast
“Consider the body of evidence, not just cherry pick a study to suit a preconceived position”
I totally agree but having read ‘Understanding Crime Data’ as part of a post-grad course many moons ago and my head exploding
I decided to default to the adage [?]
“Lies, damn lies and statistics” [attributed to various authors]
Having done a degree in Experimental Psychology …many, many moons ago I concluded ‘What is a hypothesis’ but a ‘preconceived position’ by the individual doing the research [even controlling for ‘Experimenter Bias’ and all the other complex checks and balances like probability]
So fundamentally it boils down to what one believes is True and the more folk that believe something is True the more likely that the belief becomes accepted Reality
My current believed Reality regarding the 20 mph roll out in various areas is:
The bad driving behaviour of a few will always affect the good driving behaviour of the many whether it be speed restrictions, insurance etc
Kindest
Not true, whole boroughs have implemented the 20 mph rule.
Yes but it’s not exclusive to these areas. That’s the issue, outside of that criteria it seems completely random.
I don’t know if you have been in somewhere like Edinburgh lately, most of the city seems to be 20mph outside of the odd main road. If there is a 30mph zone it’s usually split up by 20mph zones. Hell there is a school next to my in-laws that is right next to a 40mph road, kids are a 60s walk from the road yet the roads all around that 40mph are a 20mph.
I just don’t see the point in a road that is wide enough to fit 5 lanes of traffic is a 20mph just because it’s near some random charity shop.
EDIT: Sorry worth noting that I see no issue with a 20mph zone in a very busy city, I just don’t see the point in going from 30mph to 20mph and back with no discernible reason in sight. If someone going 30mph meat crayons some granny on the road it wouldn’t have mattered if they were going 20mph or 30mph anyway, the driver was not paying attention and I doubt a 10mph difference would have changed their ability to react quick enough.
I just think going 20 encourages some folk to let their mind wander, and also others to txt. I find myself getting bored and frustrated when there is a green light and I am doing 20 knowing that if i was doing 30 I wouldn’t catch a red.
we have roads here that was national speed limit when Istarted driving and over time gone to 50 then to 40 then 30 now 20 and its close to where i live can’t see why and most drivers don’t bother going slower than 40 who ever is selling signs and other road side furniture has some good sales staff
Exactly - the staging of the lights on the road has not been adjusted to work with the new speed limit.
This for me is one of the main issues - councils no longer need to consult with the highways agency and are just changing the signs - only doing half a job.
half the staff in my council don’t even drive
