New default Welsh speed limit : 20mph!

[ST1100Y]

This is why there are so many idiots walking across the roadways. The stupid are no longer learning due to misadventure. Same intellect that will look down the barrel of their rifle, to see if it's loaded....I have seen that one, guy even had his thumb on the trigger of the rifle. Cater to them and they multiply.

Yeah... but I fail to understand why minorities are (actively!) enabled to take an entire society/state hostage...

We've similar mechanisms ongoing...
They've just passed a new directive re "overtaking/passing bicycles" over here, in which any motorists must keep a minimum clearance of 2m/7 feet...
Alone due road architecture/lack of space technically impossible, hence basically a nationwide general 'no passing pushbikes'...
Even worse as those cyclists a) lack any common sense, b) lurching all over the lane, c) purposely running side by side, d) purposely prowl in the center of the lane, e) even move onto the white line just for the fun to block everyone since it's their "privilege"...

I never had (too) much issues with cyclists, as long as they kept to their nearside I kept to my far-side, and we all got along just fine... but now?!

I'm just waiting to get taken out in a frontal collision by an oncoming vehicle swerving into my lane over some pushbiker insisting to live up it's his/her prerogative... already had a few close encounters...
Imagine farmers with their big plants, semis or coaches being now stuck like forever behind cyclists on our narrow rural roads...

 

[ad.hom]

Presumably to fight the corner of the people that voted them in, maybe, probably not, but again, someone voted for them.

Ray, please, forget the Welsh. Forget the British ones for that matter. When was the last time you saw a politician actually fight for the views of those who voted for them?

That also says nothing of the choice for the local vote. Last time I had a choice between a chap who's primary policy was to put a speed camera outside the homes of the local people with swimming pools & Range Rovers (where in the last 2 years, I have never once seen one of the Range Rovers coming or going, let alone ANY pedestrian anywhere near). Or I could choose the independent, who's primary policy was to get the council to spend more on flower beds.

Don't get me wrong, there are those within the Senedd that are at least pretending to ask difficult questions, but the ring leader has gone on public record with a "nope, we're not backing down."

It used to specify a distance between lamp posts (50m ? ) but it doesn't now

The ArriveAlive Speed Awareness course still teaches this as a true fact.

As for my actual take on the 20mph limit - it doesn't particularly affect me. I was raised under the "if you're not 15mins early, you're late" ethos. So that's the way I've always acted. I'm observant enough that you can spot the idiots that will overtake in the 20s from 3 miles away. It's unfortunate that overtaking on the bike is now simply impossible without being rude about it, but I'm hoping that's just an adjustment phase (or that they eventually go back on the decision, as a way to hide the fact they've just enacted some other hairbrained idea, like charging Road Tax per mile driven).

I do though, think they've missed one part of the plan. Ambulances should have bull bars fitted so they can still get where they need to go, in the same timescale as last month. The last time I called 999 (before the 20mph change), the person on the other end of the phone said "I'm sorry, but given our workload and your location, it's going to be about 4 hours until I have a crew available to send to you, and I'm unable to stay on the line talking to you. Good luck."

 

[ad.hom]

They've just passed a new directive re "overtaking/passing bicycles" over here, in which any motorists must keep a minimum clearance of 2m/7 feet...

We have a similar law in the UK, only it's 1.5m, and includes a provision that you cannot be travelling more than 30mph when overtaking them... otherwise the distance must be larger. Same problem with lack of space, too.

I'm just waiting to get taken out in a frontal collision by an oncoming vehicle swerving into my lane over some pushbiker insisting to live up it's his/her prerogative...

And that's the problem we see, daily.

But, fair play to them, the few avid cyclists I know are vehemently against the 20mph limit change. Their reasoning is that they can and regularly do 20mph on the push bike. So now, rather than a car outpacing them and getting clear ahead, the cars are sitting at the same speed as the bikes, with the car often tail gaiting the cyclist, poised waiting for the moment they might fall off and end up under the wheels.

 

[ST1100Y]

But, fair play to them, the few avid cyclists I know are vehemently against the 20mph limit change. Their reasoning is that they can and regularly do 20mph on the push bike. So now, rather than a car outpacing them and getting clear ahead, the cars are sitting at the same speed as the bikes, with the car often tail gaiting the cyclist, poised waiting for the moment they might fall off and end up under the wheels.

Tjo, those ebikes are an even worse plague... officially limited to 240 Watt 45kph/28mph they all hack them (easily done with a smartphone app) for max power & speed running up to 60kph/38mph...
No insurance, no license plate...

 

[Hound]

The 20mph limit has been rather annoying here but I haven't seen any unsafe driving or road rage incidents because of it. Just about every 20mph sign I've seen has been vandalised with spray paint, though. And applying it to the B5129 between Queensferry and Kelsterton, which is a 3-mile busy bus route to Flint and Chester, seems pretty dumb to me.