OK, so I've been on hiatus a while, just busy with life, it's not that I don't love you lot... and I'm not promising how much I might be around. But something has happened that - at least the US gang might find mildly interesting / amusing, and I did a search, no-one has talked about it yet. So I figured I'd share.
The headline: As of Sept 17th 2023, the Welsh government decided that the default speed limit on all roads, would be 20mph, unless there's an exception applied.
Immediately, "everyone" (well, everyone that listens to mainstream media) was up in arms... "why are we dropping 60mph country roads to 20mph? The country will grind to a halt!" They decried. Of course, the devil is in the details, and the headline lacks detail.
So, the details. What they've actually done, is change everywhere that was a 30mph limit, to a 20mph limit. Some of the signs have moved around a bit, sometimes you'll be in a 20, then it opens to a 30, then up to NSL. Sometimes you'll go from NSL direct to 20mph, and a couple of hundred meters later, back to NSL again. That obviously cost more than the amount of change down the back of the Welsh sofa to enact, changing signage, painting roads, etc etc. About a week after the changes, the main bus company announced they've had to pay drivers £400,000 in overtime, because all the bus schedules are now messed up, and drivers have to work overtime to get the busses back to the depot.
Now then, why have they done this? The claim, is that it makes pedestrians and cyclists safer. Nothing to do with climate change this time. The statistics over time will be interesting to watch.
Meanwhile, it's also come to light that during the small local trials of this, the people in the trial area raised issues, and were ignored. We're now at a point where a petition of around half a million people (in a country of about 3million) asking for the law to be repealed.
So far, the anecdotal evidence from me driving around (car or bike) about the effect of the change:
The UK Prime Minister has gone on record saying words to the effect of "nope, we're not doing that in England." So I give them until the end of the year before they do. They're already planning trials on the Wirral.
The headline: As of Sept 17th 2023, the Welsh government decided that the default speed limit on all roads, would be 20mph, unless there's an exception applied.
Immediately, "everyone" (well, everyone that listens to mainstream media) was up in arms... "why are we dropping 60mph country roads to 20mph? The country will grind to a halt!" They decried. Of course, the devil is in the details, and the headline lacks detail.
So, the details. What they've actually done, is change everywhere that was a 30mph limit, to a 20mph limit. Some of the signs have moved around a bit, sometimes you'll be in a 20, then it opens to a 30, then up to NSL. Sometimes you'll go from NSL direct to 20mph, and a couple of hundred meters later, back to NSL again. That obviously cost more than the amount of change down the back of the Welsh sofa to enact, changing signage, painting roads, etc etc. About a week after the changes, the main bus company announced they've had to pay drivers £400,000 in overtime, because all the bus schedules are now messed up, and drivers have to work overtime to get the busses back to the depot.
Now then, why have they done this? The claim, is that it makes pedestrians and cyclists safer. Nothing to do with climate change this time. The statistics over time will be interesting to watch.
Meanwhile, it's also come to light that during the small local trials of this, the people in the trial area raised issues, and were ignored. We're now at a point where a petition of around half a million people (in a country of about 3million) asking for the law to be repealed.
So far, the anecdotal evidence from me driving around (car or bike) about the effect of the change:
- Probably thanks to the concertina effect of going from a 60mph area directly to a 20mph area, late braking leads to a LOT of vehicles tail gaiting. Most (not a scientific measurement) vehicles I see are now having gaps between vehicles measured in inches. Then because of the "frustration" they all accelerate at the same time and stay glued together when they're back in the NSL areas.
- Every time I'm out, car or bike, at least 3 people overtake me in excess of 40mph, while I'm following the 20mph limit - so now even if the limit had been kept at 30, they're speeding compared to that limit.
- The vast majority of 20mph signage has been vandalised, probably making any speeding prosecutions be a little challenging in court ("I wasn't aware the limit had changed there, and the signage wasn't clear, ma'lord").
- Lots of people are now choosing to do 40mph, when the limit allows up to 60mph.
- Lots of people are observed looking at their lap... which either implies that they need to see a doctor, or that they're looking at their phone (and how safe are those pedestrians and cyclists now that more people are looking at their phones?)
- Lots of people will now pull out in front of you at a junction, presumably just because they want to go sit behind the car in front of you, instead of you.
- Thanks to everyone being so bunched together, everywhere, it's virtually impossible to overtake anyone. Anywhere. Without forcing your way back into traffic.
The UK Prime Minister has gone on record saying words to the effect of "nope, we're not doing that in England." So I give them until the end of the year before they do. They're already planning trials on the Wirral.