An insurance company says that vehicle damage claims have reduced by 20% since the default 20mph speed limit was introduced in Wales.
Esure says claims have dropped at a time when they typically rise. This contrasts with England, where the company did not see a similar drop in claims.
Rob Clark, Esure’s head of motor underwriting, said: “We can see a clear drop in claims for car accidents in Wales since the 20mph speed restriction was introduced in September 2023.
“During a time when we usually see these claims rise, they dropped and have continued to do so in Q1 2024.
“The restriction is clearly having an impact.”
In September 2023, Wales became the first nation in the UK to introduce legislation for a default 20mph speed limit. The change applied to restricted roads only, usually in residential and built-up areas.
Responding to the Esure figures, 20’s Plenty says it is delighted to see the safety benefit of fewer collisions now starting to show through.
Rod King MBE, 20’s Plenty founder, said: “This confirms on a national scale the benefits from lower speeds not only reducing casualties and danger but also providing a benefit to drivers in reduced insurance claims.
“The reductions are both statistically significant and timely in showing the reduction in road danger from implementing 20mph limits on a national basis.
“Statistically, some of those crashes which never happened would have resulted in death or injury for the road users involved. The national 20mph limit has already saved lives and injury. Well done Wales.”
That’s good.
Let’s hope that Vaughan Gething’s estimate of the costs are wrong (ie an average of 1 min extra per car journey), or the policy is costing more lives than its saving – about 4:1 for avoided fatalities.
Tim Coote
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Of more relevance to this forum, recorded casualties in the last three months of 2023 on 20 and 30mph roads in Wales are down 32% year on year.
Philip Jones, Birmingham
+5