Driving in Wales 20mph !

Nightmare to work out , follow signs,follow streetlights within 200 ft of each other ,god knows

Follow the signs.

Yes I thought that and did ,drac bit of a nightmare I’d say longterm

Everywhere that I drive in a 20 zone in the borders seems very straightforward. Just do what the signs say

It’s fine. There are signs and car satnavs are being updated (my id3 now knows the correct limits everywhere)
It’s time to move on and just ignore those who have their knickers in a twist about it.

Edit: and to add; I’ve just come back from the Peak District and 30mph in some built up areas feels outrageous.

Everywhere I’ve driven in Scottish 20mph it’s clearly signed. And my jaunt to North Wales a couple of months ago was also pretty simple.

What issues did you have specifically?

Lack of signage for me was lacking …I’m all for a drop in the speed limit to save lives/injury but needs to be straightforward …info on gov Wales isn’t fully clear either

Ignore me….. Wrong thread 🤦‍♂️

Is it not the same rules as before for a 30mph limit, just with 20mph instead?

If in doubt do 20

In many cases 20 is a more appropriate speed in urban areas anyway.

But people will not do less than the posted speed unless the danger impacts them directly (ie corners and direct frontal impact)….. Pedestrians to the most part are secondary to their important journey it seems

Lack of signage for me was lacking …I’m all for a drop in the speed limit to save lives/injury but needs to be straightforward …info on gov Wales isn’t fully clear either

Seems pretty obvious to me. If it looks like it *was* a 30 limit you drive at 20 until you see a sign saying otherwise.

It’s very obvious if you’re in a village or town. However the sections of road that connect towns needs improving, long sections of road between adjacent villages are often without any signs

I live in Wales and while I’m definitely strongly in favour of the 20 limit, I would definitely agree that the signage could be much better. Broadly speaking, I’d just follow the signs, it’s what I do. Some councils have been better than others at either getting roads upgraded to 30 and actually putting the right signs up.

Seemed fairly easy last week.

Drive to the border, get out my ks1 maths course book*, check I could identify the number 2, continue following the road signs.

It’s exactly the same as in England, except there’s not 20mph repeaters anymore. Just as in England there aren’t 30 repeaters, but there are 40’s, 50’s etc.

The more surprising thing was that most people seemed to be sticking to it, included the “roided up valley boys” someone was scared of in the other thread 😅

*Any other 80s Welsh kids remember Martha Marteg the mouse?

Took a bit of getting used to when we were over there last October, but it was great both as a driver and a pedestrian.

thisisnotaspoon
Free Member

It’s exactly the same as in England, except there’s not 20mph repeaters anymore. Just as in England there aren’t 30 repeaters, but there are 40’s, 50’s etc.

Exactly this. If you think of it as a “change from 30” then I guess maybe it’s reasonable to expect more signs to tell you “this isn’t a 30”. But if you think of it as “the default is now 20” then it’s literally the same as it was before, just with 20 instead of 30.

Assume 20, unless it say’s otherwise. Still some poor driving going on – I was tailgated this weekend because I was doing 20 ! Guy was waving his hand at me.

Rural welsh dweller here…what is so difficult? The default in built up areas is 20. If another limit applies there will be signs. Many of these 20 zones already existed outside schools before the recent law.

Fantom ,it’s simple if your a local and you have all the info through your letterbox and on local news but as a visitor it’s not very clear

Fantom ,it’s simple if your a local and you have all the info through your letterbox and on local news but as a visitor it’s not very clear

It’s literally as simple as follow the signs?  Which bit was difficult?

The only exception to the English side is if you can’t see a repeater sign then it’s 20 rather than 30 (assuming you’ve just pulled out of a driveway into a built up area).

And why do we need another thread about it, ffs?

We still have towns and villages with 30 painted on the roads and 20 signs, which does seem to confuse some folks. Consider the red/white circular roadside signs to be the actual legal limit and the road markings just as “information” and you’ll not go wrong. Same goes for those “Max speed 40mph” type signs you see coming into some sharp bends. 😉

but as a visitor it’s not very clear

Tbh if you can’t understand simple speed limits maybe you shouldn’t be driving?

It’s exactly the same as before voodoo.

30mph sign as you enter a limit.  Streetlamps (or repeaters if there are no lights) maintain that limit until you get to a NSL or a different limit.

In Wales, its now just 20 instead of 30. Same rules.

We still have towns and villages with 30 painted on the roads and 20 signs

Around here we have that but the 20s are green(advisory)

Seems People want to do 50 though so the nunber in the circle only serves to determine the number of points/prison sentence if the worst happens.

Two dogs ..  well done 👍

Streetlights and no sign = 20
Sign = whatever number is on the sign

End of.

Thank you molgrips

Lack of signage for me was lacking

double negative would suggest therefore that you thought the signage was good.

Honestly, it’s not difficult, if it’s built up area drive at 20 unless there is a sign telling you otherwise. Simple.

Two dogs .. well done 👍

You’re welcome…and i was being serious

And why start a second thread? Its been done to death on the other one.

Tbh if you can’t understand simple speed limits maybe you shouldn’t be driving?

If it is that simple, why would Mark Drakeford, the driving force behind the 20mph.limits, state that anybody who was ‘genuinely confused’ would not be prosecuted?

It doesn’t really matter what he says, as he’s not in charge of enforcement, that’s the job of the police. And ignorance of the law is no defence.

I totally agree, it just seems a bizarre and very strange thing for a first minister to say.

As has been mentioned, once you are used to 20 limits then 30 feels nuts. So just drive around 20 in built up areas, problem solved. Everyone is safer and less stressed, good things all round. TBH most people float around 23-25 on the speedo a lot of the time, but that’s a lot better than 35.

👍

Thanks all for the advice

If it is that simple, why would Mark Drakeford, the driving force behind the 20mph.limits, state that anybody who was ‘genuinely confused’ would not be prosecuted?

Because either:

A) he’s a politician and likes his approval ratings even if he is planning to leave.

B) Knows that if there is a “genuinely confusing” set of circumstances like the signs were wrong then it wouldn’t stand up in court.

I’m genuinely confused how people find the whole shebang confusing though.

So just drive around 20 in built up areas, problem solved

Spending more time driving through Wales the last few months. Cardiff is a pleasant place to be now, bigger roads are still 30 and residential streets just feel chilled out

Having driven from Chester to Cardiff via welshpool there were a couple of places where the transition from nsl to 20 felt a bit abrupt, I think there should a be a transition zone rather than dumping straight from 60 to 20.

There were also a one or two sections the 20 zone extended to far up a “big” road once the houses were gone. That wouldn’t have been too bad at 30 but felt painful and unnecessary at 20.t

The idea of d fault 20 is one I fully agree with. Just needs a few tweaks in some areas.

My main problem was actually trying to second guess/overthinking whether the 30 signs meant 30 , or if it should be 20 but the sign hadn’t been updated.

Can’t trust the satnavs yet, last time I looked CoPilot was completely wrong and Google maps is wrong a lot of the time.

there’s a few places, such as in the Afan valley, where the roads were 40 in areas that should have been 30, and they have remained at 40, which now feels quite wrong.

If it is that simple, why would Mark Drakeford, the driving force behind the 20mph.limits, state that anybody who was ‘genuinely confused’ would not be prosecuted?

Because one of the main arguments against the limit was that they were just trying to raise money from fines. That statement undermines that argument.

My main problem was actually trying to second guess/overthinking whether the 30 signs meant 30 , or if it should be 20 but the sign hadn’t been updated.

How could they ever prosecute you for doing 30 when there’s a sign saying 30? Signs are definitive. If it says 30 it’s 30, obviously.