Wales’s 20mph speed limit saves lives and money. So why has it become a culture-war battlefield? | Will Hayward
www.theguardian.com
In a world of online outrage, evidence is no longer enough – for a policy to work, politicians must explain it and stick by it, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

I still can’t quite get over the fact that a scheme designed to save the lives of children became the latest culture war battlefield.

not even counting the long-term savings to the NHS from people taking up cycling or walking instead of driving, or the savings for many Welsh drivers caused by the reduction in their insurance premiums

Not sure if it belongs here but I thought it showed how hard it is to even change small things.

So why all the outrage? Well, it turns out that much of it was manufactured. In January of this year I did a little digging through four of the main Facebook groups opposing the change to 20mph in Wales. I found that in each case one of the admins was a Tory councillor from Sunderland who has, and this is hilarious, campaigned to have 20mph limits in parts of his home town.

Conservative politican scum baggery ?

Ultimately, the 20mph change was an attempt to rebalance the communities in which we live, so they are no longer dominated by cars. The policy aims to make our neighbourhoods more livable (20mph is three decibels lower than 30mph). It has a positive impact on particulate pollution because cars have to brake less. And it clearly saves lives.

  • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    3·
    1 month ago

    Yep. I live in Wales, and I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said. I wrote a long reply to a similar post a little while back that’s here if anyone wants to read it:

    https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/comment/12463901

    The gist of it is though that the speed limit was badly implemented, was announced at around the same time as the bus budget was slashed and major railway work started, and has caused the number of running buses to be reduced.

    The changes were supposed to be a way to push people onto public transport, but now instead of the buses running every 10 minutes, they’re every 15 minutes. The railway work has literally finished this week. Our local MS (Welsh equivalent to an MP) posted today that she rode on the first electric train. A train that’s had the toilets removed and takes longer to get back from the nearest city.