More speed limit changes could be rolled out despite ‘insane’ new 20mph road laws

The Member of the Senedd for Llanelli said: “We need to review [speed limits] in line with the Wales transport strategy.

“If there is an accident blackspot, rather than saying 'let's spend £30million over five years on a carbon intensive road scheme', let's just drop the speed limit.

WATCH NOW: Welsh driver on speed limit changes

"We can do that next week it won't cost us anything. It will save lives," he told the BBC.

In response to the potential plans, the Welsh Conservatives’ transport spokesperson Natasha Asghar slammed the idea, urging the Government to ditch the speed limits.

However, Lee Waters clarified that there were no current plans to introduce another nationwide change.

This comes after new changes were introduced that lowered the average speed limit on restricted roads from 30mph down to 20mph.

These restricted roads are usually seen in residential areas, with streetlights placed on either side no more than 200 yards apart.

The decision to go ahead with the change was met with fury from drivers, some of whom have defaced the new signs and led protests in Cardiff.

One frustrated motorist has even broken records by creating a petition calling for the Government to scrap the 20mph limits, which has received more than 423,000 signatures.

This is more than six times the number of signatories who signed the previous record petition which called on supermarkets to sell “non-essential” items during lockdown in 2020.

The Senedd petitions website states that a petition needs 250 signatures to be discussed by the Petitions Committee and 10,000 signatures to have it considered for a debate.

Mark Baker, the creator of the petition, has called on the Government to keep it on the Senedd website for the full six-month duration to properly show how many people are unhappy with the changes.

The petition, which has been signed by more than one-tenth of the total Welsh population, said it would “mark the end of having socialism in power in Wales”.

It is understood that people driving over 20mph on these roads will not be fined for the first few months of action, with police and road safety organisations looking to educate drivers about the changes.

The new speed limit changes have also been met with disapproval from politicians, with the leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, calling it “insane”.

It has been predicted that drivers will take around a month to adapt to the changes, with the Government hoping that it will lead to a massive decrease in the number of road fatalities and injuries.

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According to a public health study, the new 20mph default speed limit could result in 40 per cent fewer collisions and 2,000 people avoiding injuries every year.