The value of prevention – casualty reductions in switching from a 30mph to 20mph speed limit default in Wales

Organisation
Edinburgh Napier University

Date of Publication
November 2022

Uploaded to Knowledge Centre
7 December 2022

Wales is the first country in the UK to make 20mph the default speed limit, and it will
become law on 17 September 2023.

A Welsh Government report has estimated the direct costs of introducing the 20mph
blanket to be £32.3m.

However, this report estimates the casualty savings of 20mph, in the first year alone, to be around
£100m – three times higher than the implementation costs.

The report also suggests that the health benefits of 20mph are far greater than casualty savings alone. These include increased physical activity, and therefore less obesity, less stress and less anxiety, as well as other health benefits such as reduced noise and air pollution.

Click on the link below to read the full report:
https://blogs.napier.ac.uk/tri/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2022/11/TRI-Technical-Paper-101.The-value-of-Prevention.AD_.pdf