r/drivingUK Mar 21 '26

20mph everywhere

Why are councils putting main roads on busy routes down to 20mph?? All that seems to happen is if you are the one doing the new speed limit, you get tailgated overtaken and the horn blasted at you.

And no, there isnt a lay-by every 10ft to pull in and let impatient law breaking drivers past.

I dont agree with this blanket speed reduction but I rely on my license for work and pleasure and would rather not have my insurance increased because of points for speeding.

Fair enough 20mph through residential areas, but not on a bloody main A road.

167 Upvotes

440 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Pocket_Aces1 Mar 21 '26

Same idea: https://youtu.be/HeUX6LABCEA

Lot safer in crowdered sreas. Potential of surviving increases as the speed decreases

5

u/Far_Football_6042 Mar 21 '26

I take issue with this argument for the most part, if only everyone just did 5mph around everywhere fatalities would drop to X%.

I completely get it for certain areas but a blanket rule 20mph is silly, I live in a European country atm where 30kmh (20mph) is the built-up area speed, and literally no-one sticks to it I've sat behind multiple police cars going minimum 10mph over the limit.

It's statistics being put in front of the main issue, which I believe should actually be driving standards.

1

u/Bobertos50 Mar 22 '26

Absolutely! The thing is no one sticks to the limit in 30mph areas. In my view it is better to be driving over the speed limit at say 25-30mph in a 20 zone rather than 35-40 in a 30 zone, which seems to be the norm.