Four good reasons why 20mph is fast enough. 

An aphorism sometimes used in youthwork is appropriate in lots of situations: “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.” 
Albert Einstein knew what he was talking about. 

The 20mph speed limit seems to be less than popular and attracted 469,571 protest signatures. 

Yet most would consider the reasons behind this restriction to be sensible. 

You may not be aware of them. 

OTHER NEWS:

They are to: 1. reduce the number of collisions and severe injuries from them (also reducing the impact on the NHS from treating the people who are injured) 
2. encourage more people to walk and cycle in our communities 
3. help to improve our health and well-being 
4. make our streets safer. 

Readers will remember the difficulty many people had coming to terms with the one-way system in Welshpool. 

Once the dust settled, and one or two teething troubles were resolved, we accepted the change, and our traffic now flows without incident. 

It will be easy to collect and publish data to demonstrate whether reducing the speed of traffic has been effective. 

Let’s carefully consider the evidence before we get too hot under the collar about the 20 mph speed limit. 

Even though only 23% of households in Wales do not have access to a car, we are all pedestrians when we get out of our cars. 

We must accept that “the” voice of the motorist is loud. 

Inevitably, living in a rural location with poor public transport, most of us are forced to use a motor car more often than is good for us. 

Approximately 80% of the Welsh workforce use a car to travel to work (above the Great Britain average of 68%). See, for example, A new Wales Transport Strategy Consultation Draft Supporting information transport data and trends. 

The worst delays most of us occasionally face in Powys result from road closures following serious accidents. 

Undoubtedly speed is a factor in most cases. If we prevent one fatality and one amputation across Wales, then the 20mph speed limit will have fulfilled its purpose. 
Tom Memery,  Welshpool