Drivers in Wales could be hit with speeding fines from today under new plans to crack down on motorists going above the new 20mph speed limit changes.
On September 17 earlier this year, the Welsh Government introduced new driving law changes to cut speed limits across the country to 20mph.
The new speed limit changes were introduced on September 17
GETTY
This meant that any restricted roads, which are normally found in residential areas, saw their speed limits drop from 30mph to 20mph.
The law changes were introduced to ensure that travelling was safer for all motorists and road users.
The Welsh Government said that GoSafe, the road safety partnership, has continued to enforce the original 20mph sites since its introduction in September.
A statement added: “GoSafe will begin selecting new sites (locations) for speed van and other enforcement (roads that were 30mph and are now 20mph) once the new speed limit has been in place for three months.”
Given that the 20mph speed limit changes were launched on September 17, enforcement of the scheme is expected to begin on December 17.
GoSafe also confirmed that there is an enforcement threshold for the new speed limit changes.
In a statement on its website, GoSafe announced that it would apply the National Police Chiefs’ Council guidelines which outline the enforcement thresholds of “not less than 10 per cent plus 2mph”.
However, while drivers get used to the new speed limits, Chief Police Officers have allowed an increase to 10 per cent plus four miles per hour on 20mph roads only.
This suggests GoSafe and Welsh police forces will only start to prosecute motorists if they drive at 26mph in a 20mph limit area.
The Welsh Government, in addition to many other governments and organisations, is aiming to cut the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads to zero.
Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Climate Change, spoke in the Senedd and said the new laws “would not come down like a tonne of bricks on people doing between 20mph and 30mph as it beds in".
The new speed limit changes have been met with mixed responses by drivers across Wales, with some going as far as to cut down and deface the 20mph speed limit signs.
A petition calling on the Government “to rescind and remove the disastrous 20mph law” broke records by attracting more than 466,000 signatures.
The Petitions Committee has pledged to consider the matter for a debate, although this would only be done once the petition comes to an end on March 13 next year.
While the petition already has 46 times the number of supporters needed for it to be considered, Mark Baker, the creator of the petition, said he would allow it to naturally expire after six months to ensure everyone can have their say.
In the petition, Baker wrote: "The Welsh Government was put there by the people of Wales, we are your boss! We demand that this foolish idea be stopped.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The petition is expected to be debated in March next year
PA
Data from Agilysis found that the new default speed limit is helping to bring down speeds across Wales, after sampling routes in Cardiff and Wrexham.
It found that speeds had dropped by 2.3mph after a month, compared to a drop of 3.1mph in the first week of the new limit.