20mph is as enforceable as any speed limit.  20’s Plenty for Us asked Police Forces whether and how they actually enforce 20mph speed limits.  Many do enforce 20mph and 2/3 of speeding tickets come from Fixed Cameras (across ALL speed limits) 

20’s Plenty for Us is often asked whether 20mph is enforceable.  The answer is clear: “20mph is as enforceable as any other speed limit”.  In light of the increasing number of places implementing lower speed limits, 20’s Plenty for Us asked all Police Forces in Great Britain whether they are actually enforcing 20mph speed limits.  It turns out that many are enforcing 20mph and doing so more often than in previous years.  We note that more than 2/3 of speeding tickets in ALL speed limits come from Fixed Cameras.

43 out of 44 police forces in Great Britain[1] responded to three questions:

• How many Notices of Intended Prosecution (NIPS) for speeding offences had they issued in 2024;
• How many of those were issued in each speed limit; and
• How many were from fixed cameras?

Four key findings

• Notice of Intended Prosecutions: The 43 responding police forces issued 4.4m NIPs in 2024[2], an overall increase of 17% from 2023.
• Fixed cameras. Over two thirds of all NIPs were generated from fixed cameras.
• 20mph roads. 25 Police Force issued NIPs on 20mph roads in 2024 totalling 490,000 NIPs (11% of the total). The Metropolitan Police Service issued over 300,000 NIPs, Police in Wales issued over 100,000 and Avon & Somerset issued 20,000. Since most NIPS come from fixed cameras, enforcement on 20mph roads automatically increases as more 30mph roads with fixed cameras become 20mph.  This is demonstrated in London, where 40% of NIPs are issued on 20mph roads.
• Enforcement variability.  There are large variations in how Police Force enforce all speeds limits and these variations do not appear to relate to the size of the population in a force's area, the number of vehicles on the roads, the length of roads or the number of casualties. 

[1] Dyfed-Powys was unable to provide a response.

[2] The figures quoted include NIPs which are subsequently cancelled.

Notes:

1) Top Ten NIPs issuers

2) NIPs by Police Force and speed limit