The Prince Michael International Road Safety Award is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of road safety in the world. This year it celebrated the success of the Welsh Government's setting of a 20mph default for urban/village roads in its Speed Management section. Presented on 10th December 2024 in London by Prince Michael to the Welsh Government, the award recognises the success of the initiative. The nine months since 20mph was introduced in September 2023 has seen the largest reduction in casualties ever (28%) on urban/village roads compared with the previous year. 

The award was accepted by Alison Thomas of the Welsh Government and Kaarina Ruta of the Welsh Local Government Association.

Award being announced by Vicki Butler Henderson	Welsh Government accepting award from Prince Michael pictured with Kaarina Ruta - WLGA (left) and Alison Thomas - Welsh Government (right)

The award follows 5 years of planning and implementation by the Welsh Government since the ability to set national speed limits was devolved in 2018. After the concept of a national default 20mph for urban/village roads, led by 20's Plenty campaigners, gained cross-party support in Wales, Welsh Government set up a multi-agency and stakeholder 20mph Task Force in 2019 to recommend how this could be achieved. The Task Force reported in 2020 and legislation was passed in 2022 for implementation in September 2023 with Local Authorities able to make exceptions.

While receiving some noisy but minority opposition, Welsh drivers have accepted the change and speeds are noticeably down in cities, towns and villages. With most 30mph roads changing to 20mph, the analysis of casualties on 20mph and 30mph roads shows a 28% reduction (489 fewer casualties) for the 9 month period October 2023 to June 2024 compared with the previous period (October 2022 to June 2023).

This comes just a week after the Welsh Local Government Association won an award from the Charted Institution of Highways and Transportation for its role in setting a default 20mph limit. CIHT recently published a report on "Progressing the UK towards Safe System implementation" which references Wales as a case study in support of its call for setting more survivable lower national default speeds limits and "excepting up" only where evidentially justifiable.

In introducing the awards, Prince Michael said:

"This year, we mark the mid-point of the second 'Decade of Action for Road Safety'. All of us understand just how much action is needed to achieve the ambitions of the current Global Plan[1] to reduce casualties by fifty percent by 2030.

I trust that the excellent work we celebrate here today, and the dedicated professionals who have made it happen, will make a great contribution to this effort''.

The judging panel concluded that:

"In making a national default speed limit of 20mph on restricted roads, the Welsh Government has changed the narrative in Wales about the appropriate and legal maximum vehicle speed on roads where people and motor vehicles mix. 20mph is now presumed as the limit, with Local Authorities allowed to set 30mph as an exception.

Wales is one of the first countries in the world, to pass a law changing the speed limit on restricted roads to 20mph."

Rod King MBE, chair of 20's Plenty for Us CIC commented:

"This recognition at global level of  success of the Welsh Government's 20mph default is hugely significant. 20mph as a norm for urban/village streets is now not only recognised as "global best practice" but also effective in providing transformational change to the liveability of communities and creating people-oriented streets. This becomes a foundation for so many other interventions that are possible when speeds are lower. Fewer casualties across the whole population are on a scale which is unprecedented in terms of effectiveness and value for money. Well done Wales for using a default 20mph to make all Welsh places better places to be."

[1] The Global Plan endorses the Stockholm Declaration which calls for a 30km/h or 20mph limit as a default wherever motor vehicles mix with people in a planned and frequent manner unless a higher speed is evidentially safe. This is embedded into the Welsh Government guidance on making exceptions to the default 20mph limit.