Speed limits would need to be cut to 10mph on certain roads to prevent deaths and life-changing injuries, a study published by the Road Safety Foundation has suggested.
The report explained that reducing the speed limits on roads surrounding schools, hospitals and in the vicinity of major events such as concerts or football matches could reduce accidents.
The charity said that a speed limit of 10mph would mean less than one in 10 road accidents would result in someone being killed or seriously injured.
Although the Road Safety Foundation has not made any recommendations about what speed limits would be appropriate, it did highlight that lower speeds would reduce deaths.
It added that in locations where pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists are mixed with cars, a 20mph speed limit would make it safer.
A speed limit of 30mph would be only suitable where there are no pedestrians or cyclists, and head-on collisions and side impacts are possible only between cars, it added.
In a comment following the report, the charity explained that these “safe speeds” are “very low, possibly lower than most practitioners and policy makers may have understood previously”.
The report concluded: “Prioritising speed management will substantially reduce fatalities and serious injuries, bringing road systems closer to achieving Vision Zero goals.
“Any reduction in operating speeds toward the identified ‘safe’ speeds will have a meaningful impact on road safety.”
Vision Zero is the charity’s ambition to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries based on “the moral position that no death or serious injury should be considered an acceptable by-product of mobility”.
It comes after the Welsh government changed every road that had a 30mph limit to 20mph, unless it was given an exemption by the local authority.
It was made the default speed limit in September 2023, but almost two-thirds of people in Wales objected to the change, according to YouGov.
Since it was implemented, more than 100,000 drivers have been caught breaking the new speed limit. Data from the road safety partnership GoSafe revealed 112,699 offences were committed up to March 2025.
The highest speed recorded was 89mph in January 2025 in north Wales, with several cases of 88mph recorded across the country.
But the average speed recorded was about 28mph.
In some urban areas, the Welsh government reverted the changes back to 30mph following protests against the change.
