A further 3,675 North Wales drivers were caught speeding on 20mph roads in December, latest figures show. The figure brings the region’s 2024 total to almost 36,000 – and monitoring in North Wales didn’t begin until late March.
Data from GoSafe Wales shows that more than 85,000 motorists were caught breaking the 20mph speed limit during the first full year of enforcement in Wales. Monitoring in Mid and South Wales began earlier, in November 2023, where more than 48,000 drivers were caught speeding during 2024.
Safety campaigners say the offence rate is similar to before the new default limits were applied, showing their “effectiveness”. However, drivers have been given leniency with a higher speeding threshold of 26mph before drivers are prosecuted – and that may drop to 24mph in March 2025.
A quirk of GoSafe’s speed campaign is how few motorists were clocked speeding in some parts of the country. Seven monitoring sites operated in Powys but not a single offence was recorded. The same was true of Ceredigion, another largely rural county, where just one mobile speed watch site operated in 2024.
Instead, speed monitoring was focussed on urban areas. By the end of October, 7,197 drivers had been caught speeding on the A5104 Pontybodkin, Flintshire. It wasn’t the biggest speeding blackspot in Wales – that unwelcome accolade went to the A4102 at Gellideg in Merthyr Tydfil, where more than 8,000 drivers were caught, albeit over an extra 10 weeks.
Flintshire as a whole fell foul of the monitoring regime. Fifteen sites operated in the county and, despite operating for a shorter time than in the south, six of them caught more speeders than any other site in Wales bar two, as detailed below. Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now
Top 10 20mph speeding sites in Wales (number of offences Jan-Oct 2024)
- A4102 Swansea Road, Gellideg, Merthyr Tydfil: 8,011
- A5104 Pontybodkin, Flintshire: 7,197 offences
- Gors Avenue, Townhill, Swansea: 3,769
- A548 Oakenholt, Flintshire: 3,748
- A548 Greenfield, Flintshire: 3,501
- B5129 Pentre, Flintshire: 3,340
- A550 Gladstone Way Hawarden, Flintshire: 3,082
- A5119 Northop Road, Sychdyn, Flintshire: 2,947
- Llangyfelach Rd, Swansea: 2,728
- B4295, Waunarlwydd, Swansea: 2,508
Conversely, just 23 drivers were caught in Wrexham over eight months, despite the presence of eight monitoring sites in the county. Offences were also relatively low in Gwynedd (353 offences, all on the A494 near Bala ) and on Anglesey (485 offences, mostly on the A5025 near Benllech).
In December, the average speed seen by GoSafe in North Wales was 28.5mph. This was the lowest monthly average since monitoring began anywhere in Wales. The highest December speed clocked in the region was 65mph: in 2024, GoSafe twice recorded speeds of 88mph in North Wales, along with one example of the same speed in South and Mid Wales.
The default limit, introduced in September 2023, applies to just over a third of the road network in Wales. Following a review, some stretches are expected to revert to 30mph, especially those away from built-up areas.
The 20mph default remains controversial but most people accept the need for lower speed limits outside schools and hospitals
(Image: Rob Browne/WalesOnline)
Early figures suggested Wales was seeing fewer serious road casualties as a result of the lower speed limits. A study by Edinburgh Napier University concluded that, over the next decade, 12,133 fewer people in Wales will be killed or injured because of the changes.
Campaign group 20’s Plenty for Us believes the default speed limit is working. Its director, Adrian Berendt, told BBC Wales: “It is pretty remarkable that the number of speeding offences being detected is so similar to previous years, given that they are on the exactly the same stretches of road as before, but with a 10mph lower speed limit.
“This demonstrates, yet again, the effectiveness of the new national default speed limit of 20mph in Wales.” Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
But the Welsh Conservatives said the price being paid by motorists is too high. Andrew RT Davies, chair of the Senedd’s economy, trade and rural affairs committee, called for the regime to be abandoned.
He said: “Nearly 100,000 people have been effectively criminalised thanks to the 20mph policy imposed on Wales. This ideologically motivated scheme is harming the Welsh economy and causing misery and inconvenience for motorists. It must be scrapped now.”
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