Call for more 20mph limits on West Midlands roads
Safety bosses believe extending 20mph limits will help stop reckless, speeding motorists ruining lives in the West Midlands.
The region’s Road Safety Commissioner Mat MacDonald said evidence in other parts of the UK showed 20mph was the ‘right’ speed limit for areas where people and vehicles are in close proximity.
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He was speaking as he gave a presentation on road safety at a meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Transport Delivery Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Data showed that while the overall number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads over the past few years has reduced, there were still too many families being affected by incidents.
In 2025, there were 50 fatalities on West Midlands roads – 21 of which were pedestrians.
Mr MacDonald said: “We are taking a deep dive with them into the impact of 20mph speed limits across the region.
“There’s obviously abundant evidence from Wales, London and internationally that 20mph is the right speed limit where people and vehicles are in close proximity.
“We want to have a close look at what that does in our region, the benefits it brings, to see what the data is showing us in terms of how we can roll that out more effectively.
“The more consistently we have 20mph as an expected limit where people and vehicles are in close proximity, the more that will effect how people behave.
“I genuinely think it will shift the culture of how people drive. It has done in Wales, there is ample evidence of that, and since it’s inception in Wales at a cost of £32 million for an entire country, it has more than saved that money in terms of collision costs.
“There are 100 people now walking talking and breathing who would not have otherwise had been had that change not taken place.
“The impact of it cannot be overstated. It’s a shame the Government did not include this in their Road Safety Strategy but there is a huge amount of evidence for it.
“We can contribute to that evidence in a regional specific way and we can offer our own guidance on it.
“I’m going to be having conversations about how we resource these improvements going forward – 20mph would be one thing I think that money would be very well spent on.”
