
Originally Posted by
Eric the Half a Bee
I don't drive in Cardiff often but wanted to go to Ikea and thought I'd see what it's like driving through constant 20mph zones as far as Upper Boat, so went through Canton, Radyr and Taffs Well, before hitting the A470.
I encountered one car going through Radyr at around 17 mph. If someone doing 27 in a 30 zone is a tad frustrating, 17 in a 20 zone is infinitely worse.
After a while, because I was driving so slowly, my mind was wandering as I didn't feel I needed as much concentration on the road. I started looking at other things as I was driving, something I wouldn't really do at 30. Will driving more slowly cause drivers to lose concentration? I wonder.
At one point I had a slight battle with 2 cyclists, both of which were doing roughly the same speed as me, but out of habit, I wanted to get past them. They had a small cycle lane, so it wasn't as if I was trying to overtake on the other side of the road, but seeing them overtake me at times was more than a bit disconcerting. Drivers will have to be more vigilant of cyclists going faster on the nearside.
I also found that it felt more exhausting trying to stick to 20mph going along long sections of road.
I might be wrong, but I fear this new 20mph limit will cause more accidents as drivers, pedestrians and cyclists get used to it. It'll make some drivers more impatient and make more risks in a bid to get somewhere. It'll mean more cars on our roads as it'll take everyone longer to get somewhere.