[Kapelmuur]

I may have missed it but I’ve not seen this discussed here.

A (non cycling) message board I belong to has been in meltdown, ‘long delays to my journey’, ‘more accidents caused by drivers staring at their speedometers’,  ‘increased pollution caused by slower traffic and car engines being inefficient at 20mph’.

Also many of them signing a protest petition despite non of them being Welsh or living in Wales!

 

Topic

[chrisonabike]

AidanR wrote:

AidanR wrote:

So, when limited to people actually from Wales and who care enough to turn out in person, it’s around 100 people. Wow.

It would have been thousands, but all the others were delayed … (*checks article about this*) … by up to several minutes.

[AidanR]

“The introduction of the new
“The introduction of the new speed limit has sparked a fierce backlash among some members of the public in Wales.

A petition launched calling for the repeal of the laws has passed 400,000 signatures, making it the most popular Senedd petition of all time.

On Saturday, a march against the speed limit’s introduction attracted over one hundred protesters.”

So, when limited to people actually from Wales and who care enough to turn out in person, it’s around 100 people. Wow.

[Hirsute]

“. Bill
“. Bill
5 hours ago
It’s dangerous.

On the odd occasion I or a passenger have the natural experience of breaking wind within the boundaries of the travelling car.
In some instances the smell is so bad it’s near impossible to gain enough oxygen.
At 30MPH and the windows open is a live saver.
At 20MPH for some , it could possibly be fatal , ( taking much longer for fresh air to enter the car. “

[RMF]

https://nation.cymru/news/new
https://nation.cymru/news/new-research-details-astonishing-impact-of-wales-20mph-speed-limit-after-first-week/

An interesting article, which shows the immediate impact of the changes to speed limits. Scientific data backs this up, not the crap spouted by RT Davies and co

[Hirsute]

And how many of them have

And how many of them have found out the exact proposal instead of regurgitating incorrect claims from twitterx and facebook ?

[Rendel Harris]

perce wrote:

Has Nigel gone again? I thought I saw his drivel on here but it’s gone now.

Rather splendidly he seems to have been fully banhammered within half an hour of my* pointing out to mods that it was him back again, splendid work chaps! Hopefully his next iterations (sadly you just know they will happen) can be dealt with as swiftly.

*Credit to any others who also complained!

[chrisonabike]

x% immediately discarded this

x% immediately discarded this unread as junk mail (especially if it said “Important changes which may affect you!” on the front).

y% skimmed it, decided it didn’t involve them getting a large sum of money or their house repossessed and binned it.

z% read it, got quite irritated and angrily tossed it in the bin but had forgotten about it ten minutes later.

It’s not just the mundane that is invisible; sometimes the disagreeable is also.

[perce]

Has Nigel gone again? I

Has Nigel gone again? I thought I saw his drivel on here but it’s gone now.

[Jetmans Dad]

Rich_cb wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

You’d be amazed how many people simply don’t follow the news and especially the political news.

No I wouldn’t. 

However, if you choose not to follow the news (and therefore miss your chance to object about something [b]before[/b] it happens) you relinquish your right to complain that you didn’t know about something [b]when[/b] it happens, because that is on you. 

I also live 150 miles or so from Wales and knew all about this months ago.

[Rich_cb]

Yet 1/4 people don’t know
Yet 1/4 people don’t know about the highway code changes.

That’s a bit strange isn’t it, given that those changes were widely covered in the media and have been in place for quite a while now?

Maybe a good percentage of the populace simply don’t take an interest in the news?

You’re correct that I often criticise the Welsh Government but given that the Welsh NHS and education system are objectively underperforming relative to their English equivalents it seems that the party allegedly trying to “wreck the country” should take a leaf out of Drakeford’s book if they actually want to do it properly.

[Simon E]

Rendel Harris wrote:

Rendel Harris wrote:

even in the English media there’s been huge publicity about this for months and the law was passed nearly a year ago. Anyone in Wales who has a TV, radio, internet access or ever reads a newspaper but still claims they weren’t aware of it is either a liar or an amnesiac.

I really can’t imagine that many people genuinely didn’t know about it.

But Rich will slag off anything that Drakeford and the Senedd does that is not aligned with the Tories’ attempts at wrecking the whole country (the UK, not just Wales).

Meanwhile the excuses get more and more ridiculous. A BBC news article leads with a business owner who says it’s “destroying companies and putting so much stress on people”. Deliveries by Bzams Bed’z And Mattresses in Llanelli are apparently taking an hour and a half longer. Yeah, sure they are mate. <sigh> Where did I put that miniature violin?

I expect the horror stories and whining will continue for a while before they tail off as the reality that driving slightly slower in towns doesn’t really make any real difference to overall journey times.

[AidanR]

Rich_cb wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

It seems that the postal leaflet reached the parts that other media could not so, in future, it might be wise to run the postal campaign earlier so more people were aware.

There will always be people who conveniently forget. Before an LTN was implemented in our local area, consultation leaflets were dropped through doors more than once (this was pre-pandemic). That didn’t stop people claiming that there had been no consultation, as this suited their narrative.

[chrisonabike]

Rich_cb wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

Once something becomes a “wedge issue” sensible approaches tend to go out of the window.

For that to happen the feedback goes both ways of course.  It’s a fact that we have very recently seen a swing on this by the Conservative leadership (promptly followed by Labor of course).  Yes, if there’s sufficient disquiet some politicians will sense opportunity.  However contentious but soluble issues can also be made into “red line” fights with binary choices – this kind of thing is definitely more likely towards elections.

I’m guessing a fight wasn’t the idea of those who enacted this idea.  I don’t know the detailed history though – and I am aware they got some “mixed” feedback in 2022 though which they decided to downplay.

[Rich_cb]

Under the previous system
Under the previous system each 20mph zone would have had to have been undone individually at a local level.

Now they’ve been subsumed into the default speed limit they can all be undone simultaneously at a central level.

It would be a big step backwards but I worry that’s where we’re headed.

Once something becomes a “wedge issue” sensible approaches tend to go out of the window.

[Rich_cb]

There’s that famous honesty
There’s that famous honesty at play once more.

I never said that stop and search wasn’t racially biased. I said that the statistics used as ‘proof’ of said bias were not adequately adjusted and therefore could not be used to draw that conclusion.

I did explain it to you at the time, strange that you didn’t remember…

[Author]

Replies