Seven in 10 Welsh people oppose the default 20mph speed limit almost a year on from its rollout, a new poll has found.

The default speed limit in Wales‘s residential areas was changed from 30mph to 20mph last September.

The Welsh government says the slower speeds are helping to save lives.

But the policy has faced considerable opposition, with a petition to scrap it becoming the most-signed on the Senedd‘s (Welsh parliament) website.

Vaughan Gething announced a review of the policy when he became first minister, with some roads potentially returning to 30mph.

He has since been succeeded by Baroness Eluned Morgan.

The roads that do change are expected to switch next month after updated guidance for local authorities.

A new poll from YouGov has found seven in 10 (72%) said they oppose the default 20mph limit, including half (50%) of respondents saying they are “strongly” opposed.

Only a quarter (24%) of the Welsh population support the policy, according to YouGov.

Opposition to the policy is strongest among Conservative (93%) and Reform UK (89%) voters.

But 59% of Labour voters and 56% of Plaid Cymru voters also said they are opposed to the lower default limit.

Four in 10 admitted to exceeding the speed limit “most of the time” or “all the time”, while only 6% said they never break the default speed limit.

But nearly half of people (48%) said the safety of pedestrians has improved since the limit was introduced.

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Government’s pledge to ‘listen to the people’

Ken Skates, the Welsh transport secretary, has said the government will “listen to the people of Wales” on 20mph limits and that it was important to get “the right speed on the right roads”.

The Welsh Conservatives – the largest opposition group in the Senedd – have said they would scrap the default limit entirely.

Plaid Cymru supports the policy in principle but added it has been rolled out “very poorly and inconsistently”.

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A Welsh government spokesperson said things were “moving in the right direction” because of the lower default speed limit.

In the first quarter of this year, there were 316 road collisions on 20mph and 30mph roads in Wales.

The number of collisions was 25% lower than in the same quarter last year, with the number having generally been in decline over the last decade.

But the government’s statistics adviser said this number should be treated with care as data around the default speed limit is currently limited to a short period of time.

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