Just two roads in Wales are responsible for a quarter of the number of motorists exceeding Wales’ 20mph speed limit, it has been revealed. On just one of the roads, more than 8,000 drivers were caught exceeding the limit. On the second, some 7,200 drivers were caught.
The BBC has sent Freedom of Information requests to police forces, and GoSafe which is responsible for speed monitoring in Wales. Dyfed Powys and Gwent Police were unable to give details, but the BBC say more than 8,000 drivers have been caught on the A4102 Swansea Road at Gellideg, Merthyr Tydfil – which links the A465 Heads of the Valleys road and the A470 – in 10 months.
Nearly 7,200 motorists were caught exceeding the 20mph limit on the A5104 at Pontybodkin near Penyffordd in Flintshire, their figures show.
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Road safety partnership GoSafe and Welsh police forces were asked how many motorists were caught at 20mph monitoring points across Wales. The map above shows the results from 97 enforcement locations, in the months from January to October and they were given nearly 62,500 offences. At Gellideg, 1,000 drivers were caught in October alone. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
This section of the Swansea Road is among 20 being looked at by Merthyr Tydfil council to potentially be turned back to 30mph in a review which was ordered in the summer. A number of roads are being reviewed but councils are all working to different timescales, trunk roads are also being assessed separately.
Other hotspots include Gors Avenue in Townhill, Swansea (3,700 offences), while five other stretches of roads in Flintshire are in the top 10.
In mid and south Wales in November, 6,933 drivers were caught exceeding the limit, with an average speed of 28.2mph. The highest offence speed was 70mph. In north Wales, 5,070 drivers were caught with a slightly higher average speed of 28.6mph and the highest speed clocked being 64mph. Those figures are a total drop in north Wales where it has been as high as 7,958 in August. It is however a rise in south and mid Wales where it had fallen to 6,163 in October. The highest figure was in August, when 7,326 drivers were caught.
The latest GoSafe figures show 24,403 drivers were monitored via Operation Ugain, a specially set up scheme between councils, fire and police, in November with 1,434 exceeding the speed limit.