To ask if anyone actually sticks to 20mph speed limits?

Exactly. If the speed limit was 30 instead of 20, many people would likely also not stick to them.

Brake distance when going 30 is almost double than 20mph, and survival rate when being hit by a car going 30 mph is a lot less than 20.

It’s just stupid and travel time does not decrease. If your travel time double when going 30 instead of 20, you’re going a lot faster and pose a significant risk for others and yourself.

I live in a built up place where all the roads are 20mph. I reckon most people drive at about 24, unless there is a camera - the thing is, when the limit was 30mph they were mostly driving at about 34. So it has brought the speed down quite significantly. There is always a set of traffic lights coming up, so I find that driving at 20 doesn't particularly affect my travel time. Very different when we go to rural Wales on holiday and you have different speed limits in villages and towns - you really need to stay alert as it keeps changing.

Fwiw when I got done for speeding recently it was by a random policeman with a hand held gun, no van. I creep around everywhere now. It really annoys the bully's.

I find it hard doing 20 especially on bigger busier roads when its very early ie 6am but i do try and do bang on 20. It's hard though as a lot of aggressive tailgating. I recently went on a speed awareness course and we were talking about being bullied by tailgating when trying to stick to 20.

I always stick to 20mph (probably do 17-18mph,) in the 20mph zones, because the places I go (where it's 20mph) have speed cameras. I think there should be a fine for doing say 24-25mph in the 20 zone of maybe £30 or something, but no points on your licence. Getting 3 points on your driving licence for doing 23mph is fucking ludicrous.

It's really difficult to stick to 20mph. It's sooooooo SLOW!

I certainly stick to them.

There was a story on mumsnet about a woman who was working away from home. She missed the fact that the road she was driving down to get to the new office every day was a 20 rather than a 30. It had a speed camera on it. At the end of the week she was terrified the camera had caught her speeding 10 times, and she'd lose her licence.

People here weren't very sympathetic.

As a newish driver I always remember that cautionary tale.

Oh I'd have pulled over and gone to talk to the police...

If you have black box insurance you HAVE to stick to the speed limit.

This idiots up your backside or overtaking whilst you are doing the speed limit are actively dangerous in this context.

It would be interesting to force people who get done for speeding on multiple occasions to have a black box temporarily.

I’m in London - there is no space for police vans to park on the side of the road or set up mobile cameras. Never ever seen one in this area!

I tend to agree. There are roads here where 20mph would be suitable but they aren't and vice-versa. The road we live on is 30mph and cars regularly pass at double that but no action is being taken. Instead the local dual carriageway, built for high speeds, is now a 40mph and gets a camera van on it regularly, this despite a new bit of road meaning it's almost empty all the time.

Until recently I worked on the Wirral, in Birkenhead and Wallasey, and the roads switch from 30 to 20 and back seemingly at random - even the main routes. It's a mess and takes drivers concentration away for the job in hand. And when new lower limits have been introduced it's not uncommon for the police to make it clear they don't agree and won't be trying to catch people out.

Speed does kill, no doubt on that, and the higher it is the more damage is done. But reducing limits isn't the great panacea but it is easy to do and gives local authorities the opportunity to look like they're doing something.

Keep doing what you’re doing and ignore them. They’re the types who get fines and just pay them as they have money to waste
I can’t afford ONE fine so I stick to everything, and feel good about it. If someone is up my arse I ignore them.

You bet. Around me you’d get a ticket if you didn’t!

Where I live there are sometimes police speed cameras on the main roads but there are none in towns.

My MiLs little Welsh village is having a civil war over the 20mph limit. Half the village want speed cameras to enforce it, the other half want it turned back to 30mph (where they routinely do 50mph).

Yeah it’s strange different forces seem to prioritise it differently, I used to have a long commute that went into another county/police area and you’d see them there, they’d often do “speed awareness weeks” where they’d surge their presence. But in my local area, nothing!

I don’t think this is universal:

extract from gpt:

some UK police forces or local safety-camera partnerships publish likely mobile speed-camera locations in advance, but it isn’t universal and they don’t necessarily publish the exact date/time.
For example, West Yorkshire Police confirms that some mobile-camera locations are published through local media and the West Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership, while certain 20 mph enforcement locations are deliberately not published.
Also, a mobile speed camera does not have to be at a location that was announced beforehand. Some forces specifically use randomised mobile enforcement to make enforcement less predictable.

Lots of the 20 mph limits are ridiculous.

We have them and no one sticks to them. They need to put the main roads back to 30 mph, and no one drives over 20 mph in residential streets anyway as too many parked cars.

We had no accidents before anyway and its now even harder to cross the road if you get people doing 20 mph.

Put the main roads back to 30 mph and put in pedestrian crossings so people can cross safely. Like in France and Germany.

I have a little job teaching speed awareness courses OP and let’s say I’ll never be out of work! People have a bit of a split personality about the 20’s. They resent having to drive at that speed but they also don’t want to live in an area where cars bomb around too fast. Wales did that wholesale change about 3 years ago and the overall collision rate has reduced including the numbers of deaths on the roads. There are other cities changing to 20’s so it’s not just London or Wales. Unfortunately we don’t get to control other road users and their moronic behaviour… I’d love some of those spikes on my wheels like the Roman chariots.

I am surprised! In our area they are very hot on it.

I tend to drive at around 22/23 on the speedo. As someone else said, I love it when someone in front of me is doing 20 - I like to follow the rules but I also get stressed out if I can see I’m holding up some wankers who want to do 27, whereas if I’m stuck behind someone doing 20 I can feel myself relaxing.

I was driving home early on New Year’s Day a few years ago (stone cold sober) doing 20 in a 20 zone and got properly tailgated by a twat - flashing headlights, beeping, the works. He finally overtook me and zoomed off at about 35. A mile down the road we passed him at the side of the road having a bad conversation with the police 🥳 It was one of the most satisfying things that’s ever happened to me!

So many speed limits are plainly wrong. We have roads which have historically been 60 for ever that are suddenly 40. Justification? Two fatal accidents in ten years. On the last accident it was a drug driver / road rage lunatic who forced another driver off the road. Of course a lower speed limit was going to change his behaviour, wasn't it? The other thinking is that there's a "dangerous bend" on the road which you can't take at 60 - so the whole 5 mile road becomes 40. Christ, if ever there was proof that people aren't taught to drive any more, just taught to pass the test, this is it. Then we have other roads that have junctions every 100 yards, but the SL is 40, where it should never be more than 30.

I seeth at having to crawl along at 20 when the roads are empty because the council see a fast buck.

Anyway. Do I stick to the limits? Yep. Rigidly. Not because I might get caught, but because I don't break any other laws. My licence permits me to drive according to the rules and regulations, nothing more or less. I wish every speed limit could be reviewed (and I think 20s should be 25s FWIW) but fat chance.

I stick to the speed limit too, don’t want a ticket or fine, let the speeding idiots Carry on they will get caught one day

There is a 20mph road between home and work. It's almost impossible to do 20 as it's down hill. I've been caught speeding twice in exactly the same place 🙈 I am usually very hot in sticking to the limit but that bloody road drives me mad!

I was coming home from work early a couple of weeks ago and driving along a national speed limit road - but it has a small section that drops to 20 only when the lights flash (it's a rural primary school) - lights were flashing as it was school finishing time. I dropped my speed on the approach and was doing 20 at the speed limit sign. Van behind me was less than appreciative and overtook me right at the school. Twat.

it amused me no end that he then got stuck behind the car that was a little bit in front of me - also doing the speed limit

and when the limit changed he couldn't overtake as it's a busy road. When we got into the town and the limit dropped to 20 as soon as he was able he sped up. At another school

Mmm - mostly. I never go above about 24 on the car speedometer (which I guess is around 22 real speed) and if it's because there's a school stick slightly under 20.