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06 Sept 2025

Cycling advocate calls for 20mph limit across the bay

Beth Huntley says there is an economic reason for her new speed campaign

Cycling advocate calls for 20mph limit across the bay

Beth Huntley

Reporter:

Jim Parker

29 Nov 2024 8:00 AM

Email:

jim.parker@clearskypublishing.co.uk

Torbay's newly crowned 'Bike Mayor' is championing a new campaign.
Beth Huntley is setting out the case for a 20mph Bay-wide speed limit.
She has only recently taken up a two-year role to promote the benefits and progress of cycling. She joined a worldwide network of people who are playing their part in ensuring towns and cities are fit for the future.
The Amsterdam-based organisation behind the network believes communities can benefit from having a champion representing cycling progress.
Now she has turned her attention to speed limits.
Beth says there is an economic reason. "The cost of implementing a bay-wide default speed limit is around £1.1million. £10 per person. Each year casualties on Torbay’s roads cost each resident £169. Police and NHS time, loss of earnings, costs of inquests, investigations, and road and vehicle repairs have a knock-on effect on us all," she says.
"Even without any enforcement, there will be a casualty reduction of at least 20 per cent, the intervention will pay back in less than four months and then save £3.6million a year. Since the changes they made, Wales has seen nearly a third fewer road casualties, and each driver is now saving an average of £50 on their car insurance as a result."
From a tourism point of view, she says: "Cornwall, one of our big competitors for tourism, is rolling out 20mph with the county-wide set to be completed by 2026. We know that tourists love quiet, peaceful, less stressful places. Once they experience Cornish towns like this, I strongly believe Torbay’s noisy, smelly, stressful environments will not compare favourably.
"But what about journey times? Honestly, this took me a while to believe, but astonishingly, due to speeding up, slowing down, traffic lights, congestion, and junctions, journey times change very little. If you have ever overtaken a bicycle, just to have it annoyingly catch up with you further on in your journey, you will understand this logic. It may be the case that you need to factor one extra minute in if you are planning a long journey, but sat navs will also take this into account. Traffic flows more smoothly at 20mph."
The speed limit would have an impact on children and school run traffic.
Beth says: "No doubt we all experience or know of the issues that congestion around schools at drop-off/pick-up times causes. It clearly is an aspiration of many that children gain ‘travel independence’ at a younger age by being able to walk, cycle, or take the bus to school. In the Netherlands this is achieved by the majority of children by age nine, quite different from here in Torbay.
"We know that children under the age of 12 cannot reliably judge traffic speeds and so are more likely to step out in front of traffic, occasionally with horrific consequences for all involved. Therefore, parents are right to be cautious in their views on the above, reinforcing the case that we need to put in steps to protect these most vulnerable road users. One option for active travel by families with younger children is being made possible in other urban areas by electric cargo bikes. I know this is a stretch for some due to current road conditions, but we do need to be aspirational in our thinking."
She adds: "Don’t believe what the media has told you about the changes in Wales—those with 20mph on their street really do not want to go back to 30mph and the doubling in ambient noise that occurs as a result. Despite being in my 30s and often on tight deadlines to get from place to place, I now drive at or below 25mph in urban areas.
"It did take a bit of a mindset shift and a while to get used to, but now it is a change I find really positive. I am more relaxed and able to react to hazards and pedestrians waiting to cross as I turn into side roads. I strongly believe that a 20mph default speed limit would have hugely positive effects for Torbay."

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