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Cut UK speed limits to reduce Iran war impact on consumers, thinktank urges
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 07 May 2026
12 points (87.5% liked)
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It's factually accurate, economically sound, and will make drivers furious. I'm all for it.
Do we have a peer reviewed study (ie facts) that reduction of urban speed limit from 30 to 20 actually does save fuel ?
Highway limit, sure, wind resistance and all that, well proven.
30 down to 20 in a stop start environment, where in many cases you don't even get to 30 ? Colour me skeptical - I've seen this often asserted but never found an actual scientificly run study to prove it.
The plural of anecdotes isn't data, but from my personal experience my fuel consumption went up when 20 was introduced here a few years ago (I can theorise why if you want, but I can't prove why, only state that it is measurably higher with no real change in driven miles - I track my consumption).
TFL did a study related to this which was cited when Wales set the default speed to 20.
They found that there was minimal difference in emissions between the two speeds. Any benefit of lower drag etc is countered by the fact that the engine is not geared well for 20 so generally it will be the same or only slightly better doing 20. (I am making the assumption here that lower emissions will equal less fuel usage.)
However, the greatest benefit is that there are less cars on the road because it encourages active travel and discourages driving. So comparing driving to not at all is a huge fuel difference.
I can't find the exact study I looked at before, but I think this might be similar: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/the-impact-20mph-limits-and-zones-in-london.pdf