The 20mph speed camera that’s pinged more than 2,300 drivers in just a month

The number of fines issued since enforcement of the country’s new 20mph roads was stepped has rapidly increased. The default limit was changed in September 2023 – with a light touch initially employed on new 20mph routes.

This changed in the spring of this year as Go Safe moved from education to enforcement when it came to the new limit. While the 20mph limit has seen a cut in collisions and injuries on 20mph and 30mph roads more drivers are forking out for fines and totting up points for breaking the limit.

Over the summer there was also a huge spike in speeding offences on faster roads in North Wales. More on that here.^[1]

READ MORE: Crashes down but overall road deaths up in first six months after 20mph limit introduced in Wales^[2]

READ MORE: The dozens of 20mph Flintshire roads that could return to 30mph^[3]

Go Safe – alongside the police – enforce the limit with fixed cameras and mobile vans. In August the monthly total for those caught speeding in 20mph zones hit 7,958. That was up from 5,199 in July – while April saw just 251 Notice of Intended Prosecutions(NIPs).

North Wales Live submitted a Freedom of Information request to find out where these offences were taking place. It found that it is the seven fixed site cameras that have really been racking up the fines.

Of the NIPs issued in 20mph zones in August, just over 7,400 were from fixed cameras. Of those almost a third came from one camera.

This was the camera placed on the A5104 at Pontybodkin in Flintshire^[4]. This is a VECTOR-SR type ultra speed camera which do not require painted lines on the road and use infra-red low-light technology, meaning they no longer ‘flash’ at speeding drivers. It caught 2,371 drivers – with the highest speed recorded 50mph, more than double the limit.

The next highest was on the A548 at Oakenholt. That camera pinged 1,181 drivers who were speeding at 26mph or higher. The top speed detected was 56mph.

Others cameras with high figures included the one at Sychdyn (878), a camera on the A548 Maesglas (969) and one on Ffordd Gladstone, Hawarden^[5] (896).

When it came to mobile cameras the most NIPs were given out by a Go Safe van on the A494 near Bala^[6]. But at 143 this is well below those issued by the fixed cameras.

Next was Glan-y-Mor/Marine Drive in Penrhyn Bay at 113. We took a drive on this road earlier in the year to see why people were getting caught out there.^[7] The only other spot with over 100 fines was the Coast Road at Rhyl with 106.

But these are well below the fixed cameras which are the ones giving out most of the NIPs. A major review is currently underway of the new limit with it expected to result in more 20mph roads reverting to 30mph.

Welsh Government has changed the guidance for local authorities who have then consulted with local residents. Some councils have already published lists of the roads that could potentially change, including Anglesey^[8] and Flintshire.^[9] The A5104 at Pontybodkin is on the list to be assessed.

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