Speed limits in built-up areas will be reduced from 30mph to 20mph in Wales from next year - a UK first that is controversial among some drivers.
Ministers have said a 20mph speed limit will lower road collisions and noise and encourage people to walk or cycle.
The slower limit has been divisive in areas where there have been trials with some motorists complaining of more congestion and journeys taking longer.
The Welsh Parliament passed the law in a vote on Tuesday afternoon.
It was backed by Labour and Plaid Cymru but opposed by the Welsh Conservatives, who said the blanket rollout is "ludicrous".
Many UK towns and cities have 20mph limits on residential roads but Wales will become the first nation to impose it as the default on all restricted roads - with Scotland set to follow suit in 2025.
Leading active travel groups claim Wales will become the world's first nation to adopt a national 20mph default speed limit on residential streets.
Latest police data shows the largest proportion - exactly half - of the 5,570 people hurt in collisions in Wales happened on 30mph roads.
The statistics also show that of the 1,131 people killed or seriously injured on Welsh roads in 2018, 40% of the incidents happened in 30mph zones.
Campaigners argue the chances of someone surviving being hit by a car at 20mph rather than 30mph is seven times higher while stopping distances are almost halved.
"We know that 20mph zones reduce speed of traffic, reduce accidents - particularly accidents to children," Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford said.
"We want to see that become the default position right across Wales."
The new 20mph limit - which will cost an estimated £33m to bring in - will come into force in September 2023.
The Welsh government claim improved road safety and a reduction in average speeds could result in a £58m saving over 30 years because of reduced emergency service demand and subsequent hospital treatment.
But according to respondents to a Welsh government-commissioned consultation, more people were against the speed limit than supported it.
After a pilot in her community in Buckley, Flintshire, Adie Drury started a petition against what she calls the "non-democratic whitewash" and has got more than 12,500 signatures.
"The community has no problem with a 20mph limit where it's necessary and where it's safe, like outside schools, health centres in housing estates and in heavily pedestrianised areas," said the 39-year-old mum.
"I was raised on a housing estate and played football in the road when I was a child and it's good to invite the community into the road-space - but it should be where it is appropriate.
"You wouldn't want your child playing football in an arterial road so why is the arterial road being made 20mph?
"Cyclists are having a whale of a time on Liverpool Road because they can do more than 20mph on their bikes and we can't do more than 20mph in a car - so I've had quite a lot of reports of people being overtaken by cycles."
A 20mph national default speed limit would apply on restricted roads, in residential areas and busy pedestrian streets, where streetlights are less than 200 yards apart - and anyone caught speeding could face a minimum £100 fine and three penalty points.
Rob Mackay is chairman of the local running club and he thinks a lower speed limit will "benefit the wider community".
"It's better for the runners, walkers, people with their dogs and cyclists," said the 74-year-old.
"If I lived on Liverpool Road I'd have one view; if I drove up and down Liverpool Road on a regular basis, I would have a different view - the Welsh government has to balance the two.
"If you live on a street, the slower the traffic past your house then the better the environment - some of it is about air pollution but noise pollution too. There's far more to it than the traffic getting jammed up."
Rob, who lives in nearby Northop, has been part of Buckley Runners for 30 years and has noticed a difference when he has been pounding the roads in this part of Flintshire.
"If a car passes me at 20mph, it's less unsettling than a car passing at 30mph," said Rob.
"And I'm well aware that there are plenty of cars that don't even stick to 30mph and, particularly in the dark, that can feel quite threatening. So a lower limit does make things better.
"I'm old enough to remember when they introduced breathalysers and if we'd had social media in those days, it would have screamed. Now accept the fact that you can't go out and drink 15 pints and drive home. Change happens."
Ministers in Cardiff are also promoting sustainable travel - like cycling or walking - after Wales declared a climate emergency in 2019 and aim to become carbon net zero by 2050 and they think a lower limit might encourage a change in behaviour.
"They would like us to stop using our cars and use our legs to cycle and walk, but we haven't got the infrastructure to do that here," points out Adie, a health and social care student at Chester University.
"We've no cycle lanes, have narrow lanes and public transport is poor. We don't all live in Cardiff and have Cardiff's infrastructure, public transport and industry on our doorstep.
"Our nearest cities and big towns is where our industry is and that's where people have to travel to, you can't do 15 to 20 miles each way on a bike when you've got kids to pick up and drop off. In rural places, that isn't possible and that needs to be recognised.
"Nobody is in favour of worsening safety on the roads or making it more dangerous for children and people to cross the road but at the same time, people have got busy lives.
"Our message to government before they inflict this sort of thing on another town is improve infrastructure and involve the community. Give us the cycle lanes and an alternative to the car first."
The Welsh government have acknowledged the new lower limit won't be appropriate everywhere and local authorities can make exceptions, though not outside schools.
Although road collisions in Wales have fallen from more than 10,000 a year in 1993 to around 4,000 according to the latest figures, the Welsh government has committed to making roads even safer.
Now 30 years after the Austrian city of Graz became the first area to introduce a 20mph or 30km/h limit on all residential streets in one area - it is set to be rolled out across Wales.
In the UK, the first 20mph limit was at a road junction in the Tinsley area of Sheffield in 1991 and now cities like Portsmouth, Norwich, Oxford and Bristol are among those that have the lower limit on residential roads.
🚗 Speed limits in Llandaff North, Whitchurch & Tongwynlais, Rhiwbina & Heath have been lowered to 20mph ahead of the Welsh Government’s national roll-out.
👉 For more info & FAQs, visit: https://t.co/4x1801yKOa
Lowering the default speed limit to 20mph saves lives. 👇 pic.twitter.com/RFrFTEyv9j
— Cardiff Council (@cardiffcouncil) July 6, 2022
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) has encouraged wider use of 20mph limits as a "considerably less expensive" way than introducing traffic calming measures, adding it "greatly improves the character of a residential area and quality of life for residents".
Wales' leading active travel organisations back a 20mph residential road limit, pointing to Rospa research that claims pedestrians are 40% less likely to die when hit by a car travelling at 20mph compared with one travelling at 30mph.
Living Streets said there was "typically an average decline in casualties of at least 20%" with a 20mph speed limit compared to 30mph as Sustrans Cymru said they want "communities built for safety rather than speed".
Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport, Natasha Asghar, said: "The Welsh Conservatives are not against introducing 20mph speed limits outside schools, playgrounds, places of worship and high streets, but a blanket rollout is quite frankly ludicrous."
"Speed limits like this should be decided by councils in their local areas, not top-down by Labour ministers," she added.
Both Labour and Plaid Cymru, who have a co-operation agreement in the Welsh Parliament, back the countrywide rollout of 20mph. They hold almost three-quarters of the 60 Senedd seats, which allowed Tuesday's proposal to pass.
In the vote itself 39 backed the legislation, while 15 opposed it.
"We are united in our belief that this change will bring about a reduction in road collisions and their severity, while creating more opportunities to walk and cycle in communities," said Plaid's transport spokeswoman Delyth Jewell.
"A 20mph speed limit in built-up areas will allow us to work toward providing convenient, safe, pedestrian access to the places people need to go."
PA MediaAll ambulance services in England have been put on the "highest alert level", because of extremely high demand.
A combination of staff Covid absences, hot weather and delays handing patients over to accident-and-emergency units have caused problems, NHS trusts say.
Some ambulance services have urged people to stay safe during the heatwave, to avoid overwhelming the NHS.
The public is being asked to reserve 999 calls for emergencies only.
Many trusts have also asked people to speak to their GP, pharmacist or call 111 for non-urgent issues.
BBC News has asked for updates from ambulance services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Welsh Ambulance Service has issued advice on staying safe in the heat.
The Health Service Journal (HSJ) first reported all 10 trusts in England were on the highest alert level, Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP) 4, meaning they are under "extreme pressure".
Some reached this level during this winter's Omicron Covid wave peak.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said it had been on REAP 4 for months.
South Central Ambulance Service said it had also declared a critical incident, which is even more severe, "due to current pressures on our services".
"We continue to prioritise our response to those patients with life-threatening and serious emergencies," it said.
"But, due to the current levels of pressure we are seeing, there will be delays in responding to other patients with less urgent needs who are assessed as requiring an ambulance response."
And there are concerns several other trusts could follow suit.
Association of Ambulance Chief Executives managing director Martin Flaherty said: "The NHS ambulance sector is under intense pressure, with all ambulance services operating at the highest level of four within their local resource escalation action plans, normally only ever reserved for major incidents or short-term periods of unusual demand.
"Severe delays in ambulance crews being able to hand over their patients at many hospital emergency departments are having a very significant impact on the ambulance sector's ability to respond to patients as quickly as we would like to, because our crews and vehicles are stuck outside those hospitals."
Getty ImagesObvious evidence of child sex crimes in Telford was ignored for generations leading to more than 1,000 girls being abused, an inquiry has found.
Agencies blamed children for the abuse they suffered, not the perpetrators, and exploitation was not investigated because of "nervousness about race".
The inquiry was set up after the Sunday Mirror revealed gangs had been abusing girls in the town since the 1980s.
Chairman Tom Crowther QC said the abuse had thrived unchecked for decades.
His report makes 47 recommendations for improvement by agencies involved. West Mercia Police has apologised "unequivocally" for past events as has Telford & Wrekin Council.
The report found agencies dismissed reports of child exploitation as "child prostitution".
Mr Crowther said: "The overwhelming theme of the evidence has been the appalling suffering of generations of children caused by the utter cruelty of those who committed child sexual exploitation.
"Victims and survivors repeatedly told the inquiry how, when they were children, adult men worked to gain their trust before ruthlessly betraying that trust, treating them as sexual objects or commodities.
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"Countless children were sexually assaulted and raped. They were deliberately humiliated and degraded. They were shared and trafficked. They were subjected to violence and their families were threatened.
"They lived in fear and their lives were forever changed. They have asked, over the years: how was this allowed to happen?"
Other key report findings include:
The investigation was known as Operation Chalice and saw two Telford brothers among those jailed. A court heard the brothers sexually abused, trafficked and prostituted, or tried to prostitute, four teenagers between March 2008 and December 2009.
The report found the most common way children were exploited was through a "boyfriend" model, where a child would meet a man, who would persuade them to become his girlfriend.
Perpetrators, it said, sought out "vulnerable" children and would begin giving them lifts, buying them food, alcohol or cigarettes which led to the children becoming involved in sexual activity with the men as a "favour" as payment for the gifts.
Most of those responsible for the abuse did not use contraception and "pregnancies were expected to be (and in many cases were) terminated", though some survivors went on to bear children.
In several cases, victims received death threats against them or their families if they tried to end the abuse,
The report references the case of Lucy Lowe, 16, who died along with her 17-year-old sister and mother in a house fire started by Azhar Ali Mehmood, 26, the father of her daughter. She had become pregnant at 14 to Mehmood.
The report continued to say children were often abused in nightclubs and takeaways with witnesses also describing a "rape house" in Wellington, Telford, to which young people were taken.
Within schools, it said, there was a "reluctance" to report concerning activity without "concrete proof" which was an "overly cautious approach", while "obvious" indicators like absences and changes in behaviour went unremarked by school staff.
The report said, in the most recent figures from the first six months of 2020, police received 172 referrals related to child exploitation.
The "dreadful, life altering crime has not gone away - in Telford or elsewhere," the report said.
It also outlines recent police evidence of "an unacceptable, and quite frankly offensive attitude", towards child abuse victims, with "disparaging language being used".
In his statement, Mr Crowther said he looked back as far as 1989 to draw his conclusions, but had heard from victims exploited as long ago as the 1970s.
"I saw references to exploitation being 'generational'; having come to be regarded as 'normal' by perpetrators and inevitable by victims and survivors some of whose parents had been through similar experiences," he said.
He urged agencies to accept the recommendations made in the report and hoped the report "goes some way" to giving a voice to the survivors.
Mr Crowther recommended the formation of a joint review team to publish an annual report on child abuse in Telford.
Following the inquiry's publication, survivor Joanne Phillips, who gave evidence said: "Victims were being identified as child prostitutes. Once you have been convicted that label will never leave you.
"Prosecutions are damaging to your life.
"Some children went to prison for not paying the fines. Convictions should be completely expunged.
"Today I feel incredibly proud of the girls in Telford....I cannot express enough how proud I am for seeing this through and their resilience and bravery."
Telford and Wrekin Council has said it "apologises wholeheartedly" to the victims.
"Child sexual exploitation is a vile crime that disgusts us and all right thinking people.
"The independent inquiry acknowledges we have made significant improvements in recent years."
It said it was working day in and day out to provide support for victims and that it was already carrying out many of the inquiry's recommendations.
Assistant Chief Constable Richard Cooper, of West Mercia Police said he would like to say sorry to the survivors and all those affected in Telford.
"While there were no findings of corruption, our actions fell far short of the help and protection you should have had from us, it was unacceptable, we let you down. It is important we now take time to reflect critically and carefully on the content of the report and the recommendations that have been made," he said.
He said the force now has teams dedicated to preventing and tackling child exploitation and works better together with organisations to safeguard children.
West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner, John Campion, said victims and survivors had been let down.
"I cannot say with absolute certainty, just because lessons have been learnt, that it will never happen again.
"However, my drive as PCC remains resolute to ensure the system, that is there to keep people safe, continues building on the progress that has been made."
Mark Berry formerly ran a project which operated a night cafe from a Methodist church in Wellington and street teams operating around nightclubs, supporting vulnerable people, including young girls.
"They would come into the cafe or we would talk to them outside and we began to hear stories about why they felt vulnerable, particularly on the streets, that there were groups of guys who were, what we would call now, grooming them, offering them gifts, wanting to take them to parties, things like that," he said.
He said the staff would see men in cars approaching girls as they left pubs and nightclubs.
"These guys weren't going into the clubs, they weren't part of the normal night time life, the entertainment life, it felt like they were specifically there for this purpose," he said.
He said girls would tell them how they felt "vulnerable", "hassled" and "harassed", which they reported to the police officers who they now know were heading up the Operation Chalice inquiry.
Mr Berry said the town had "pulled together" in the wake of the investigation and added the inquiry was "crucial" for understanding what had happened.
"There needs to be justice and there needs to be resolution for the victims and for the wider community and people want that to happen," he said.
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