Comments on: UK speed limits go metric on 1 January http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/ Commentary on the measurement muddle in the UK Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:30:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: Alex Bailey http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8467 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:26:08 +0000 http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8467 British Gas have been putting similar stickers on their vans for some time - I have a photo of one parked outside my house last March, inside the red circle it reads "LIMITED TO 70 MPH" although from a distance you would only see the "70". These vans would be unlikely to leave the UK though. British Gas have been putting similar stickers on their vans for some time - I have a photo of one parked outside my house last March, inside the red circle it reads “LIMITED TO 70 MPH” although from a distance you would only see the “70″. These vans would be unlikely to leave the UK though.

]]> by: Dave Brown http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8460 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:10:52 +0000 http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8460 I saw my first truck this morning with the sticker "62 mph" on the back. So a circle with a number in it on the rear of a truck no longer means speed limit in km/h. You now need to get close enough to see the units underneath. Let us hope that when these trucks start hitting the European mainland, other countries start complaining about the UK's cavalier attitude to units of measure, and push for some kind of sanity. (Better still, let us hope that the UK government soon sees fit to bring our roads out of the 18th century.) I saw my first truck this morning with the sticker “62 mph” on the back. So a circle with a number in it on the rear of a truck no longer means speed limit in km/h. You now need to get close enough to see the units underneath. Let us hope that when these trucks start hitting the European mainland, other countries start complaining about the UK’s cavalier attitude to units of measure, and push for some kind of sanity. (Better still, let us hope that the UK government soon sees fit to bring our roads out of the 18th century.)

]]> by: Philip Bladon/SI Metric-Matters http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8020 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:55:55 +0000 http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8020 It is a small step closer towards all metric road signage in the UK. The government still has time to have metric road signage before the year of the London Olympics (2012). Philip Bladon / www.simetricmatters.com It is a small step closer towards all metric road signage in the UK.
The government still has time to have metric road signage before the year of the London Olympics (2012).

Philip Bladon / www.simetricmatters.com

]]> by: Ezra Steinberg http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8018 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:29:24 +0000 http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8018 I notice that the publication date of the VOSA leaflet appears to be mid-2004. Is there any way for UKMA to find out if the "likely" change to speed limits for the specified goods vehicles and buses mentioned in the pamphlet will still take place and how it will be implemented (including the specific speed limits to be posted since the maximums for the limiters are rational metric speed limits but the equivalent Imperial values are not). I'm particularly interested in how the signage will be changed (if that happens). It could provide a clue as to how DfT should (or perhaps should not!) implement a plan for converting road signs to metric in anticipation of an M-Day for UK road signs. I notice that the publication date of the VOSA leaflet appears to be mid-2004.

Is there any way for UKMA to find out if the “likely” change to speed limits for the specified goods vehicles and buses mentioned in the pamphlet will still take place and how it will be implemented (including the specific speed limits to be posted since the maximums for the limiters are rational metric speed limits but the equivalent Imperial values are not).

I’m particularly interested in how the signage will be changed (if that happens). It could provide a clue as to how DfT should (or perhaps should not!) implement a plan for converting road signs to metric in anticipation of an M-Day for UK road signs.

]]> by: Martin Vlietstra http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8000 Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:34:56 +0000 http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-8000 The formal legislation is "The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use)(Amendment) (No 2) Regulation 2004 and can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/uksi_20042102_en.pdf. On of the bits of tidying up in this piece of legislation is to replace the text "56 mph" in an earlier piece of legislation with the text "90 km/h". All speeds in the 2004 legislation are given in km/h. The formal legislation is “The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use)(Amendment) (No 2) Regulation 2004 and can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/uksi_20042102_en.pdf.

On of the bits of tidying up in this piece of legislation is to replace the text “56 mph” in an earlier piece of legislation with the text “90 km/h”. All speeds in the 2004 legislation are given in km/h.

]]> by: Alex Bailey http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-7996 Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:31:07 +0000 http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/12/28/uk-speed-limits-go-metric/#comment-7996 I seem to recall a joke speaking of the UK switching to driving on the other side of the road, suggesting that we did so in stages with certain vehicle types switching over on different days. They say that truth is stranger than fiction... and it really is a joke that some vehicles have effectively switched to metric speed limits when others still use imperial. As for the VOSA recommendation that the speed limit sticker on British vehicles be in mph is ludicrous, confusing and potentially dangerous given that the vast majority of vehicles on British roads already display this information in km/h. We will find, however, that much like the issue of height and width limit signs it will be the foreign driver who will be blamed for incidents rather than the mad insistence on using measures on our signs that even many of our own drivers don't really understand! I seem to recall a joke speaking of the UK switching to driving on the other side of the road, suggesting that we did so in stages with certain vehicle types switching over on different days.

They say that truth is stranger than fiction… and it really is a joke that some vehicles have effectively switched to metric speed limits when others still use imperial.

As for the VOSA recommendation that the speed limit sticker on British vehicles be in mph is ludicrous, confusing and potentially dangerous given that the vast majority of vehicles on British roads already display this information in km/h. We will find, however, that much like the issue of height and width limit signs it will be the foreign driver who will be blamed for incidents rather than the mad insistence on using measures on our signs that even many of our own drivers don’t really understand!

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