Comments on: UK pays the cost of failure to implement the Vienna Convention

by: John Frewen-Lord

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:16:25 +0000

The more I realise the fact that Britain’s road signs are primarily imperial, the more bizarre it appears to me. The whole world is metric! (Well, except the USA.) I lived in Canada for many years, and witnessed the changeover on the roads first hand (I even had a peripheral role as a member of a sub-committee that established the preferred units and increments). That was 30 years ago, and people in Canada today just don’t even begin to think in miles on the roads. If anyone has watched that program on TV about the truckers driving ice roads in Northern Canada, you’ll know what I mean - even these, perhaps salt of the earth types, but hardly paragons of higher education, will only use m and km. If these people can do it, then so can any Brit. How long do we have to keep on making excuses for government inaction and stupid imperial zealots?

by: Robert

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:54:10 +0000

A couple of years ago I hired a large van. Within minutes I came across a low bridge on a busy road. The height restriction on the bridge was in imperial, the vehicle dimensions were clearly given on the sun visor in metric. Since reversing wasn’t an option given the traffic behind me, my only option was to drive under the bridge with my head out of the window to check the roof of the van didn’t hit the bridge. The idiotic, government-backed dual measurement system in Britain is just asking for trouble.

by: Ezra Steinberg

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:42:40 +0000

As it happens, I discovered via the UKMA’s link to the DfT’s traffic sign manual that metric-only height restriction signs are indeed allowed.

The catch, of course, is that they must be accompanied by an equivalent Imperial-only height restriction sign that is either above or to the left of the metric-only sign.

A combined metric and Imperial height restriction sign is also allowed. Oddly enough, however, in this case the metric restriction is placed first (above the Imperial restriction).

So there we have it: a muddle within a muddle within a muddle.

Churchill’s words aptly describe the DfT: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma!

by: Martin Vlietstra

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:00:56 +0000

I had an instance when giving private Physics tuition to an AS Level student a few years ago when I asked him to convert his height (six foot) into metric units. I gave him a 300 mm/12 inch ruler and asked him what a foot was in metric units. Rather than read the conversion from the ruler, he measured his foot! It did not occur to him that there were 12 inches in a foot. I do not believe that this was an isolated incident.

by: Dave Brown

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:06:33 +0000

If it it true what Mr Cairns says, that over half of our teenagers do not even know their own height in the international system of measurements then that is nothing short of a scandal. What do they learn during their childhood?

The future for our children will be in a globalized economy where they will need to compete and co-operate on equal terms with people from every corner of the world. If they can’t even communicate basic facts like how tall they are then the UK is going to become a very poor place to grow up, and UK employees are going to be the last choice to have on your global team.

by: Ezra Steinberg

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:10:22 +0000

Alexis quite right.

One other fact immediately demolishes the DfT’s argument that conversion is “too expensive”. There is a good chance that a very modern, internationally-minded President (Barak Obama) will take office next year with a Democratic majority in Congress.

If we here in the States succeed in starting a conversion program to metric (hopefully, a la Australia), which will include converting road signs, how long do you think the DfT will take before it decides the UK should adopt a sensible conversion program as well? Suddenly, the “it’s too expensive” argument will magically melt away, I’m quite certain!

by: Daniel Jackson

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:04:51 +0000

If I’m not mistaken, there have been some communities that had erected dual unit height/width signs in the UK. Even though totally legal, a particular anti-metric group has painted out the metric portion. This act of vandalism should be illegal and the culprits severely prosecuted.

I wonder if there are any roads in the UK that have experienced a serious accident because of ignorance to feet-inch signs where there was a metric equivalent sign and it was either vandalized or removed.

by: Alex Bailey

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:38:00 +0000

It baffles me that more recently the cost of conversion has been used as an excuse for not moving forward… but with a little thought all of our road signs (with the exception of speed limits) could be updated over time with little or no additional cost. The main factor is education - and as I’ve already said, if people are given the opportunity to use metric they will quickly get used to it.

by: Ezra Steinberg

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:34:57 +0000

Just can’t leave this without pointing to the information and motorway signs in Ireland, all of which are metric only! (Makes me fantasize about the day when I’ll see such signs both here in the States and in the UK.)

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/understanding-traffic-signs/information-signs.html

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/understanding-traffic-signs/motorway-signs.html

by: Ezra Steinberg

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:30:02 +0000

I finally found the official Irish Republic web site for road signs from the Road Safety Authority:

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/understanding-traffic-signs/regulatory-traffic-signs.html

Note the updated height restriction sign (about one-third of the way down the page) with the more European-looking design (like the other signs shown) rather than the older USA style.

Only height restriction is shown (though I assume width is the same but with the arrows on the left and right; not sure what they do for length).

Imperial appears first followed by metric with both equally prominent, which looks to me like the design used in the UK for signs marked in both kinds of units (if I’m remembering correctly).