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Call for metric road signs- death of the mile.

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Sprinter

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4741894.stm

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has put his weight behind a report which says Britain could go metric with its road signs within five years.

Lord Kinnock says in an introduction to the report by the UK Metric Association (UKMA) that the continued use of miles in Britain was the "most obvious example of the muddle of measurement units" in the country.

The report says there would be many benefits from converting road signs to show kilometres, metres and km/h (kilometres per hour).
These would include drivers getting consistent information, easier calculation of fuel consumption and speed limits more finely tuned to local road conditions, it says.

But the AA said a changeover would take far longer than five years and the Department of Transport said it had no plans to convert.

Lord Kinnock says in the report: "Our imperial road signs are perhaps the most obvious example of the muddle of measurement units in the United Kingdom.

"If the recommendations of this report are followed, Britain can join the modern metric world - and do so by the time that the all-metric Olympic Games open in London in 2012."

In its report, the UKMA calls on the Government to name an early date for making the change, which it says can be done economically and safely.

The UKMA says that the conversion of road signs was originally intended to be part of metrication when it started in 1965 and should have been completed by 1973. However, it was put on hold in 1970 and then never reinstated.

The Association argues that this has left a system where most of Britain is officially metric leaving road signs as a "confusing" exception.

UKMA website: http://www.metric.org.uk/Transport/index.htm
 
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960012

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read that earlier.... in a way i think we sohuld keep the good old MPH to show tradition but then like verything we have to go forwards and copy and follow the rest of the EU like a load of lost puppies.
 

Tom B

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feltham2104 said:
read that earlier.... in a way i think we sohuld keep the good old MPH to show tradition but then like verything we have to go forwards and copy and follow the rest of the EU like a load of lost puppies.

Dear me, it's sad that so many people believe what the Daily Mail print... the only "lost puppies" are the idiots who read this in such newspapers (which corrupt anything and everything to try and make their hopeless point) AND THEN BELIEVE IT!

NOWHERE in that article does it mention the EU. The metric system predates the EU by a good hundred years or more, _and_ it is much easier to use than the imperial system.
 

Techniquest

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The vast majority of the population prefer and use the imperial system.

This whole transferring to the metric system completely have been mooted for years. Originally, back in 2004, we were scheduled to be using kilometres from 2009.

The point on the Daily Mail is very true though. Along with the Daily Express, it's got to be the most feminine paper around. Those who read and/or believe it's content have to be rather narrow-minded...No, I'll not continue...
 

Aureol

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I am really against the Metric system on roads and much prefer Imperial. We've used it for so long so why change now?
This is one of the worst plans that the Government has come up with this year.
I say (filtered) to Metric, keep Imperial!
 

TheSlash

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Now how many billions would it cost to change every single speed sign, every mileage post and mileage board {miles to various places boards}, change speed cameras.
From memory, MPH is displayed in large print on the speedo of my Ford, whilst KPH is displayed in smaller print.
 

Dave A

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On BBC London News, it was using the excuse of "foreigners not being able to understand the road signs". What a load of crap. I took time to learn both, so should they! Besides, when did the few million visitors to this country become more important than the 60 million who live here!?

All this, and many of the concerns raised in the news recently, have screamed PREPARE FOR THE 2012 GAMES, although they try to avoid saying that! Thats all they seem concerned about for the moment, making sure the country is prepared for the small growth of tourists that visit for the games. They're not going to change the whole countries road signs, just because people think they should be put up ready for the olympics! It would be a waste of time and money! But then again, that seems to be labours NO.1 policy at the moment - "If its not needed, costs a lot and causes an incovinience, then lets go ahead with it!"

:mad: :(
 

HSTfan!!!

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stick kmph where the sun don't shine, mph is simple enough to follow... this is my personal opinion but I'm sure I'm not the only one in saying it would be silly to change?
 

Deckchair

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Aureol said:
I am really against the Metric system on roads and much prefer Imperial. We've used it for so long so why change now?
This is one of the worst plans that the Government has come up with this year.
I say (filtered) to Metric, keep Imperial!


Hellllooooooo, *knocks on head* did you actually read the article ? This is not a plan that the government has come up with. This is a report made by the UK Metric Association.

Also you seem to state that using something for a long time makes it best? People were using candles for much longer than we have been using electric lighting but it doesnt mean that candles are superior. Things change, virtually everything of import in this country is measured in metric. Children have been and are taught the metric system as opposed to the imperial system.

Change the roadsigns! other countries had the gumption to make the transition, why cant we?
 

richa2002

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Alistair Darling was on Question Time last night and said it wouldn't happen which it is very rare for a politican to say! They usually come out with a load of runbbish instead of a straight answer.
 

TAS

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Tottally agree there, please be polite, especially on your first post. we don't want you being banned...
 

Nitro

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I dont want to sound stupid but exactly was meant when he said "*knocks on head*"???
 

Tom B

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Aureol said:
Well what a kind start to your first post! :mad:




Sorry to bring this off topic, but that sentence wasn't very nice at all!

Possibly: but it made a valid point, even if the point were not made in a particularly kind way, the point stands. It's not a Government scheme.
 

TheSlash

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"We are Britian, we use MPH, if you don't like it, filtered off" - My election campaign speech
The railway uses miles and chain and nobody complains because 95% of the population don't know.
We use 'lift plates' {matching rails with 2 different levels of wear} that are marked in fractions of an inch, yet we talk about expansion and contraction gaps in millimetres or fractions of an inch. We drill holes in fractions of an inch etc.
If people have a problem converting one from the other, 1MPH = 1.6KMH, 5MPH = 8KMH, 10MPH = 16KMH, get the idea?
Just in case you are still struggling abroad,
20MPH = 32KMH
30MPH = 48KMH
40MPH = 64KMH
50MPH = 80KMH
60MPH = 96KMH
70MPH = 112KMH
Thats all our speed limits covered for you, now we don't need to change all our road signs etc, just because of 1 month 6 years away
 

devon_metro

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What i dont get is why the governement wants us to follow Europe. Losing us vital money which helps fund french farmers...

Britian IMO is imperial and always will be...
 

Tom B

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It's hardly following anyone - Britain was one of the founding countries in the Metric system, but when everything else was converted to metric in the 70s, road signs were put off, and then put off again....
 

Dave A

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Deckchair said:
Hellllooooooo, *knocks on head* did you actually read the article ? This is not a plan that the government has come up with. This is a report made by the UK Metric Association.

Also you seem to state that using something for a long time makes it best? People were using candles for much longer than we have been using electric lighting but it doesnt mean that candles are superior. Things change, virtually everything of import in this country is measured in metric. Children have been and are taught the metric system as opposed to the imperial system.

Change the roadsigns! other countries had the gumption to make the transition, why cant we?

Firstly: It will HAVE to go through the government first, or part of the government, so it is going to concern them one way or another, they make the final decision, therefore it will be their fault!

Secondly: I don't know where you get the idea children are being taught the metric system only!? Having only finished school a year ago, unless things have changed greatly since then, they use a mixture of both, mostly imperial, but as its a school, where people go to LEARN, then you would expect them to teach BOTH!

Finally: We should are drive on the right and sit back and let a single currency kill the country, along with a constitution that means we pay more because we're english, and most of the world hates us! I fail to see we we cant also change to the metric system?! :rolleyes:

Please, stop talking out of your arse, or maybe that should be ass!? :rolleyes: :angry1:
 

Met Driver

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Less of the hostilities please, guys. There's no need for it, no matter how strong your opinions are.
 

rbruce1314

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So long as we do business with the USA (particularly engineering / space research etc.) we will have to be able to work in imperial. In exactly the same way that the French don't DO speaking English, the Yanks don't DO metric.

And the cost of change on the roads will be so much that no government will actually sanction the cost - we might as well change to driving on the right at the same time.

BTW did you hear that a few years ago the Irish were seriously considering changing to driving on the right to come in line with Europe? Not sure if it would work, they decided that for the first six months it would only apply to trucks and buses.
 

richa2002

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Isn't it strange that we're being taught metric a school. It was only yesterday that someone writing a newspaper article in history said that the "Frontline had advanced 1.5KM". What's wrong with this country ?
 

metrocammel

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Yes, In school metric is used too much IMO. It is almost through "stealth", that in 10 years or so, no one will understand Imperial measurments, so metric will have to be used. For example, Im in year 11, and all through my schooling Ive only ever covered metric to imperial conversions once, last year, and that was brief to say the least. It is sad that we have no pride anymore. Saying "metric" is anything to do with "Britain" is rubbish. For a few centuries the "kilogram" has been kept locked away in Paris, back when Britain were using pounds, ounces, stones, cwts and what-not. The decimalisation of money (not becoming metric!) was sensible as the rest of the world uses decimalised currency, so even the USA, who are still very strongly using "Imperial-style (though in fact they are slightly different from our measurments)" have decimalised curency - which is not metric.....

Im also against the Euro, as not only will it mean we lose our identity as being "British", it will also cause things to inflate in price by ridiculous amounts. A small example being, if a cafe charges 80p for a coffee, but the Euro comes, and the conversion rate means it now 86c, the new price will be 90c, as they will round up to the nearest "round" figure. That is an incredibly small example, but will happen on a much larger scale when buying things like cars, electrical goods etc. Look at Italy for example... there economy has gone down so much, the people want the Lira back.
 

richa2002

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And it will soon be an offence to even provide a chart at a grocery stall for example that converts from metric to imperial. Our friends at the European Union have brought this in. How will it benefit anyone ?
 

Tom B

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As for being against teaching metric - what rubbish! Can you imagine trying to work out a scientific equation using imperial units as opposed to the SI?
 

Tom B

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With difficulty, and not for a good hundred years. People also managed to run shops without EPOS systems, and use horse drawn carts for transport. People should be able to use imperial if you want but metric is far superior - it's much easier to convert and combine units (so when you use, say, F=ma you know that the units of F = the units of m x the units of a).
 

Jonno2055

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Ah, the age of political correctness, even though i'm not sute that this is... wait it is.
 
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