Metric signs have replaced imperial signage in Ireland. Indeed Britain is the only country in the commonwealth not to use the metric system on roads… I remember learning everything in metric in school including my weight and height only to leave school and find the older generation to be to set in their ways to adapt… please can we complete the metrication process which was started in the 1960s! And join progressive countries like Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa who have made the switch without fuss and without the world coming to an end!

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In response to Brittain… I’m British and I don’t understand those daft feet and inches either! The owners manuals for my last 3 cars give dimensions in metric only and those I understand as those were the units I was taught at school in the 1970′s, roads should have been metricated fully by 1974 if the original plan had been stuck with.

By your logic, nobody under 45 should be allowed to drive in Britain!!!

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Cost of extra signs, say £200. Cost of damage to bridge and vehicles, plus inconvenience to rail travellers and road users, say £10,000. Seems a no-brainer to me. But I don’t work for the DfT.

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It is good to hear that the need for metric on road signs is finally being recognised. Regardless of whether anyone is sympathetic to foreigners or not they are a fact of life and do use our roads. We have to trade with the rest of the world and its no good pretending otherwise. Britain is now almost unique in using imperial on road signs which doesn’t make any sense even from our own national perspective. We use the metric system in almost everything else so why not on road signs? The fact that we don’t is purely because successive governments ducked the responsibility for the change. We are one country we don’t need two systems of measurement. It’s time to put it right!

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Its about time we changed the signs to metric. Most people below 40-odd don’t really understand imperial. Its extremely irresponsible to go part way through the metrication process and then stop, with no plans to ever complete the job. As someone else said its simply a case of successive governments passing the buck. It has to happen sometime, but no-one wants to take responsibility.

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The comments from the metricators show the effectiveness of the indoctrination in schools. I always reckon to teach all the available ideas, but the metricators are afraid that people will prefer the ancient and suitable traditional measurements. so they exclude valid ideas from being taught.

My favourite is the Chinese lesson. In Chinese a radical character used in many Chinese words is the character Tsun [cun4]. It means ‘inch’.

Robin

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It is absolutely ludicrous that the signage here isn’t already in metric. We cannot expect foreign countries that have been converted for decades to do the conversions off the top of their head while driving 80+ km/h. How about we start here and make ALL signs metric across the rest of England?

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“Hemming said: Jun 25th, 2008 at 11:50 am Some years ago they changed the dimension signs in London to metric. Almost overnight the number of claims for damaged vehicles went up. If you replace imperial signs with metric ones you simply move the issue around so that the indiginous population become at risk instead. A better idea would be to have a converstion guide much like the mph/kph ones that can be seen on entry points to the UK.”

Australia changed from miles to km on one weekend without any increase in accidents. Now, if that much more onerous task was achieved accident free what prevents Brits from using a yard and a bit to get the feel for a metre?

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Since we went metric in the 70s, why are all our road signs not in metric, or at least in dual metric/nonsense for the ignorant “This is England” brigade

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