I tried to get answers from the Secretary of State for Transport via my MP about the issues I raised in two of my recent Metric Views articles. My MP told me that he is not going to put my question to the Secretary of State as there are no plans to replace the units on British road signs. Is this a convenient way to shield his ministerial colleagues from awkward questions about imperial road signs?
On Sunday 26 November 2023, I wrote two separate emails to my local MP Mike Freer. In each email, I attached the relevant official government documents from the National Archives and provide my MP with a link to the relevant Metric Views article.
In the first email, I asked why the Department for Transport’s estimated metric conversion cost per road sign in 2006 were at least 17 times in real terms than the Ministry of Transport’s estimated metric conversion cost per road sign in 1970. (The Department for Transport was called the Ministry of Transport in 1970.)
In the second email, I asked whether it was still the DfT’s view that “imperial speed limits could not be retained within a general metric system” as stated in a letter from the MOT in 1970. In that email, I asked, “Does the Government stand by what they said in the 1970’s? If so, what is the logical conclusion the Government should draw about British road signs? If not, I would like to know when the Government changed their mind and why.”.
On the following day, I received the following reply from my MP:
“It is my understanding, as informed by ministerial colleagues, that there are no plans currently in place to move from miles as a measure of distance on our road signs. As such, I do not plan to put the below question to the Secretary of State as this would, in my view, be an unproductive exercise that would expend resources better used in assisting my constituents with more pressing, immediate issues.”
I wonder whether Mike Freer was shielding his ministerial colleagues from awkward questions about imperial road signs. He himself is a government minister. He is currently the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice. As he refused to put my questions to the Secretary of State for Transport, the SoS does not have to answer them. My MP told me that I am welcome to make FOI requests, so I put in two FOI requests to the DfT to ask the same questions.
My MP sees it as an unproductive exercise because there are no plans to convert road signs to metric units. I infer from my MP’s reply that it is a low priority and there is no realistic chance of any progress on metric road signs under this Government. Nevertheless, the public are entitled to receive proper answers to questions about government policies, including the current policy to keep imperial units on British road signs.
Metric Views 
Sounds like the MP is engaging in circular “logic”. No plans to metricate road signs, ergo it is unimportant, ergo there should be no plans to metricate road signs. The joys of Tory government in a nutshell. 😦
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If moving our road signs into the 21st (or even the 20th century) is considered an unproductive exercise then this country really is in a sorry state.
This is exactly the same mind set, and probably irrationally linked to ‘the other issue’, where any form of logic or even hard facts about our place in the world seem irrelevant to their ideology.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of members of the government secretly support a return to imperial and already have plans to do it. The only thing holding them back is the power of industrial money fighting it. But that only means those in government and the Fake News Media are waiting until they can find the perfect moment to bring it about. If they are planning still for a reversion to imperial why would they in the interim period also plan for a switch of road signs to metric?
The real question we need to ask ourselves is there anyone of importance in the government circles with power to effect such changes or power to influence others supportive of a full completion of the metrication process? The opposers have persons in government who support their cause, so who in government supports the cause of metrication?
If only the UKMA knew (maybe they do) any of the powerful persons in industry who recently had the effect of forcing the dropping of the desired return to imperial (maybe only for the near future) they would be the ones to contact and not MPs. They need to be aware that as long as roads continue to display ancient units the opposers will always have their proverbial foot in the door and will always seek opportunities to revert to imperial. It is in the best interest of the industrial leaders and their businesses to end these reversion plans once and for all and that can only happen when all 100 % of thee economy is SI. As long as there are hang-outs like road signs the danger or reversion is always in our face.
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Based on the experience of myself and others I have read about, who have approached their MPs on this subject, if your MP had have referred this to the DFT, the answer would probably the same fatuous stock answers that it has on its list to reply to these queries. So yes it would have been an unproductive exercise.
I don’t want to sound like the devil’s advocate, but the Government clearly does think that there are more pressing issues. Like how on earth it is going to win the next election. Maybe we should prepare and strengthen our case to raise this issue again after the next election. Let us hope that the Freedom of Information request reveals some useful material.
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If Mr Freer were to drive to the southern terminus of the M1 (which is partially in his constituency) and then to drive up the M1 as far as the first junction, he should notice driver locations signs every 500 metres. There is more information about these signs at https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/additional-rules-for-motorways.html, https://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/tses/attachments/3a8e4a48-56f9-4165-845e-aab8b566c17d, https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/driver-location-signs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_location_sign and https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Driver_Location_Signs.
These signs were erected to help drivers pinpoint their position when calling the emergency services using a mobile phone. They have been poorly publicised with the result that not many people are aware of their existence, let alone what they mean. The Wikipedia article highlights their usefulness: in 2007, before they were installed, there was a serious accident on the M5 and drivers calling the emergency services gave vague locations with the result that emergency vehicles were sent to four different locations spread over a distance of 65 km (40 miles).
The only way to get people to use driver location signs in an emergency is for them to be familiar with them and to use then routinely as a navigational aid. I am aware of three sites that catalogue motorway junctions by reference to driver location signs for the M25: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20120810121037/, http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/documents/070921-Final_DLS_map.pdf, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M25_motorway and https://www.roads.org.uk/motorway/a282. However, I am aware of only two sites that do the same for the M1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_motorway and https://www.roads.org.uk/motorway/m1. It is worth noting that both Wikipedia and the roads.org websites also catalogue most if not all other English motorways in this manner, but that the Highways Agency only published one such map for English motorways – the map for the M25. I have seen partially competed maps for other motorways, but it appears that they appear to have never been completed.
This raises the questions – why is the government doing nothing to assist the public in using driver location signs? In my view, they should be publicised far more widely and to aid their publicity, all motorways service areas should receive a number in addition to their name – for example “Watford Gap Services (S121)” where the “S” means “Services” and the “121” means at approximately marker post 121. If this is done and motorists become aware of them, then when emergencies do occur, motorists will be far more likely to use them.
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I recently asked my MP (Mark Jenkinson) the same thing, he forwarded the question to the DfT, who replied back with the same thing about their cost study in 2006 and said they wont be taking it forward.
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I’m afraid the Tories are a bunch of charlatans. I may be outfitted with rose-coloured glasses (which is true), but I still cling to the hope that whoever runs the DfT under a Labour government will be amenable to implementing a plan to metricate road signs.
Easy place to start will be to replace “yards” with “metres” on signs where those units are used, followed by replacing distance signs with signs using “kilometres”, and finally a weekend somewhere down the line to replace speed limit signs (with plastic overlays, perhaps) to show “km/h”.
That, plus putting in a good word to the BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, etc. to drop Imperial altogether will hasten the collapse of the metric muddle once and for all.
For me the place to start is with a general election in 2024, which I can’t wait to see happen.
Happy holidays to all! 🙂
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