Did you know that there are purely metric signs (without any imperial conversions) on major roads at one hundred metre intervals? If you know this, you are one of the few who do. I am referring to marker posts and driver location signs. These signs are used by the emergency services to help them to locate stranded drivers and are incompatible with the official traffic signs for the general public, which are almost exclusively imperial.
Continue reading “DfT hides metric nature of location signs from general public”Month: July 2024
British driver caught speeding in France after misreading km/h for mph
A British driver in France has been stripped of his driver licence after misreading a 125 km/h speed limit sign for 125 mph. This is not the first time that miles and kilometres have been confused when reading speed limits. Back in January 2021, Metric Views reported a similar case of a high-profile foreign Premier League footballer who confused km/h and mph when driving in the UK. And it is unlikely to be the last time it happens.
Continue reading “British driver caught speeding in France after misreading km/h for mph”Legal ambiguity of dual unit restriction signs
Dual units have been mandatory on restriction signs since TSRGD 2016. For height restrictions, the imperial and metric units normally appear on a single sign though they can appear on separate adjacent signs. Most height restriction traffic signs for bridges now show dual units. If your vehicle complies with both values, you can drive under the bridge. If your vehicle does not comply with either value, you cannot drive under the bridge. But what if your vehicle complies with only one of the values? Can you drive under the bridge in this case?
Continue reading “Legal ambiguity of dual unit restriction signs”50 years of metric road signs in Australia
1 July 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the switch to metric road signs in Australia.
For about a year before the change, car manufacturers fitted dual speedometers to their vehicles and, after 1974 all new cars were fitted with metric-only speedometers. Several kinds of speedometer conversion kits were available. As a result of all these changes, conversion on the roads occurred without incident.
Continue reading “50 years of metric road signs in Australia”
Metric Views 