So far, Iceland seems to be the only major British supermarket that is selling own-brand milk and all other milk brands in litre-based sizes. Why haven’t any other major supermarkets followed suit by dropping pint-based milk sizes?
Continue reading “Iceland supermarkets lead the way for litre-based sizes of own-brand milk”Author: Ronnie Cohen
DfT hides metric nature of location signs from general public
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”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”No more official publicity for driver location signs
The Government have confirmed that there will be no more official publicity of driver location signs in a response to UKMA member Martin Vlietstra. Driver location signs use yellow font colour on a blue background with a white border and appear along the edges of motorways and on certain dual carriageway A-roads in England. They are normally spaced at 500 metre intervals.
Continue reading “No more official publicity for driver location signs”Transport software company increases chance of errors by using dual units
Jaama, a transport software company, advertises its MyVehicle App software product on its website with images showing that it uses both kilometres and miles. 1 Using dual units within software introduces the possibility of conversion errors and unit mix-ups. There are real-world examples of errors arising from the use of dual units in transport. Some are described in this article.
Continue reading “Transport software company increases chance of errors by using dual units”CMA report explains how to encourage more use of unit pricing information
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a project on 31 January 2023 to consider the use of unit pricing in the groceries sector. On 20 July 2023, the CMA published its unit pricing review findings. On 30 January 2024, the CMA published its findings from consumer research and unit pricing analysis. These findings examined the awareness, presence and prominence of unit pricing, who uses it and how many use it. Unit pricing is one tool used by consumers among many in making decisions about purchases.
Continue reading “CMA report explains how to encourage more use of unit pricing information”Tesco announced it will show unit pricing for Clubcard offers
For Clubcard offers, you could only see the price per unit for the original price but not for the Clubcard price. Tesco has announced that unit pricing will also be shown for the Clubcard price as well. This will enable Clubcard holders to see that they are getting the best deal.
Continue reading “Tesco announced it will show unit pricing for Clubcard offers”Don’t expect to see pints of wine in the shops
After the Government published its response to the imperial units consultation in late December 2023, they said that they will add a 568 ml (pint-size) to the list of permitted sizes for wine bottles as well as the new 200 ml size for still wine and the new 500 ml size for sparkling wine. The headlines in the Government press release and in the media suggesting that pint-sized wine bottles will appear in the shops are misleading because it depends on winemakers making them but there has been a lack of interest in making them.
Continue reading “Don’t expect to see pints of wine in the shops”Universal metric or particular imperial?
Whether it is twips for typographic screen measurements, hands for horses’ heights or furlongs for horse racing, many imperial units are used for specific purposes. By contrast, the International System of Units (SI), the modern version of the metric system, is based on the principle that each measurable phenomenon has one basic named unit and all the multiples and subdivisions of the unit then follow the same logical structure using prefixes.
Continue reading “Universal metric or particular imperial?”
Metric Views 