UKMA has recently acquired two pamphlets from the 1970s Australian metric conversion programme. One about the switchover to metric units for weather reports, and one about the switchover for motoring.
Author: Isaac
300 million gallons and other dam(n) measurement units
In 2019, readers could be forgiven for having no idea what 300 million gallons of water looks like.
In a recent BBC news article about the Toddbrook Reservoir in Derbyshire, it was reported that, following storm damage, the dam was in danger of collapse with the potential of releasing 300 million gallons of water onto the nearby town of Whaley Bridge.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-49189955
In 2019, readers could be forgiven for having no idea what 300 million gallons of water looks like.
Continue reading “300 million gallons and other dam(n) measurement units”
The new £50 note
It was announced today that the new polymer £50 note will celebrate the UK’s achievements in science, and will feature a prominent British scientist. Nominations from the public are invited.
Two kinds of country?
We return after a break with a short article from one of our supporters about a recent film release Continue reading “Two kinds of country?”
Government decision contradicts road safety initiatives
The Government has been accused of failing to implement the strategies necessary to achieve goals agreed as part of two major international road safety initiatives. Furthermore, its decision on width and height restriction sign regulations, made shortly after taking office in 2010, directly contradicts one of the aims stated by the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
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Review fails to address major traffic sign issues
A three-year review of traffic signs has failed to address major problems with the UK’s signs.
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Road safety experts ignore UK sign problems
A recent report into the safety implications of variations in road signs across Europe has ignored problems caused by the UK’s continued use of imperial units.
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Ministers refuse to update obsolete HGV speed limits
Metric Views can reveal that Government ministers have quietly wound up all efforts to align motorway speed limits for buses, coaches and HGVs with the settings of their respective vehicle speed limiters.
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Crazy proposal to raise speed limits above speed limiter settings
As a bizarre consequence of the failure to switch to metric speed limits, the Department for Transport (DfT) is proposing to raise the motorway speed limit of coaches and buses from 60 mph (96.6 km/h) to 65 mph (104.6 km/h). That’s 4.6 % faster than the 100 km/h maximum speed that their speed limiters allow.
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NHS risking patients’ lives with imperial scales
Six months after an official report warned of systemic negligence in medical weighing practice within the NHS, the Department of Health has failed to issue the necessary safety alert to hospital trusts to ensure that the report’s recommendations are implemented.
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