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.
Continue reading “Crazy proposal to raise speed limits above speed limiter settings”
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.
Continue reading “NHS risking patients’ lives with imperial scales”
The Department for Transport (DfT) is failing to address the needs of Welsh road users, and international traffic, when considering road sign designs in its Traffic Signs Policy Review.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced its intention to finally end the use of imperial-only width and height restriction signs on Britain’s roads.
In an apparent admission that cycle route signs showing distances in miles are not meaningful to cyclists, the Department for Transport is proposing to allow authorities the option of using signs that show journey times in hrs and mins instead of distances in miles and fractions of miles.
Continue reading “Chaos comes to National Cycle Network signs”
The Transport Department’s current review of traffic signs has so far avoided any mention of the “m” word and is likely to be a failure. UKMA has therefore produced its own proposals.
Continue reading “Traffic Signs Review produces INACTION plan”
According to Legible London, an initiative led by Transport for London, all existing pedestrian direction signs in London will be replaced by 2015 with new wayfinding signs. The enamelled monolith-style signs will have maps as well as directions and distances in “minutes”.
Continue reading “All distances on London pedestrian signs to be shown in “minutes””
In an attempt to reduce packaging waste, Sainsbury’s has begun selling milk in 2-pint plastic bags. It is claimed that the bags will reduce milk packaging waste by 75%.
Continue reading “Sainsbury’s chooses non-metric jug system”
But seriously folks. The article below was an April fool joke but the decimal tape measure is real. In Britain surveyors did use the decimalised foot before going metric. Clearly they recognised the advantages of a decimal system but realised that the metric system proper had much more to offer. The tape featured in the article is in fact American where they still use old fashioned units of measurement. They too clearly see the advantages of decimal in measurement, so the next step is …
Continue reading “Decimal measures to oust inches and miles”
An item on a BBC Radio 4 programme today included some interviews in a Tyneside market. A market trader was heard selling his wares with the cry, “Best bananas. Two pounds for a pound!”
