On 9 December 1970, the Minister for Transport Industries John Peyton announced that the Government have decided that speed limits will not be made metric in 1973 and have no alternative date in mind. Why did the Government scrap the metrication of speed limits? Historical government documents give various reasons for scrapping the planned conversion. This article will show some of these documents, which reveal the reasons the Government gave for its decision.
Continue reading “Why the Government scrapped plans to convert UK speed limit signs to km/h in 1970”Category: Road signs
Government cost estimates to convert all UK speed limit signs to km/h in 1970 were far below £30 million in today’s money
The British Government once developed and examined proposals to change all UK speed limit signs from miles per hour to kilometres per hour in the 1960’s and in 1970. On 9 December 1970, the Minister for Transport Industries John Peyton announced that the proposed metrication of speed limit signs would not go ahead and was postponed indefinitely. The proposed change to metric speed limits was due to be implemented in 1973. Fifty years have now passed since then. Half a century later, UK speed limit signs are still in imperial units. The Department for Transport (DfT) now claims that metricating UK road signs costs too much. However, it would have cost little to convert all UK road signs to metric units according to cost estimates by the Department of the Environment (DoE), which had responsibility for transport at the time, according to historical government documents held at the National Archives.
Continue reading “Government cost estimates to convert all UK speed limit signs to km/h in 1970 were far below £30 million in today’s money”Government misses project to benefit all from money saved by scrapping HS2 West Midlands-Manchester line
This week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the HS2 West Midlands-Manchester line will be scrapped, saving £36 billion, in response to the soaring cost of building HS2. He has redirected the funding from building this line to projects in the North, Midlands and the rest of the country. However, he has left out one important transport project that would have benefited everyone in the country.
Continue reading “Government misses project to benefit all from money saved by scrapping HS2 West Midlands-Manchester line”Welsh road signs in 2022 cost small fraction of DfT estimates in cash terms despite 50% inflation since 2006 DfT metric conversion report
The total estimated cost for implementing the speed limit change from 30 mph to 20 mph, including the cost for changing signs and markings on roads, has been published in the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) undertaken by the Welsh Government on 20 mph speed limits. The published document gives a breakdown of road sign costs. These costs are several times lower than the Department for Transport (DfT) cost estimates of conversion of road traffic signs to metric units in cash terms despite 50% inflation during the 16-year period between the two reports.
Continue reading “Welsh road signs in 2022 cost small fraction of DfT estimates in cash terms despite 50% inflation since 2006 DfT metric conversion report”Cost is no barrier to rollout of 20 mph speed limit
For years, the DfT has given cost and diversion of funds from other parts of the transport budget as arguments against the metrication of UK road signs. While all kinds of arguments have been made for and against the reduction of the speed limit on local roads to 20 mph in London and Wales, I have not heard any opponents of the rollout of 20 mph speed limits say that it costs too much or that it diverts funds from other parts of the transport budget. This shows that the DfT arguments against changing road signs to metric units are bogus.
Continue reading “Cost is no barrier to rollout of 20 mph speed limit”Opportunity missed to save £ millions on new speed limit signs in Wales
An opportunity to save millions of pounds on new speed limit signs in Wales has been missed by the failure to synchronise the lowering of the default speed limit on roads in built-up areas in Wales with a switch to metric speed limits.
Continue reading “Opportunity missed to save £ millions on new speed limit signs in Wales”
The other victory UKMA won in the end
The previous article describes how weights and measures legislation was saved from the axe by changes to the REUL Bill. There was another important victory that has also been won by UKMA with the help of powerful stakeholders though it took years to win. UKMA spent years fighting the Department for Transport before the battle to make metres mandatory on restriction signs was eventually won.
Continue reading “The other victory UKMA won in the end”Why do highway authorities take so long to replace worn-out signs?
There are some worn-out signs that have been in place for months, possibly years, but await replacement. On 4 May 2023, I contacted my local council to ask them to replace a worn-out height sign with a new one. It has been worn out for at least two years but has still not been replaced. I know that it has been worn out for this long because I still have a picture of this worn-out sign that I took on 26 May 2021. Despite informing the local council highway authority that it needs replacement, it has still not been replaced.
Continue reading “Why do highway authorities take so long to replace worn-out signs?”Tenths of a mile on UK odometers relate to nothing on British roads
Odometers in vehicles measure distances travelled in tenths of a kilometre or tenths of a mile, depending on the unit used in the target market. A tenth of a mile is 176 yards. However, there is nothing on British roads that is measured by tenths of a mile.
Continue reading “Tenths of a mile on UK odometers relate to nothing on British roads”Metric speed limits in Myanmar and Liberia
According to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) factbook, “only three countries – Burma (former name for Myanmar), Liberia, and the US – have not adopted the International System of Units (SI, or metric system) as their official system of weights and measures”. 1 The key word in this sentence is “official”. It does not mean that they do not use the metric system. In fact, Myanmar and Liberia use metric speed limits unlike the UK.
Continue reading “Metric speed limits in Myanmar and Liberia”
Metric Views 