Imperial on the surface, metric beneath

Following on from his article about the far-reaching influence of the measurement units used on road traffic signs, Ronnie Cohen now takes a look at the signs themselves and the roads they complement.

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The influence of traffic signs goes way beyond transport

During the past few weeks, there have been many news stories about the removal or modification of certain metric traffic signs by an elderly gent from Huntingdon and his friends. Their inability to see beyond the narrow remit they have set themselves has become very clear. In this article, Ronnie Cohen puts forward a contrary view.

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Could London bus accident have been prevented?

This weekend we heard the sad news that 26 people were injured when a double-deck bus hit a low bridge in Tottenham, north London. But could this accident have been prevented?

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The link between muddled units and verbose traffic signs

Successive UK governments have retained imperial units exclusively for distance and speed on road traffic signs. Ronnie Cohen argues that, as a result, we have been unable to take advantage of universal unit symbols, a feature of the metric system but not of imperial.
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Perspectives on Canada’s metric transition

Following earlier discussion on Metric Views, we take a look at the current position on the metric changeover in Canada.

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British drivers face a continuing sign muddle

With the end in prospect for road traffic signs showing imperial-only vehicle dimensions, Ronnie Cohen takes a look at the current muddle.

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Progress at last on vehicle dimension signs

The 2016 traffic sign regulations banning new imperial-only vehicle dimension signs were laid before Parliament on 23 March 2016 and came into force on 22 April. Ronnie Cohen looks at the chequered history of this commonsense reform.

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An insight into recent thinking at the DfT

We look at some internal correspondence at the UK Department for Transport (DfT) on the subject of the avoiding the obligation to fix a date for the conversion of road traffic signs to metric measurements.

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The battle for measurement supremacy

In December 2015, television weather forecasters expressed our record rainfall in millimetres while the national newspapers stubbornly stuck to inches. Apparently, the use two different measurement systems for the same phenomenon is alive and well in the UK. Ronnie Cohen looks at other aspects of British national life where two competing systems are used for measuring the same thing.

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Review of The Official Highway Code 2015 Edition

Ronnie Cohen reviews the 2015 Edition of the The Official Highway Code to comment on what has changed since the last edition and what has remained the same.

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