In November 2005, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) produced an estimate of the cost of converting road traffic signs for speed and distance measurements to metric units. Optimism bias accounted for between 26% and 33% of the total overall cost. Now, the usefulness of optimism bias is being questioned.
Tag: metric road signs
Southwark goes back to the 1980s
The London Borough of Southwark appears to relish its role as the setting for the BBC’s 1980s retro series Ashes to Ashes, which was filmed on location in the borough. Just a few hundred metres from filming locations, which were dressed to take off a quarter of a century and appear as they were in the 1980s, Southwark has been busy spending public money removing universally understood metric road signs and replacing them with imperial ones that fewer drivers will understand. Continue reading “Southwark goes back to the 1980s”
Labour leadership hopefuls quizzed on metrication
It is at least possible that one of the five candidates for the Labour leadership will be our next Prime Minister – so it would be helpful to know where each stands on the question of completing metrication. Here is the result (so far) of a small survey carried out by an individual Party member.
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‘Rebalancing of the UK economy’ postponed?
Metric Views has learned that the coalition government may drop the proposed amendments to road traffic sign regulations, which would have required dual signage of height and width restrictions within four years and which would have achieved savings and improvements in efficiency for the UK economy in the long term.
Continue reading “‘Rebalancing of the UK economy’ postponed?”
60 km Jubilee Greenway to be signed in imperial
On 9th June 1977, the Queen officially opened the Silver Jubilee Walkway, a 21 km walking trail around central London to mark her Silver Jubilee, or 25 years on the throne. Thirty-three years later, work is under way to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with a new 60 km walking trail, the Jubilee Greenway, providing walkers with a kilometre to walk for every year of the Queen’s reign.
Continue reading “60 km Jubilee Greenway to be signed in imperial”
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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Signs review disregards Welsh road users
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.
End of imperial-only restriction signs
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.
Chaos comes to National Cycle Network signs
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”
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