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End of imperial-only restriction signs

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and
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PostPosted: 11:59 - 20 Oct 2009    Post subject: End of imperial-only restriction signs Reply with quote
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Last edited by and on 16:55 - 11 Mar 2010; edited 1 time in total
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amnesia
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PostPosted: 20:07 - 20 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
To be followed by distance signs in miles and kilometres perhaps?

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JonB
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PostPosted: 20:11 - 20 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
I personally can't understand why we aren't already using kilometers.
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The Original Muzza
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PostPosted: 00:00 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
Jon B wrote:
I personally can't understand why we aren't already using kilometers.


Have you ever actually SPOKE to an old person regarding the metric system? No. We'll wait until they're all dead, then implement kilometres for those who can grasp such a concept.
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Ste
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PostPosted: 00:12 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
Old people can be banned from the roads at the same time then. Seems like the easiest way to fix that problem. Razz

Think about it... we'd be using the metric system and have roads free from old people.

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Phoenix
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PostPosted: 01:01 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
There's no need to replace our distance system with kilometers, there is no danger or risk involved in sticking with miles, the only benefit is it would make us appear all EU friendly at a cost of trillions of pounds no doubt, pointless.

Bridge heights do really need to be in meters ASWELL as imperial because as the article says foreign trucks measure their height and have their cab markers in meters so a sign in feet is no good to them unless they're good at conversion. We need to keep them in feet though because all UK truck cab markers are in feet and inches. No need to remove the signs thoug, an extra small one alongside them would do just fine, but the government have to waste as much money as possible.
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The Original Muzza
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PostPosted: 01:40 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
Phoenix wrote:
but the government have to waste as much money as possible.


Offtopic but...
I don't know about everyone else's area, but the local council in my village have decided it was necessary to replace the reflective road signs with some kind of backlit ones. At least now drivers can see them at nigh- oh wait, they already could. Well at least they won't be more appealing for yobs to brea- oh wait, yes they are.
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mistergixer
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PostPosted: 07:51 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm old/young enough to think in a confusing mixture of metric and imperial - can't work with distances/speeds in kilometres, can't work with small measurements in inches & thous, a person's weight/height is meaningless in cm's and Kg's, can't do cooking weights in pounds/ounces etc.

Going OT - a while ago the South Korean government decided to change it's romanisation standard, and had to redo all the road signs, maps etc that had the old romanisation standard - cost them an absolute fortune to do, and was pretty pointless if you ask me.
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sickpup
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PostPosted: 08:54 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
Jon B wrote:
I personally can't understand why we aren't already using kilometers.


that would be because you aren't terribly bright and can't be bothered to think. Thumbs Up

All of our signs are in Imperial and would cost millions to change as well as taking considerable time. There is no real 'need' to change signs, people should be able to use both metric and imperial.

I'm 34 years old and was taught in both metric and imperial. 10 years before I was in school it was imperial only. It has only been since you were in school that it has been metric only. With this in mind it would seem strange to simply change everything overnight.

John. I've no doubt you are of at least average intelligence so why not think before you type, you will appear to be a much more intelligent person and it will make it so much harder for people to take the piss out of you.
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and
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PostPosted: 12:19 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
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Last edited by and on 16:30 - 11 Mar 2010; edited 1 time in total
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owdamer
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PostPosted: 21:14 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
sickpup wrote:


I'm 34 years old and was taught in both metric and imperial. 10 years before I was in school it was imperial only. It has only been since you were in school that it has been metric only. With this in mind it would seem strange to simply change everything overnight.



I'm 44. I was taught metric at school and was also told that no one uses imperial anymore. At 16 I left school and started an apprenticeship with British Aerospace, (or Bae Systems as it is now known). From day one there we were taught imperial as that was the standard for the aircraft industry. Several years later and i started working on Airbus which was metric, although as all our machines were imperial we had to convert everything back to imperial. As late as 1999 I was working on boeing who worked in imperial.
Its not rocket science. Theres no need to change.
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The Shaggy D.A.
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PostPosted: 22:02 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm 43. I was taught Imperial and Metric at school. I think it was because they couldn't afford new books, but the rulers were cheap.
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sickpup
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PostPosted: 22:14 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
ulthar wrote:


sickpup wrote:

All of our signs are in Imperial and would cost millions to change as well as taking considerable time. There is no real 'need' to change signs, people should be able to use both metric and imperial


The cost would be negligible for the country in comparison to the cost of having two measuring units. The cost to change each sign would be around £100 each for 500,000 signs relating to speed and distance. The cost would also be absored into the annual budgets allocated to maintaing the roads.



So that would be £50,000,000 Also known as millions, 50 of them.

I'm guessing you want to move to metric then?
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Flip
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PostPosted: 23:29 - 21 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
sickpup wrote:
There is no real 'need' to change signs, people should be able to use both metric and imperial.


There was talk of changing speed signs to KM's around a year ago. Waste of money if you ask me.
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Phoenix
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PostPosted: 05:12 - 22 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
ulthar wrote:
Phoenix wrote:
Bridge heights do really need to be in meters ASWELL as imperial because as the article says foreign trucks measure their height and have their cab markers in meters so a sign in feet is no good to them unless they're good at conversion. We need to keep them in feet though because all UK truck cab markers are in feet and inches. No need to remove the signs thoug, an extra small one alongside them would do just fine, but the government have to waste as much money as possible.


UK truck makers and body builders using Metric. Specifications are in Metric, for lorries, buses, cars, vans, trailers, fork lifts. Heights are generally in mm or m, lengths in m, axel weights and loads in kg, fuel capacity in l, power in kW and speed limiters are set in km/h. UK market lorries have km/h as the primary unit on the speedo. And by law, the odometers must display the units in km and tachographs have to be filled out in km.

Even look at the specifications here on one of the most well known UK body builders: https://www.donbur.co.uk/ and Dutch lorry manufacturers DAF, who have a factory in the UK and their specifcations: https://www.daf.eu/UK/



This is the third time i've had to write this now due to the forum crashing out, last attempt.

Vehicle specifications are not what i'm talking about, I thought that was quite clear, yes .they are metric. High vehicles require a cab height indicator which in the UK is in feet and inches, this is what the driver sets (trailer heights vary) and looks at to check he can go under bridges, therefore bridge heights need to be imperial aswell as metric unless you force all vehicles to swap their cab markers. This is why foreign vehicles hit our bridges, because their cab marker are in metric!

Truck odometers are also irrelevant to the issue, they're in KM for tachograph standardisation reasons (tacho's are europe wide), it has no bearing on whether our signage should be in KM or miles.

I do have to drive a truck every day so I'm kind of familiar with these things, it's quite clear you're a google monster.
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MarkJ
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PostPosted: 09:13 - 22 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm 24 and was only taught metric at school, yet I have no problem working in imperial, it's not rocket science is it?

There's no need to change.
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and
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PostPosted: 10:02 - 22 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
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Last edited by and on 16:31 - 11 Mar 2010; edited 1 time in total
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mistergixer
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PostPosted: 12:38 - 22 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
MarkJ wrote:
I'm 24 and was only taught metric at school, yet I have no problem working in imperial, it's not rocket science is it?



No, not rocket science, just infuriatingly random:

12 inches to a foot
3 feet to a yard
220 yards to a Furlong
8 furlongs/1760 yards to a mile
Not forgetting rods, poles, perches, chains etc etc

16oz to a pound
14 pounds to a stone
112 pounds to a hundredweight
2240 pounds to a ton

20fl oz to a pint
2 pints to a quart
8 pints to a gallon
2 gallons to a peck
8 gallons to a bushel

That's really easy to remember, isn't it?

Contrast that with the metric system where everything is easily and neatly divisible by ten. Now, which do you think is an easier and more logical system to work with?
I wouldn't mind the Imperial system if they stuck to the same multiplication unit i.e. 12 inches to a foot, 12 feet to a yard etc, but it's the complete randomness of it that makes it so difficult for me to conjure with. Even if it was all divisible by 12, the metric system would still be far easier - because, not hailing from Norfolk, i have ten fingers and ten toes, not 12.

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Skudd
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PostPosted: 15:01 - 22 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
I work in both metric and imperial. But I want to stay with imperial as I'm English and not european. I'm 6'2" tall not 1.879m, I have a 10" willy not a 0.254m dick.
I do ride a 1000cc engined bike though. Thinking
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and
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PostPosted: 15:36 - 22 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
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Last edited by and on 16:37 - 11 Mar 2010; edited 1 time in total
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el_oso
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PostPosted: 21:08 - 28 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
metric is the way forward i'm afraid.
The problem with this country is that it wants to be different to the rest of the world.
times change yet we do not want to, we want to stick to the old classic technologies that are becoming obsolete.
if one of my dad's parents can learn to use modern technology like digital TV, computers and cell phones why can't my mum's parents learn the same thing. simply because they don't want to change.
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thx1138
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PostPosted: 00:30 - 29 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
well thanks to the complete hash they made out of going metric, I was only ever taught metric at school, so I'm all over the place now, let but i can only ever estimate distances in any meaningful way in miles.

I don't know about pounds and ounces, but know my weight in stone all the same. Distances I can only work out in metric, but only really make sense in miles.

Temperature, I'm okay on, centigrade anyway, farenhiet is meanginless to me.

I've no idea about fluid ounces in gallons, can only work it out in litres, I know I usually put 15litres in my bike, but I can only think in miles per gallon. Rolling Eyes

But yeah, I'd adjust quick enough I guess, if they'd stop fannying about and change things. We started going metric in '71 when I was born, and we don't seem to have completed it yet.
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pa_broon74
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PostPosted: 12:34 - 29 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm wonderfully schizophrenic about the whole topic. One advantage to having a bit of both is it encourages you to use your brain every now and again.

Having to work out how many litres are in a pint, pounds in a kilo, kilometres in a mile keeps the brain active. I'm pretty good with liquid and distance measurements, but ounces (and the fluid type) get me everytime, I uderstand it by itself, but convertting it is a headache.

One upside I can see with metrication is the UK will appear to become a good deal bigger. Glasgow (for example) won't only be 40 odd miles from Edinburgh, it'll be a whopping 65 odd kilometres. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel safer already.

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Skudd
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PostPosted: 14:46 - 29 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
One thing when we do become metric is, will they change the speed signs or keep them as 20-30-40 etc, but this time it will be 30KPH and not 30MPH.
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and
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PostPosted: 15:22 - 29 Oct 2009    Post subject: Reply with quote
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