Category Archives: Transport

DfT guilty of making unfounded claims

Posted on 2013-05-17 by ronniec

Yesterday, the National Audit Office (NAO) criticised the UK Department for Transport (DfT) for its unfounded claims about the benefits of the proposed high speed rail project HS2. In this article, Ronnie Cohen identifies another unfounded claim by the DfT … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Myths, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The 1895 Select Committee on weights and measures

Posted on 2013-03-29 by tonyw

This article looks back to the findings and recommendations of the 1895 Parliamentary Select Committee on weights and measures.

Posted in Education, General, History, Law, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , | 26 Comments

What do imperial traffic signs cost?

Posted on 2013-02-08 by Erithacus

One of our regular readers, John Frewen-Lord, a retired quantity surveyor, has attempted to answer this question. In this article JF-L refers to the junior Education Minister’s suggestion that there would be more teaching of imperial units in the future … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, General, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , | 36 Comments

DfT misses another trick

Posted on 2013-01-18 by Erithacus

The Department for Transport wants to reduce sign clutter.  Very commendable, you might think.  So why don’t they adopt an obvious measure that would make many signs smaller, simpler and easier to read – and thereby reduce clutter?

Posted in General, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Metric traffic signs – an issue that goes round in circles but will not go away

Posted on 2012-12-14 by derekp

The reply to a recent parliamentary question prompts thoughts about joined-up government in relation to measurement units.

Posted in General, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , , | 49 Comments

Surprise choice for transport

Posted on 2012-11-30 by derekp

This was the headline in a back number of a trade magazine that recently came to our attention. So who was this choice, why the surprise, and when was he or she chosen for transport?

Posted in History, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Metrication in Malaysia illustrated

Posted on 2012-09-12 by derekp

It was not possible to provide illustrations for the article on metric progress in Malaysia that was published on MV in January 2010. We can now remedy this deficiency.

Posted in Road signs, Transport, Views from abroad | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Aggregation of marginal gains – a way forward for the ailing UK economy

Posted on 2012-08-24 by derekp

The recent performance of our Olympians, in particular the Team GB cyclists and their support team, is in stark contrast to that of the UK economy. We ask if there are lessons for the British government.

Posted in General, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

London 2012 – winners and losers

Posted on 2012-08-12 by derekp

As the Games draw to a close, we take a look at some of the winners and losers.

Posted in Education, General, Road signs, Sport, Transport, Views from abroad | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

Ireland’s road signs revisited

Posted on 2012-06-22 by tonyw

In Ireland, the changeover from Imperial to metric of its highway distance signs began in the 1990s. This was followed by the change of speed limit signs, which took place over a week-end in January 2005. Seven years on, we … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Road signs, Technical, Transport, Views from abroad | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments