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Tag Archives: Department for Transport
Howe calls for metrication progress
Lord Howe of Aberavon, the former Conservative Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, intervened in the Queen’s Speech debate on Tuesday to reiterate his call for the Government to complete the conversion of the UK’s weights and measures to metric units. … Continue reading
Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Road signs
Tagged bridge strikes, Department for Transport, dual-unit, metrication, weights and measures
30 Comments
DfT admits: no basis for blocking metric signs
After finally admitting they were wrong to try to withhold this information, the DfT have now published their analysis of the responses to their earlier consultation on the proposed phasing out of imperial-only height and width restriction traffic signs. What … Continue reading
Posted in General, Road signs, Transport
Tagged bridge strikes, Department for Transport, DfT, dual-unit, imperial road signs, metric road signs, metrication
31 Comments
DfT rejects industry view on metric signs
The Department for Transport (DfT) has given in to anti-metric lobbying and backtracked on its earlier proposal that imperial-only height and width restriction signs should be replaced with dual metric/imperial signs within four years. This climbdown is despite the responses … Continue reading
Who should pay for metrication of road signs?
The Department for Transport have claimed that converting road signs to show metric units would be an unjustifiable diversion of resources from other priority areas. So is there an argument that the costs should be met from some other budget? … Continue reading
Review fails to address major traffic sign issues
A three-year review of traffic signs has failed to address major problems with the UK’s signs.
Posted in Law, Road signs, Transport
Tagged bridge strikes, Department for Transport, DfT, dual-unit, imperial road signs, metric road signs
20 Comments
Spotlight falls (again) on the high cost of construction in the UK
The magazine New Civil Engineer (NCE) reports this week on a recent conference in Barcelona which highlighted the wide difference between the cost of infrastructure in the UK and on the continent. So it seems that the inflated 2006 estimate … Continue reading
Posted in General, Road signs, Transport
Tagged construction-costs, Department for Transport, high-speed-rail, metric road signs
5 Comments
Spain discredits DfT’s case against metric signs
The Spanish government this week exposed the Department for Transport’s case against adopting metric road signs in the UK as flawed. While the DfT maintains that it must allow an average of around £1400 to change our road signs, Spain this week changed all its motorway speed limit signs for an average cost of just €41, or £35.
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Posted in General, Road signs, Transport
Tagged Department for Transport, DfT, metric road signs, metric speed limits
10 Comments
How decimalisation succeeded while metrication stalled
The media like nothing better than an anniversary, so it was predictable that the 40th anniversary of “decimal day” – 15 February, 1971, when the UK finally gave up its archaic and inconvenient coinage and currency – would get a … Continue reading
Posted in General, History, Media, Road signs
Tagged decimalisation, Department for Transport, metrication, weights and measures
14 Comments
“Half of that mince, please”
Two little anecdotes illustrate the difficulties still being experienced by customers because neither the Government nor “consumer advocates” will try to help them adapt to metric units in the supermarket.
Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Law
Tagged consumer, Department for Transport, metrication, weights and measures
23 Comments
‘Optimism bias’ falls from favour
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 … Continue reading
Posted in Road signs, Transport
Tagged Department for Transport, imperial road signs, metric road signs
14 Comments