I have added some comments of my own below:
- Metric signs are less accurate than
customary signs. For example, using metres to describe the width of
bridges (eg 4.4m) achieves an accuracy of only one tenth of a metre, or
four inches. Imperial signs (eg 14'6") are accurate to within one inch.
It appears
the BWMA doesn't know the difference between accuracy and resolution. There
is no implied accuracy in the FFU declaration especially if the people
who manufacture the signs don't produce signs to 1 inch increments.
If the foot/inch figure is just a numerical conversion of the metric
(which it obviously is), and the metric is the true design figure, then
the 1 inch resolution does not reflect any greater accuracy. Since
British roads are built metric, then the metric is more accurate and
the FFU is actually more of an error if the converted number is rounded
too much. Maybe the people who produce the signs should follow the
BWMA advice and make 14 feet 6 inches as 14 feet 5.228 inches, which is
the true equivalent of the correct 4.4 m
What the BWMA do not tell you is that
all imperial signs are rounded to nearest half foot, i.e. they will
always be so many feet or so many feet plus 6 inches. I don't think I
ever see a sign in the UK with a width that had inches other than 6, or
maybe 3 or 9 in some places, but that is still not totally accurate.
The view that metric signs help Continental
tourists is negated by the corresponding lack of help to American
tourists. In practice, Continental tourists are often interested by
signs showing miles, yards, feet and inches, while Americans are
delighted to discover that they are not alone in using them.
How many
Americans drive on British roads? How many Americans would attempt to
drive a car in which the steering is opposite or they have to drive on
the other side? but, to those that would, the delight of Americans
finding miles elsewhere then in the US must be offset by pulling into a
petrol station and finding petrol sold by the litre and then going into
a supermarket and finding a high volume of metric products. If
anything that has to be confusing. I also wonder how many Americans
come to the UK compared to those from the Continent and vice-versa.
Why doesn't the BWMA insist that all English speaking countries add FFU
signs just for the sake of the England?
I have met several American citizens,
some here, some in the USA. The majority all expressed a concern for
driving on the wrong side of the road and said they could not drive in
the UK. Perhaps the BWMA know some Americans who do drive here. I would
think that if they were going to drive here they would have to be
well-above average drivers to cope as most Americans would not cope. I
have driven in America on the other side of the road, it is not easy,
but at least their roads are generally twice the width of ours.
- According to Gallup, 95% of people in
Britain think in miles compared to only 3% for kilometres. Changing to
kilometres would cause misunderstanding, make enforcement of speed
limits more complicated and increase the likelihood of accidents.
This is
only true because the road signs are in FFU. Remove the FFU with
metric only and watch the switch occur. Over time as people get new
cars and get a feel for metric speeds and distances, the numbers will
reverse. This is why they don't want to see the change. They know it
will cause people to forget miles. The proof can be found in the
reaction of people in other countries that don't see miles used every
day.
How many
Australians today would say they think in miles? And then compare this
to the 1970s.
I notice the BWMA forget to mention the
other 2%. But like you say, most motorists think in miles because they
have to -- the road signs are in miles and mph. When I had a car I had
to think in miles, there is no other option because the signs are all
that way. But, like you say, change the signs to metric, and everyone
will think in metric. Most people already think of temperatures in
Celsius due to the widespread use of metric for weather forecasting. I
should imagine that for all packaged goods people think in metric, and
certainly for soft drinks and bottled water everyone in the UK pretty
much thinks of litres, not gallons or pints. The word "pint" is usually
associated with beer/ale/cider/stout in pubs, and doorstop deliveries
of milk. Wine has been in metric for as long as I can remember, the
standard size being 70 cl. BWMA continue to use false reasoning and
statistics that favour their position as they struggle to hang on to an
antiquated system that has already been replaced by metric in many
walks of life in the UK. Or mabye the BWMA spend a lot of time and
effort and money finding suppliers of packaged and bottled goods in FFU
only.
|
