john mercer write: >could someone tell me who lives in the UK could >northern Ireland Scotland and Wales change their >speed and distance signs to metric or would they >have to wait until England do?
I live in the UK. Speed and distance signs are controlled by the UK government. In theory, it could decide to change one region before another. I think it that is unlikely. The UK government could also give the decision away to the devolved administrations. But there only two of those that are active (Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly). The Northern Ireland Assembly was established in 1999 but suspended in 2002. England has not had its own regional government for nearly 300 years, so has no mechanism for making decisions of its own. England and Northern Ireland are ruled directly by the UK Parliament. It might be politically unacceptable for Northern Ireland to have signs that are more like the Republic of Ireland signs and less like those in the rest of the UK. So they will probably want to go metric at the same pace as the rest of the UK. There are metric differences in road legislation between parts of the UK but they are very minor. For example, if there are street lights, the default speed limit is 30 miles per hour and cars can drive at night using sidelights only. The legal definition of street lighting includes a maximum light separation of 183 metres in England and Wales. It is 185 metres for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Those values are both conversions of 200 yards.
