It is now law in the United Kingdom that all new height (but not width) warning and restriction signs be in both metric and imperial units.
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: 07 July 2010 19:21 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:48070] Re: Letter to the North Denver Tribune Hmm, two "barkatfish" e-mail addresses, arguing with each other. What could be suspicious about that? This is a horrible accident, but what are the odds that dual or metric marking would have prevented it? The article omits a lot of infomation: *First, is the bridge only marked in Imperial? I understand that is common in the UK, but the article doesn't say. *What is the nationality of the driver? What is his relative familiarity with Imperial and metric? Is he licensed in the UK. *Finally, note there was a three foot (0.9 m) interference. That (in my view) is not confusion, but utter negligence or incompetence on the part of the bus driver. Dual marking is a good idea. It is used in some places (border areas) in the US and seems to help. Still the driver should ALWAYS be able to assess the clearance is 3' less than his vehicle height in the complete absence of markings. _____ From: "Anthony O'conner" <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, July 7, 2010 1:53:42 PM Subject: [USMA:48069] Re: Letter to the North Denver Tribune Stephen Humphreys claims: "I'm just intrigued in to how many people have died from a bridge strike that showed just imperial measures. If you think about it it's probably difficult to die in such circumstances. The driver is down in the cab and a pedestrian would have to be between the top of the vehicle and the bottom of the bridge at exactly the time of the strike." The double-decker bus is an iconic UK image. They often hit low railway bridges. Unfortunately, passengers are sometimes killed <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/three-die-as-bus-hits-bridge-1449655.h tml> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/three-die-as-bus-hits-bridge-1449655.ht ml Three die as bus hits bridge GRAHAM MOORBY Monday, 19 September 1994 TWO WOMEN and a girl guide were killed after the roof was ripped off their double-decker bus when it crashed into a railway bridge in Scotland last night. Ten children with head injuries were among 20 people hurt in the accident, which happened as a party of girl guides returned to Glasgow following a day trip to a holiday camp in Ayr. Inquiries centred on why the 13ft 6in double-decker had been driven beneath the bridge where the clearance is 10ft 6in. The bridge has been the scene of several accidents. In a later follow-up article in the Glasgow Herald, the death-toll rose to 5 after 2 more children succumbed to their injuries <http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/bus-crash-toll-rises-to-fi ve-as-girl-dies-1.483202> http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/bus-crash-toll-rises-to-fiv e-as-girl-dies-1.483202 <http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/bus-crash-toll-rises-to-fi ve-as-girl-dies-1.483202> Many UK road safety organizations want to see dual marking of bridge heights made compulsory. Stephen supports the view that it is too expensive & confusing to mark metric heights on bridges. What price does he place on 3 young children and 2 adult volunteers lives? [USMA:47827] RE: The Chunnel Stephen Humphreys Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:03:53 -0700 I'm just intrigued in to how many people have died from a bridge strike that showed just imperial measures. If you think about it it's probably difficult to die in such circumstances. The driver is down in the cab and a pedestrian would have to be between the top of the vehicle and the bottom of the bridge at exactly the time of the strike. I can dream up a TV/film style disaster - say a truck hits a bridge and a train goes along the top of it seconds after the strike causing the train to come off the tracks and tear down the embankment - although that's fairly dramatic - I just can't see simple fatalities in such circumstances. Just damage and insurance claims. _____ From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Wed, July 7, 2010 1:48:34 PM Subject: RE: [USMA:48065] Re: Letter to the North Denver Tribune I guess that from the fonts (something someone else has picked up on) then you are both sharing one account on the listserv. Say hello to the rage twins 'Lee Roberts, (Argyll and Bute TSO), and John P Schweisthall (60-plus y/o who lives with his mom)". That's probably it from me to these odd balls as - as you can see yourself - it's just about manipulation of text to focus the attention on a message that wasn't intended (I think it's called 'distract and divert'). More from the archives soon, I would bet. _____ Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2010 10:00:52 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48065] Re: Letter to the North Denver Tribune To: [email protected] I see that Steve is spouting yet more garbage. "I've seen official 'pint' glasses with 'made in france' etched into the base! ;-)" He knows that the tolerances applied to any UK spirit, wine or beer capacity measure are set out in metric and checked by the Approved Verifier in metric, yet he still persists in his fantasy that foreign glass manufacturers use imperial measurement to manufacture UK pint glasses. Just because a measure says "pint" does not mean that it has been checked against an imperial standard. He also "forgets" to mention that "pint" glasses (and other metric measures used in UK bars) are now CE marked instead of the old "crown" stamp. CE marked measures are accepted throughout Europe (wherever the sizes are legal for trade) Has Stephen become a convert to EU standardization? Finally, he fails to mention is that (apart from a few small niche manufacturers), all large scale UK "pint" glass production has now shifted to the Czech Republic & to France, as the 2 main UK manufacturers went into liquidation (bankruptcy) a few years ago. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-425868/EU-stealing-crown-great-Briti sh-pint.html "The manufacture of most pint and half-pint glasses has been shifted to the Czech Republic, where costs are much lower." I'd be far more surprised if Steve could find a new pint glass marked "made in the UK", but his "British is best" blinkers would never allow him to admit that any British business has failed. [USMA:47864] Re: Letter to the North Denver Tribune Stephen Humphreys Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:48:19 -0700 In my opinion: An outsourcing company treats the possible 'outsourcee' as a potential customer. If the customer want imperial (or customary, or whatever) then at the fear of losing a contract the external company will work to achieve such demands. To use a similar example (not exactly the same but..) - I've seen official 'pint' glasses with 'made in france' etched into the base! ;-) Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:02:49 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:47863] Re: Letter to the North Denver Tribune To: [email protected] _____ Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. Sign-up <http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/> now.
