[Vertighost]

According to this government report it would cost less than a million to convert the countries road signs to metric. A pittence when you consider its a one off payment for a country wide project. We are sluggeshly crawling towards metricisation despite the next generation being solely educated in metric mesurements. We currently have this bizare hybrid system including using miles to the gallon despite dealing in litres in at the pump. Is it time to end this madness? I think you can guess my view.

 

[Accura4Matalan]

No... I like miles.

 

[CharlieP]

No, it's long after time to go metric!

 

[LaLov]

I can't see it ever happening, thank God. I was taught in metric units throughout school and am very comfortable using them, but I still wouldn't support changing road signs into miles, or give my height in metres or weight in kilograms. Only those with overly bureaucratic minds or an excess of Euro-enthusiasm really have much desire to change the status quo. As long as that remains the case no politician is going to have the courage to side with Brussels over their own electorate.

 

[Zim Flyer]

According to this government report it would cost less than a million to convert the countries road signs to metric. A pittence when you consider its a one off payment for a country wide project. We are sluggeshly crawling towards metricisation despite the next generation being solely educated in metric mesurements. We currently have this bizare hybrid system including using miles to the gallon despite dealing in litres in at the pump. Is it time to end this madness? I think you can guess my view.

You are one naive son of a bitch if you believe this Government and it's ability to do accurate cost analysis.

Everyone changes the stats to suit their argument. Do you really think it would cost less than a million to replace every road sign with a K. :crazy:

I grew up with K's, but I like miles, because they make us different. Diversity is good and I hate this constant move to try and make the UK the same as everyone else. Lets enjoy being different.

 

[Vertighost]

Opps. I meant billion but if the government wanted it done it would have happened. This is not bureaucratic or Euro-enthusiasm. I would of been happy sticking to the imperial system but now we're stuck between the two. God knows how much is spent coping with both and having to covert between them. We're not going to go back so we have to go forward.

 

[Ntn_Rawlings]

Theres no need to change to metric, and the only confusing part of the current system is working out youre miles per gallon on youre car, but everyone i know has a natural feel for how that works as well, spending one billion would make it easier to work out youre fuel consumption on a calculator, but seen as its only an extra line of working, and everyone thinks in miles, and likes miles, why bother?

 

[samsonyuen]

^^Us and the US that is. The US will never never never switch to all-out metric. No way miles, gallons and ounces will be gotten rid of.

 

[Zim Flyer]

Opps. I meant billion but if the government wanted it done it would have happened. This is not bureaucratic or Euro-enthusiasm. I would of been happy sticking to the imperial system but now we're stuck between the two. God knows how much is spent coping with both and having to covert between them. We're not going to go back so we have to go forward.

In that case I apologise for my language, I was a bit out of order there.

I still believe miles are the best, if it aint broke and all that.

 

[NothingBetterToDo]

yeah, i am 20.....so i was taught the metric system at school...

however, when it comes to distances i instinctivly think in Miles....they seem a much better scale for long distance measurements than Km's. I can think in Km's no problem, but i just prefer miles.

Also, when it comes to people's weight, i just cannot comprehend Kg's (although i usually find grams and kg's useful for everything else).

.....i dont care if the rest of europe thinks we are old fashioned or if they get confused when they visit us.....we also drive on the left..........its these quirky little things that suit us and nobody else that i like about the UK

 

[Svajoklis]

For god's sake let's get rid of this antiquated system that the motorists of tomorrow can scarcely comprehend [Number of feet in a mile without looking it up, anybody?] and switch it to one which all of the guest motorists and pretty much all of our native population can. Same goes for all other Imperial measurements - the metric system is so easy that a conversion would be easy.

 

[Vertighost]

This is the problem. Everyone goes on about how great it is to be unique but we're not. America is all Imperial and Europe is metric. We're half of both. Either annoy the hell out of the Europeans with our system or go with them and annoy the yanks. At the moment we're half appeasing, half annoying.

I'd love to see the UK stick to it's system but I think it suffered same problem as alot of other British systems. We came up with a measuring system back when no-one had rulers. Great at the time but when the Europeans caught up they came up with rulers as well (and a system to suit them). Unfortenatly we have to follow their lead and take heart that they will all have to speak English by the end of the century.

 

[future.architect]

i would love it if we went completely metric but it seems that everyone understands miles. but since imperial hasnt been taught in schools since the 60's (and to be honest its rubbbish) i would give it 20 years before we go completely metric.

 

[sweek]

This has nothing to do with diversity, culture and uniqueness I think. Compatibility is something I definitely support. It'd save money in the long term... not having to do any conversions, not making any costly and even deadly mistakes because of it, no more costs because of different packaging and different amounts to package...

I think all of that is a good thing, and that British / American culture is something much, much better than these stupid units, thank god. Don't forget that road signs have to be replaced after a certain amount of time anyway, so much of the costs would have to be made in the end, no matter if you switch or not.

 

[Danger! 50000 volts]

The only thing I'd have to retrain my mind on is fuel consumption! I know roughly how long, say 80kms would be (50 miles), say an hours driving, mph - km/h no problem, and as for litres, well we buy petrol in litres anyway. However, when my car does say 40mpg, I know how good, well half decent its fuel consumption is, but 10kms per litre, it just sounds like a gas guzzler!!! Sorry, I'm a thick bastard. But I only have people like Jeremy Clarkson to blame for that!!! I'm sure I'd get it in the end.

I do agree with metric conversion however, I mean it says it all in my statement above, we buy petrol in litres, and car mags/adverts/programs, etc all rage on about mpg???

 

[CharlieP]

They also bang on about horsepower all the time - why can't they use Watts?

 

[hellolazyness]

We invented most of the Imperial system and I'd be damned if I ever advocated the Napoleonic metric system, even though I am fairly pro-European.

 

[Gareth]

I think we should consider it, particularly in Northern Ireland.

 

[jorgen]

For me it's one of the charming things about UK, driving in MPH and on the left side.
I hope they stick to that.

MPH, Pounds, left-side driving etc I find cool. UK is a bunch of islands with some unique standards. A bit exotic for tourists


My father remembers when there was left-side driving in Sweden. At the borders to Norway there were just signs with 'Please change to left side driving' on a normal road Of course there was less traffic than today, so probably not too many collisions
Sweden switched to the right in the late 60s.

 

[CharlieP]

We invented most of the Imperial system and I'd be damned if I ever advocated the Napoleonic metric system, even though I am fairly pro-European.

I don't particularly want to follow the Napoleonic system either - I just want the UK to observe the International System of Units (S.I.)...