Information has just reached the Council of ARM that the recently-opened 'Jubilee Cycleway' in Blackpool has been signed only in kilometres - with no miles or yards in brackets afterwards.

It's appalling to think of those tens of thousands of British holidaymakers who may have been bemused by these alien measurements. After all, it's not as if there are loads of French, Slovenian or Transylvanian tourists in Blackpool deckchairs having fish 'n chips followed by soft ice cream - and then wanting to hire a cycle to ride to Bispham and back.

This manifest, indeed flagrant, breach of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002, S.I. No. 3113, is likely to be rectified very soon

Tony - I think that they are preparing for the Irish!

Tony, the m and km are not alien measurements.

The current Director of BIPM (since Jan 1st 2004) is Professor Andrew Wallard an eminent British scientist from the UK National Physical Laborarotory. His predecessor Dr Terry Quinn is also a British scientist serving in that post since 1988.

What's more the metric system has several units named after yet more British scientists, the newton (Isaac Newton), watt (James Watt) and kelvin (Lord Kevin).

Metric units were legalised in the UK as long ago as 1897 and even further back for certain contractual purposes.

The French origin of the first metric system has long since passed into obscurity. It has been developed and refined over the years by an International consortium of metrologists with significant contributions from Britain.

Stan,
You mention ever such a lot of scientists. That is the reason why the metric system is regarded as alien by some.

Stan wrote

<<
What's more the metric system has several units named after yet more British scientists, the newton (Isaac Newton), watt (James Watt) and kelvin (Lord Kevin).
>>

The tally by nationalisty of scientists or enginners who have been honoured by having SI units named after them is:

Britain: 6
Germany: 4
France: 3
Sweden: 2
USA: 1

Notes
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Tesla was born in what is modern day Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire), studied in what is modern-day Austria and did most of his work in the USA. He is not counted in the above list.

I have called anybody "German "who was born, lived and worked in any of the states that subsequently became Germany.

Hmmm, A group of us are planning a weekender in Blackpool at the beginning of July.

I always saw Blackpool as very "British" (not English)and thus I hope the ammendments are donw before we get there!

BTW - the rides at the pleasure beach show height restrictions in either imperial/metric or just imperial.

SteveH wrote

<<
BTW - the rides at the pleasure beach show height restrictions in either imperial/metric or just imperial.
>>

This is unfortunate because should their be an accident (Heavan forbid!), the insurance companies might worm their way out of their liabilities on grounds that metric units should have been used. (See the fine print in the EU directive and the UK implementation of the directive). This will leave either the owners of the rides or the Council liable for any injuries.

But it would be ok if it were metric only, because although most people don't know their height in metric should there be an accident (Heaven forbid) then at least it would teach them a lesson to learn their height in metric and to fall in line with all European legislation.

Sometimes I question the common sense of some of the stuff that happens in the UK!

<<
Sometimes I question the common sense of some of the stuff that happens in the UK!
>>

Right on Steve. Common sense would urge that everyone stick to the same system of measurement. Then no one would be in any doubt as to what is safe or unsafe for them to enter.

<<
Common sense would urge that everyone stick to the same system of measurement. Then no one would be in any doubt as to what is safe or unsafe for them to enter.
>>
On the contrary, common sense would urge that the signs be in the units that the people are most likely to understand.

<<Right on Steve. Common sense would urge that everyone stick to the same system of measurement. Then no one would be in any doubt as to what is safe or unsafe for them to enter.>>

This also goes down the line of "well we should all speak only one language" - an equally fallible argument.

Since over 95% of UK people know their height in feet/in please tell me the advantages, safety - quality or otherwise, to presenting the figures in terms that less than 5% of people could readily understand? Is it to make us feel "more european"? At what price?

ARM has now inspected and altered the signs referred to at the start of this thread.

The 'Jubilee Cycleway' display boards are about 4' 6" high x 2' 6" wide and are to be found at six 'access points' where cyclists can gain access to Blackpool promenade from the main road - usually crossing the tramway in the process. The cycleway runs north from just north of Blackpool Tower for around 5 to 6 miles.

The display boards showed the distances between each access point only in kilometres, e.g. '1.6 km', in small panels about 0.75 inch x 1.75 inches.

Using ARM's new computerised label machine - mainly for use in converting metric information on display boards to Imperial - the metric indications have now been successfully over-labelled with Imperial units, so that '1.6 km' becomes '1 mile'.

These labels could be liable to removal by Council officials, so up-to-date reports from anyone visiting Blackpool in the future would be welcome.

Other metric distance signs were found along the promenade and most of them altered, notably some signs clearly a few years old giving distances to 'Talbot Square' from northern parts of Blackpool. The first one we came across said: "Talbot Square - 6400 M'. A brief survey of Blackpool passers-by showed that no-one really knew what it meant, although one resident volunteered proudly that he knew that there were 1,000 metres in a kilometre. When asked, however, how far '6,400 M' was, he hesitated quite a while before replying , "Well, everyone around here knows it's about 5 miles".

For the record, ARM has now permanently altered the sign to read: 'Talbot Square - 4 miles'

I shall be in Blackpool this weekend.

I shall keep one eye open.

(especially after the intended pub crawl that's planned, merely because keeping one eye open will be the best method of "focus and walk")