I have to agree with you on this. After reading the article and some of the comments, I can't help but think that the concern is more a fear that the "metric disease" will spread north across the border. It is one thing when you have a big body of water isolating the UK from metric Europe, but when you have metric road signs and speed signs and even car instruments all in metric right at your land border, it is just a matter of time before it ends up in the UK.
Let's face a reality here. The UK metrication effort is basically down to the last item: road sign and auto instrumentation conversion. Convert this last hold-out and FFU is all but dead in the UK. Sure people will still be heard speaking FFU for a long time after, but they will be doing it from the point of it being a secondary measure and one that they either have to translate to or have it done for them. >From the article: "The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has warned that car manufacturers will need between six and seven months to start manufacturing right hand drive cars with metric speedometers. Yet there is no evidence that the Government has liaised with car manufacturers to ensure that the necessary changes are made in time. "It is much cheaper to install metric speedometers at the production stage than at a later date. But unless the Minister gives enough warning to the industry, or if he misses the deadline, the additional cost of installing metric speedometers after production will almost certainly be passed on to the consumer. Motorists will not stand for any such increase in motoring costs. I was under the impression that the automakers have already been notified of the change and all new cars produced after January 2005 will be fully metric. Can someone verify this? I thought I read it in a posting to this site, but maybe not. As for installing metric instruments on already owned vehicles, that is not a requirement, but it sure would be nice if people did it. I can see where the Irish cars having metric and the UK cars not, that there might be some additional assembly costs. If in the past the auto makers made 10 000 000 cars for the UK and Irish market, all with the same instrument cluster; now they may have to take 2 000 000 (or so) cars and install these with a metric speed/distance unit. It may make the cars somewhat more expensive to both sides. Another thing to consider, is cars made for the UK or vice versa, that don't sell in the intended market and are resold elsewhere. If in the past those cars went to Ireland, with no changes made to them, now there will have to be a change (at a cost) in the instrument cluster before it can enter Ireland. Similar to cars sold across the US/Canada border after they have been assembled. This can be a blessing in disguise, as the cost and irritation may help accelerate the conversion in the UK. One thing that would be great and the UKMA and other pro-metric folks in the UK could do is nag the government to plan for a test conversion by selecting an area in the UK and converting all road distance and speed signs to metric. The best spot would be Northern Ireland (Ulster). I would hope that someone from the UKMA would comment on such a proposal as a means to getting the metrication of UK roads out of neutral. Euric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carleton MacDonald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, 2004-06-15 23:11 Subject: [USMA:30148] Re: Comment from UK politician about Irish metrication > I agree with her that one island should have one speed limit. So when is > she going to change the signs on her end? > > cm > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 15:27 > To: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:30142] Re: Comment from UK politician about Irish > metrication > > > She really should leave the SDLP and join the UKIP and the BWMA. > > Citeren Terry Simpson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > The SDLP is a political party in Northern Ireland. The the word 'Southern' > > means 'Republic of Ireland'. > > > > ************************************************* > > http://www.sdlp.ie/prritchieoneislandonespeedlimit.shtm > > SDLP regional development spokesperson, Margaret Ritchie, has voiced her > > fears at new speed limit signs proposed by Southern Minister for > Transport, > > Seamus Brennan: > > > > "Putting signs in kilometres per hour in the South could spell disaster > for > > road users across the Ireland. It makes no sense to have road signs in > > kilometres per hour on one side of the border and in miles per hour on the > > other. Driving from Donegal to Derry, and from Dundalk to Down will be > > turned into an obstacle course for road users. Tourists, older people and > > new drivers will be thrown into confusion. At a time when we are trying to > > devise an all-island policy on roads, the Southern Minister for Transport > > must take this into consideration when putting forward his new proposals. > He > > should know that one island should have one speed limit." > > ************************************************* > > > > > > > > > >
