UK Metric Association

The UK Metric Association, or UKMA, is an advocacy group in the United Kingdom that argues for completion of the British metrication programme and helps to educate the general public about the metric system. UKMA argues that the continued use of two incompatible systems of measurement causes misunderstanding, confusion and mistakes, undermines consumer protection, retards children's education, results in additional costs and is against the national interest.

UKMA was founded by Chris Keenan in 1999 and formally associated in 2002 as an independent, non-party political, single-issue organisation. Later, an e-mail forum was started for supporters of metrication. In 2005, a website called ThinkMetric to help and encourage the general public to think in metric units was launched. In 2006, a blog called MetricViews was launched.

The current chairman is Robin Paice and the current secretary is Derek Pollard. Political patrons include Lord Kinnock (Lab), Lord Howe of Aberavon (Con), Lord Taverne (Lib Dem), Dr Nick Palmer (Lab) and Ian Taylor (Con).

UKMA has released two major reports, aimed at stimulating discussion in Britain about completing the transition to international standard units:

• A very British mess (ISBN 0-7503-1014-6, 2004) is a survey of the use of units in the United Kingdom and the ways in which confusion can arise from the simultaneous use of two systems. It has also been used as a campaign slogan similarly.

• Metric signs ahead (ISBN 978-0-9552351-0-8, 2006) from February 2006 focuses on road signs, the last major area where current UK legislation mandates the use of miles, yards, feet and inches. The report estimates that the total cost of switching all of the UK's estimated 500 000 traffic signs from miles, yards and miles per hour to kilometres, metres and kilometres per hour would be £80 million (£160 per sign, including installation), of which £20 million would be for 200 000 speed limit signs. It argues that while, for safety reasons, all speed signs would have to be changed during a very short transition period (a few days), other road signs and markings that indicate distances or height restrictions could be changed more gradually, often in the course of routine maintenance.

In 2009, UKMA published an update to Metric Signs Ahead, which reflects the changes that have happened since the publication of the Metric Signs Ahead report. In the same year, UKMA published a traffic signs leaflet called Traffic Signs 2.0, which recommends changes to UK road signs to improve clarity, legibility and safety by using universally understood symbols and units of measurement.

See also

• Metrication
• Metrication in the UK
• British Weights and Measures Association – an anti-metrication advocacy group in the United Kingdom
• U.S. Metric Association – the U.S. metrication advocacy group that inspired the founding of the UKMA
• Metric Martyrs – a group of English greengrocers who were convicted for using unapproved scales

References

• 'Call for metric road sign switch' BBC News, 2006-02-23
• 'Campaign for £80m switch to kilometres', The Guardian, 2006-02-23, p. 6

External links

• UK Metric Association website
• UK Metric Association blog
• UK Metric Association's ThinkMetric website