UK Metric Association

The UK Metric Association, or UKMA, is an advocacy group in the United Kingdom that argues for Metrication in the United Kingdom and advocates the use of the metric system among the general public in the UK. UKMA argues that the continued use of two incompatible systems of measurement causes misunderstanding, confusion and mistakes, undermines consumer protection, wastes time during children's education, results in additional costs, and is against the national interest.

UK Metric Association
AbbreviationUKMA
Formation1999 (Constitution adopted in 2002)
TypeAdvocacy group
PurposePromote metrication in the United Kingdom
Websiteukma.org.uk

History
Original UKMA logo used prior to 2012 with the italic m. It was changed to the upright Roman m due to style guides which forbid the use of italics for metric symbols to avoid confusion with other scientific symbols.

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 secretary of UKMA is Derek Pollard. Political patrons include Lord Kinnock (Lab), Dr Nick Palmer (Lab) and Ian Taylor (Con).

Strategies

One of UKMA's strategies, aimed at getting their message to a wider audience including journalists and researchers, is to use Wikipedia as a conduit for their information. In an article in their December 2008 newsletter, members were urged to "correct any inaccuracies" in Wikipedia articles. It told about the "bias and inaccuracy" in metrication related articles, including Metrication in the United Kingdom, and highlighted the importance of "keeping an eye on them [metrication articles], visiting them regularly and checking that nobody has reversed any changes that you have made."[1]

Publications

UKMA has released four 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.
  • Still a Mess was published in 2014 and shows the results of a measurement unit survey commissioned by UKMA and carried out by YouGov to explore a number of aspects of public attitudes regarding measurement units in the UK, including people's understand of the relationship between different measurement units, what units people typically use for various purposes, level of support for the completion of the metric changeover and what impact party policies on metrication would have on how people will vote in elections.
  • Vehicle Dimension Signs Report was published in May 2014 and focuses on the progress in implementing dual signage for width, height and length vehicle dimension signs on British roads. It looks at the current situation with imperial-only and dual vehicle dimension signage, reviews of current practice and suggests improvements. It includes a survey of UK highway authorities on dimension signs and its results. It asks these authorities about current regulations, knowledge of current signage and plans for improvement.

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.

Opposition

The aims of UKMA contrast with those of the British Weights and Measures Association (BWMA), which campaigns against compulsory Metrication in the United Kingdom and advocates the continued use of imperial measures.

See also

References

Notes
  1. "UKMA News" (PDF). December 2008. p. 4. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
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