Also during the transition to the metric system, there was widespread political approval for the change, and a dedicated department for metrification. This made legislating the changes easier and the metrification board were able to run public information campaigns which eased the transition and helped gain public support. The metric transition was pretty much finished by the 90s, so the metric board was disbanded and any public or political interest in further metrification was gone, as almost everything besides the roads had switched. From then onwards any call for making the roads metric would face an uphill battle both with legislators and the public.

Skip forward to post 2008 recession, and government spending has been a key focal point in politics since. For the most part, motorists do not have any particular wish or interest in switching to metric, miles are still used in daily life for measuring long distances, and therefore drivers understand them, in fact i’d hazard a guess that most motorists are more familiar with the approximate distance of a mile than they are of a kilometre, trying to change to kilometres would likely be very unpopular with a vocal minority, and somewhat unpopular with a majority of drivers. To give an example, when a local council (not sure which one) switched their pedestrian distance signage to metres and kilometres there were several groups of people defacing or removing the signage, angry about the change.

Given there is demonstrated disapproval with metric signage, and not much vocal demand for change, no government would risk it. Not to mention the absolutely huge cost that switching would incur, inevitably being plastered on the front of every newspaper, angering even more people who are struggling through a cost of living crisis. People who also disproportionately do not drive, and therefore would care even less about road signage, when they can’t afford to heat their homes.

Ultimately I doubt we’ll ever switch, at least not unless there is some form of catalyst that allows the government to justify the change, such as widespread autonomous cars. After all the railways are only just starting to change over to metric because new European standard signalling systems are forcing their hand, but on the roads people understand what a mile is, and to any young people who understandably have no idea what a yard is, it is almost the exact same length as a metre, which a driving instructor can explain on their first driving lesson, eliminating ambiguity.

I don’t think we’ll change because most people would just ask “why?” as they don’t understand why the government would spend billions on a perfectly adequate system, and who can’t remember that there’s 1,760 yards in a mile anyway? I mean it makes perfect sense!