britain

What Car is reporting that the European Parliament has graciously agreed to allow Britain to continue using the mile a bit longer. How nice of them. The EU has just passed a broad measure that allows shops to continue to display imperial and metric measures, thus keeping Britain from having to switch their speedometers and road signs to kilometers. The governing body had previously asked for firm dates from Britain and Ireland to make the switch and stop using Imperial measures, and though their neighbors in Ireland have already made the change, Britain remains noncommittal.

The British have been known to "take the piss" out of their German counterparts for several decades now, and that goes well back before World War II. Time to score one for the sceptered isle again: somebody in a right-hand-drive vehicle in Germany has been foiling German speed cameras with a Muppet. German cameras are aimed to get clear pictures of the driver in a left-hand-drive car, but not a shot of the passenger -- who is, in this case, the driver. All they can get is this googly-eyed fellow. Jim Henson must be pleased. Thanks for the tip, Abe!

[Source: BoingBoing via AutoFiends]

Clarkson has a thing against roadside signs in the UK: namely, that a great many of them are stupid, and he wants the government to get rid of them. Turns out that Britain's Department for Transportation (DfT) might agree with him, but first they're going to review all the signs in Britain to see how they can make things better. It will be the largest review of signage in 40 years.

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