Eight years after the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) were updated to require all new vehicle restriction signs to show vehicle width and height restrictions in both metric and imperial units, the Department for Transport’s Traffic Signs Manual (TSM) has still not been fully updated to take account of the fact that new imperial-only vehicle restriction signs are no longer authorised.

Whilst most other chapters of the Traffic Signs Manual have been updated since 2016, Chapter 8 Part 1 has not been updated since 2009. It includes diagrams for both imperial-only width and imperial-only height restriction signs for use in road works and temporary situations – signs which were legal back in 2009, but have not been authorised for new sign installations since 2016.

Vehicle restriction signs included in the current TSM – Chapter 8 Part 1, page 98

The Traffic Signs Manual contains guidance for traffic authorities on the use of traffic signs and road markings. By failing to fully update it in a timely manner, the Department for Transport stands open to the accusation that they have been promoting the use of unauthorised imperial-only road signs for the last 8 years.

click on the image to access the pdf

The diagram for weight restriction signs is also obsolete as it includes the now unauthorised upper case “T” symbol to represent tonne. The diagram for this sign was corrected to show the lower case “t” in the 2011 amendment to the TSRGD.

Vehicle restriction signs in the current TSRGD

Whilst diagrams in publications for the general public, such as The Highway Code and Know Your Traffic Signs, were updated long ago, it is inexplicable that guidance for authorities that install road signs should not also have been updated.

UKMA would be interested to hear from readers of any cases that they might be aware of in their area where imperial-only restriction signs have been installed since 2016, and would encourage writing to the relevant highway authority asking for such signs to be replaced with legal dual-unit signs in order to avoid possible legal ramifications.

Mondopoint is a footwear sizing system based on the foot length and linear width of the foot and is measured in millimetres. It is part of ISO standard 9407:2019, which describes the specification for Mondopoint system of sizing and marking. 1 It has the potential to replace various mutually incompatible shoe sizing systems used in different countries. Most of these systems use arbitrary numbers that do not relate to anything obvious. Even worse, different sizing systems are often used for men, women and children.

Several shoe size conversion websites exist to convert between the various shoe sizing systems used in different parts of the world. The shoesizes.co and convertyourshoesize.com websites list most of the major shoe sizing systems in use. 2 3 They include the British, American, European, Australian, Japanese, Chinese and Russian shoe sizing systems. The numeric sizing systems tend to use separate ranges for men and women. So, men’s and women’s shoe sizes tend to be different for the same foot length in numeric sizing systems.

The Europeans use the Paris Point system with sizes increasing by ⅔ cm for each size. The British and Americans use the Barleycorn system with sizes increasing by ⅓ inch for each size. 4 One feature that complicates matters is that men’s, women’s and children’s shoe sizes can have a different zero point, so a particular foot length corresponds to different shoe sizes in these categories. Interestingly, the Chinese have two shoe sizing systems. 5 The old Chinese national standard uses numeric sizing, which is similar to European sizing, which is still common in China. The new Chinese national standard uses a length-based measurement based on millimetres. The Koreans also use millimetre-based measurements for shoe sizes. The Japanese tend to use length-based shoe sizes based on centimetres.

Mondopoint is based on the metric system and is a world standard. It is based solely on foot length and this system also includes foot width. Therefore, a Mondopoint value of 290/120 for a pair of shoes indicates a foot length of 290 millimetres and a foot width of 120 millimetres. The “mondo” part of the name is derived from the Latin word for world. Variants of this word are found in several European languages that are descended from Latin.

It would be much easier if all countries adopted Mondopoint for shoe sizes and abandoned arbitrary numeric sizing systems. Mondopoint is already in official use in Russia, China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea and is also used by NATO and the military, and now widely used in the sports sector. 6 This would make the countless shoe size conversion charts and calculators unnecessary. Unlike arbitrary numbers in shoe sizing systems used in much of the world, numbers in Mondopoint are transparent – they mean millimetres. In the Mondopoint system, you can measure your feet with any metric measuring tape or ruler to find out your shoe size, unlike the arbitrary shoe sizing systems in current use.

1. https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/en/#iso:std:71594:en
2. http://www.shoesizes.co/
3. https://www.convertyourshoesize.com/
4. https://goodcalculators.com/shoe-size-converter/
5. https://www.sopicks.com/blog/international-shoe-size-conversion-chart
6. https://www.calconi.com/en/shoe_sizes/guide/mondopoint_shoe_sizes.php

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_size
• https://size-charts.com/topics/understanding-shoe-sizing/