It was not possible to provide illustrations for the article on metric progress in Malaysia that was published on MV in January 2010. We can now remedy this deficiency.

Peninsula Malaya became independent of Britain in 1957. Malaysia, as we know it today, including Sarawak and Sabah but excluding Brunei and Singapore, came into existence in 1965. It began the changeover from Imperial to metric units in 1972, and the task was substantially complete within ten years.

Our article in January 2010, Metric progress in Malaysia, may inadvertently have given the impression that Malaysia has drifted into a measurement muddle similar to that which exists at present in the UK. This is definitely not so. On the street, Malaysia feels like a metric country just as much as, say, Australia or Spain, even if some of the usage is unfamiliar. We hope our photos illustrate this.

Firstly, some motorway signs:

Three speed limit signs:

Two height restriction signs:

Three ‘official’ signs for pedestrians:

and some ‘private’ ones:

A few lorry markings:

A curious pair of signs outside a police station, relating speed to gap between vehicles:

Private medicine sees a business opportunity:

And finally two reminders of times gone by:

Regular readers of MV will be able to find fault with many of the road signs illustrated. But it is worth asking if Britain is better served by its ‘perfect’ Imperial road traffic signs.

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