If you have an accedent or breakdown then these help locate your position.

there is an awful lot of them

There is an awfull lot of road!!!

and i think they are on the A1M part of the road..

I think you are referring to Driver Location Signs. Explanation can be found here: http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/14730.aspx

Hope this helps.

John

They are on many major roads. Loads on the M40 for one. Do they count in kilometers?

Without going into the politics of the European Union, Britain is currently in an odd place when it comes to our roads. Speed limits and distances on signs such as countdown to motorway exits will be given in Miles or yards. In the case of many new signs the distance stated on the sign will be in KM`s and the spacing of the sign will be in metres. The first sign on the page link I have given shows that you are on the M25 heading in the direction "B" (this could represent a town or city) and you are 43.8 Km from the start point of that motorway.

John

Thanks all, now know

'A' means "away" from the starting point, 'B' means "back" to the starting point. There's a sign every 100m.

M1 north has 'A' northbound and 'B' southbound as London is the starting point.

The stupid thing here is that because the scheme hasn't been given much publicity the British drivers wouldn't look for the signs before they called for help but visitors from the Continent who've had the system for years would!

Incidentally, introducing metric measurements isn't an EU idea, it was recommended by a House of Commons Select Committee in 1862 ! http://ukma.org.uk/Docs/DTI/met1862.pdf