Road Signs: Time to change to Metric?
 

I know this will be a controversial one, but;

Given that we're all now taught in metric (and have been for some 20 years), isn't it high time that road sign distances and speed limits were updated from imperial to metric units?

How about we went back to teaching inches, feet and yds?

Or even better taught both!

I personally would say: yes.

Not that the imperial measurement system is outdated, but it doesn't make sense to use two different systems when the rest of the world (except the USA) use the metric system... Even the USA was going to adopt the metric system under Jimmy Carter, but Reagan said "nope".

The metric system is straightforward, which makes it easier to understand:

1 meter = 10 decimeters = 100 centimeters = 1000 millimeter
Deci = 10 -> December used to be the 10th month,
Centi = 100 -> Century is 100 years,
Milli = 1000 -> Millenium is 1000 years

1 km = 1000 m
Kilo = 1000 of something (10K miles -> 10 kilo miles -> 10.000 miles eventhough the Kilomile is a possible useage of the Kilo term, it isn't a commonly used version)

Now do the same with imperial measurements... Doesn't work that simple. This graphic shows the problem with the imperial system:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._graph.svg.png

Everything else, but easy to understand.

Money is paid in the metric system (£1 = 100p = 10x 10p). Mathes is done in the metric system. Why not just go conform with the rest of the world (except the USA) and use a system which is easier to understand.

I'm 6'1" tall... What an awkward way to say "I am 1.82m tall".
I way 12.5 stone... What another awkward way to say "I weight 80 kg".
I am going 125 mph fast... What a yet again awkward way to say "I'm going 200 km/h"

It makes life easier. I learnt the metric system as I was in school in England in the 90ies. The teacher said - and I remember that well - "Kids, we won't be learning what a mile is or how many ounces are a pound. We are learning how many grammes are one kilogramme. How many meters are in a kilometer. And how many 10th's of a millimeter are in a decimeter!"

The only imperial measurements I can understand, are the mile and the inch. 1.6 km = 1 mile. 2.54 cm = 1 inch.

Those points only convince me more that your arguements are wrong.

I want a pint of beer/milk, not 0.568l!
I want a 1/4lb burger, not a 113 gram burger!
I want a 1/4 mile drag race, not a 402 meter race.

And time isn't metric! 60 secs in a min, 60 min in a hour and 24 hours in a day. That's easy enough to understand! Likewise with co-ordinates.

Then you buy in different measurements...

1 can of beer = 0.33l
1 glass of beer = 0.4l
1 maß of beer = 1l

You buy a bag of sugar with 1 kg.

You can still have a quarter pounder (you get them here, in the metric world).

And you can still have a quarter mile race. As that is the name of it.

But do we REALLY - especially since UK cars have metric AND imperial dials - need two different measurement systems in one country?

Swedes have their "Mile" (1 Swedish mile is 10 km). They still say "My car has 100 miles on the clock" when they mean 1000 km. What is wrong with that?

What measurements does your Volvo have? I doubt the screws are imperial measurements with 5/8" head diameter. The winding of the screws is not an imperial measurement. And you even work - in the imperial system - with millimeters. Now what sense does that make?

You tank your car with liters and not gallons but then calulate MPG... Conversion of a conversion.
You measure CO2 emissions in gramms and not ounces.
You measure the temperature in centigrade (another metric measurement) and not fahrenheit, kelvin etc.
You measure weight in tonnes (40t truck) instead of bushels etc.

So why use metric points everywhere BUT on the roads? Your cars already say metric measurements... The metric system is the decimal system. The logic system you count with...

But then again, as said, you can still have your pint in the local pub. You can buy your quarter pounder. You can have your quarter mile race - that all works in the metric world. You can still buy a "Pfund" (German pound = 500 grammes) of minced meat. You can get your "Elle" (German length = ell = 0.67 m). And you can measure your garden in "Doppelschritt" (German length = doublestep = 0.8 m). All that can still find it's way under the metric system. It doesn't mean that can can't buy your pint of beer, drive your 1/4 mile or eat a 1/4 pounder... That all still works...

Personally, it wouldn't bother me. I can think in metric or imperial, and I tend to work in a mix of the two - I think of weights in purely metric terms, small measurements in mm and cm and larger distances in feet and miles, volumes in either depending on circumstance. Torque and horsepower I end to think of in bhp and ft/lbs rather than PS and nm.

Of course, good luck getting the british population to countenance such proposals at a time when anti-EU sentiment is running very high. No politician would dare to propose such a thing, especially given the cost of switching millions of road signs, atlases, references etc. over to metric. Maybe we'll see full adoption of the metric system within my lifetime, but I wouldn't say so for sure.

Personally, it's the inconsistencies of the metric world that put me off. I often see reference to distances of, say 2,000 km. But under the 'rules', anything over 1,000 kilo things is 1.0 mega things. It happens in electronics, we say 1 mega ohm, rather than 1,000 kilo ohms, so how come nearly all 'metrified' countries get their own system wrong with distance?

For me, I think both imperial and metric have uses. If I want to measure the height of a ceiling, anything accurate to about a golf ball diameter is close enough, so feet and inches are ideal. For smaller measurements, such as the actual diameter of a golf ball, inches are too course, so I'd use centimetres.

But for speed limits there's one thing that the UK really should adopt asap, and that's to have everything recalibrated in furlongs per fortnight..

YES! :D I'll back that! :D

That is probably the biggest problem. Convincing the public, that a conversion from one to the other is a good idea. Even though the metric system isn't a "Europe only" thing (world wide, even the Auzzies and Canadians use it), the people on the street will think it is being forced upon them via an EU regulation.

And with the "anti EU" movement which is ever so growing at the moment, it wouldn't be long before the man on the street sees a reason to shout even louder...

Happy either way...I spent most of my working life in the Packaging Industry...which went metric in the early 1970's, so I'm well used to it.!

Neil