Road Signs: Time to change to Metric?

[KlingKlangMan]

I live by the axiom "History teaches us the mistakes made in the past: Tradition is just an excuse to ignore those lessons!". I know this is relevant to this thread, but I'm too drunk to know how.....

[Bill_56]

Originally Posted by KlingKlangMan

I live by the axiom "History teaches us the mistakes made in the past: Tradition is just an excuse to ignore those lessons!". I know this is relevant to this thread, but I'm too drunk to know how.....

Interesting.

I'd say it suggests that Countries using the metric system should learn from the mistake the UK made by ditching the old factorable (*) currency. They might then overcome their own traditions and switch to using UK miles to describe distances between towns, and as well as other useful units like pints and gallons.

* Is 'factorable' the right word? I used 'factorial' earlier in the thread which is not quite right of course. I'm trying to get away from calling it 'imperial vs metric' as the word 'imperial' sounds a little egotistic; actually the non-metric systems are often justified on strictly mathematical elegance rather than any national or historical aspects.

[arcturus]

A yard used to be the measurment of the kings outstretched arm. Then a new king came along and it was the length of his

[Chris_C]

I rose if by any other name...

Length x is always going to be length x no matter if you measure it in inches, mm, squirrels tails or leaves from the nearest bush.

Those who find it easy to divide a number by 12 will likely find it just as easy be it in metric, or imperial (no, I'm not missing the point about the base of imperial being a lovely multi divisible number, I agree that mathematically it was a sexy choice at the time, for a reason most people nowadays don't get).

However, the reason that a lot of people now don't get why having a number that divides by multiple factors is important is due the the way trade has changed. It IS NO LONGER IMPORTANT, when was the last time you needed to split a pound coin between three people? We don't barter or trade like 200 years ago.

FWIW, I am in my twenties, have a job where using numbers that have a base of 2 or 16 is as common as 10 and have a lathe where the leadscrew and feedscrews are in TPI. A number is just that, doesn't matter how you call it!

[Bill_56]

Originally Posted by Chris_C

FWIW, I am in my twenties, have a job where using numbers that have a base of 2 or 16 is as common as 10 and have a lathe where the leadscrew and feedscrews are in TPI. A number is just that, doesn't matter how you call it!

Excellent example of why it an appropriate choice of numbering system is always important. Imagine trying to build a logic-gate based computer using base ten rather than base two? Probably not impossible, but definitely very difficult.

It is, simply, horses for courses so as to speak. I don't think anybody is saying that the metric system has no place, simply that is a poor choice for currency, just as it would be a poor choice for computers.

For different reasons, the metric system for liquids is less useful for beer consumption compared to beer by the pint. And again that doesn't mean litres are 'wrong', or that they should never be used, just that they are inappropriate for beer.

One thing that's nice about the metric system is the universally accepted system of SI prefixes, pico, nano, micro, kilo, mega etc., than be used to scale any decimal number to manageable proportions. Yet the one time it's not used properly is in the subject of this thread... road distances. I think the distance from (say) Paris to Rome is supposed to be about 1,500,000 metres, otherwise expressible using the standard metric prefix as '1.5 megametres'. I can see no scientific justification at all for its much the common expression as '1500 kilometres'.

[gobe]

I absolutely think we should change from mph to km/h! However not so much to go metric rather to allow a complete re-structuring of UK speed limits.

The single carriageways NSL should be adjusted to sane equivalent, 100km/h. Dual carriageways should go to 130km/h or more controversially all the way up to 150km/h.

Now for the radical bit - Remove all the 20 limits but anything which is under 30mph should simply have it's units changed from mph to km/h. So yes, the default speed limit in built up areas becomes 19mph! 50 mph limits should be changed to 70km/m. All 40mph limits would need to be reviewed, some would become 50km/h others would become 70km/h. My vision is that most urban 40mph limits would become 50km/h, where as most rural 40 limits would become 70km/h.

This would result in the following limits:
Default urban/village speed limit = 30km/h (19mph)
Faster urban speed limit = 50km/h (31mph)
Faster rural village/high risk open roads = 70km/h (43mph)
NSL single carriageways = 100km/h (63mph)
NSL dual carriageways = 130-150km/h (81-93mph)

now where did I put my Nomex race suit?...

[wimorrison]

Gobe, you get a +1 from me and congratulations on a very sensible post that I fully support.

The xenophobes here won't like it though

[TurboZutek]

Originally Posted by heckflosse

Face it, advocates of metrication, the British and Americans will always prefer the old systems of measurement.

Not really, Imperial isn't even seriously taught in schools any more (well it's introduced briefly but no one works in it). Once the current generation leave the workforce / and or die off, Imperial is dead. None of the kids I grew up with knew or cared what an inch or a yard was and that's still true today.

Like most things, the US will probably follow, lagging the world by 10 - 35 years as usual. Most things designed and built in the US now are fully metric and I would say its the most Imperial-centric place on earth.

Chris...

[Bill_56]

Originally Posted by TurboZutek

Most things designed and built in the US now are fully metric

I'm curious what you might mean by that. Perhaps you could give an example?

[RAW]

^^^ i beleive i'm right in saying Boeing 787, not that that's a great example of boeing's best engineering, but i think it is at least metric!