Road Signs: Time to change to Metric?

[Thanatos]

Does that mean we need to drive on the opposite side of the road as its the same as the rest of Europe.

We need to learn everyone both metric and imperial as I am sorry its a lb of bacon a lb of mince not 500g yes the car has got both kph and mph but so does every other car so that if they come here you travel at the correct speed

[enzoneo]

I went Imperial in 1954 as a 5 year old ! I understand it so anyone can. Why change it to some completely arbitrary system just because others do!
(This is a bit tongue in cheek)

[Daim]

Originally Posted by Thanatos

Does that mean we need to drive on the opposite side of the road as its the same as the rest of Europe.

We need to learn everyone both metric and imperial as I am sorry its a lb of bacon a lb of mince not 500g yes the car has got both kph and mph but so does every other car so that if they come here you travel at the correct speed

Nope. Not true. Only UK cars get the KM/H and MPH speedo. NONE of my cars so far has had it!

My C30 didn't. My 960 didn't. My 740 and 940 didn't. My Mum's S80 doesn't. My Brother's Passat 35i and his Golf IIs (he had 4) didn't. My little Brother's C180 (W204) doesn't. My Dad's Ducato doesn't nor did his Transits (2) have it.

It is a UK only thing. No other EU nation gets a speedo with MPH on it. The USA also have speedos with MPH and KM/H on it but as said: only the UK gets the MPH and KMH speedo... You're taking something in your country for granted throughout the world...

If I drive in the UK, I have to calculate first what speeds I can go in order to be driving correctly in the UK. 50 mph = 80 km/h. 96 km/h = 60 mph. 112 km/h = 70 mph. 30 mph = 48 km/h.

NONE of which is shown on any mainland Europe speedo...

And if you adopt a metric system, you don't have to drive on the right. Australia has RHD and the metric system. Japan has RHD and the metric system. Hong Kong has RHD and the metric system. Hell, anywhere with RHD (except UK) has the metric system...

So no, it doesn't mean you drive on the right... Even though that can be arranged over night (just like in Sweden in the 60ies).

[Volvo6]

Bizarrely I quite like how we have a bit of both in the UK...I can describe something in terms of both and most people will understand.

Roads in mph, most proprietary dimensions in meters, volumes and weight still in a mix of both. I mean look at tyres...we measure the diameter in inches but the tread width in mms. Not particularly logical but it seems to work.

Aviation is a real mix...altitude and height in feet, airborne distances in nautical miles, ground dimensions in meters, altimetry pressures in millibars, engine pressures in inches of mercury, systems pressures (hydraulic, pneumatic etc) in PSI, some temperatures in Centigrade (air for example) but due to US influence a lot still in Fahrenheit (some engine temperatures).

Myself I like to use imperial for some things but metric for others. For example the meter describes shorter horizontal distance well for me but the foot does vertical. The mile is good for longer distances compared to the km, the kg is good for weight, the mm/cl describes wine and water but the pint beer or milk.

Miles though is something that people in this country have in their mental calibration of distance. Changing signs would involve a whole lot of expense and people would have to mentally recalibrate to thinking in kms when it came to conceptualising how long a journey would take...I don't really see the point.

[Dibble]

Speed limits are not a problem but the one aspect that does bug me is the Met Office will tell us on the TV weather news is that we are going to get so many centimetres of snow. Being of the old school, how many flaming inches is that! It could be 6" or 12", I wouldn't know.

[Chris_C]

Originally Posted by Daim

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?

My Volvo is more screwed up than that. It uses Metric most of the time, imperial when it suits (5/8" head diameter indeed, it was the UK standard until early-mid 90's for seatbelt bolts, followed by an 8" clutch, as that is what the industry was making as does the 400 series and I'll bet moderns still, 8" brakes, again because that is how they come from the supplier. Brake fittings are imperial thread with a 10mm hex!)

Originally Posted by Daim

You tank your car with liters and not gallons but then calulate MPG...
.....
You measure the temperature in centigrade (another metric measurement) and not fahrenheit, kelvin etc.

I put gallons into my cars 9 gallon (from memory, might be 8) tank. I also take issue with measuring temperature in Celsius (Centigrade was reclassified in 1948 having existed since 1744, yet we only really stopped using Fahrenheit in the late 80s). If we are going for full metric-ness, why not use the SI unit of the kelvin? You have to use 3digits for Celsius anyway with the minus sign.

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by tt82

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

Or even better taught both!

How about we try to teach anything. It seems that most kids these days have no clue what any unit of measurement is so however you write the signs or quantify the beer and burgers they havn't got a clue.

[Bill_56]

Originally Posted by Dibble

Speed limits are not a problem but the one aspect that does bug me is the Met Office will tell us on the TV weather news is that we are going to get so many centimetres of snow. Being of the old school, how many flaming inches is that! It could be 6" or 12", I wouldn't know.

The clue is in the detail. If the reporter says we can expect 'about 7.6 cm", rather than 'about 7' or 'about 8', it's a sign that the forecast was actually 'about 3' (inches), and some muppet at the BBC insisting that another muppet get out his calculator, and literally convert inches to cm.

In the same vein, speed limits can be a problem too. Some inland waterways have in the past seen (for example) 7mph signs replaced by '11.2 kph' signs.

Providing common sense is applied, the above scenarios could be avoided by suitable rounding algorithms. But if common sense were an option, wouldn't it be easier to just stick with 'about 3 inches of snow' and '7mph' for rivers.

[chuckles]

i would comment but would prob get a life ban

[arcturus]

3 miles to go seems less than 5 km, however km's go by quicker