Paul: I can't believe what you said in your third sentence - it was tongue-in-cheek, right?
This of course is the old argument that has been used over and over again by opponents of converting to metric speed limits - it will be too dangerous/confusing/hazardous, etc. All wrong, of course. I cannot speak for Australia or other countries that converted, but I was in Canada when it converted - and NOTHING HAPPENED. Over the 1977 Labour Day weekend, one night (Saturday night if I recall correctly) when we went to bed the speed limit signs were in mph. The next morning, they were all - and I mean ALL (bar some remote back roads) - in km/h. We all simply accepted it and adjusted accordingly and immediately - and back then our cars didn't have dual marked speedometers like today (well, one of mine did - a Saab 99, but that was very much the exception). Various solutions to that were devised - little stick-on numbers over your speedometer was the most popular solution, but I remember things like little gearboxes that you could insert between the speedometer cable and the speedometer head, so that when your speedometer read '60', it now meant 60 km/h, not its previous 60 mph. Screwed up the odometer reading though..... The accident rate didn't budge - just continued on its steadily downward trend without a blip. The UK mess is because the road signs AREN'T in km/h - about the only aspect of British life that is stuck in a previous century (that and buying draft beer in a pub). John F-L ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Trusten To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:13 AM Subject: [USMA:47690] RE: Are metric speed limit and/or distance signs permitted by US Federal law or regulation? Metric is legal(1866), and metric is the federally preferred standard (1988), but, for motor vehicle matters, we would still need one little thing to make it a reality---metrication. We would have to metricate signs, auto equipment, and also human minds, to make it work. The truth is that it is confusing to put up kilometer distance signs for people who are untrained in thinking metric, and may be downright hazardous to erect metric speed limit signs which would fool some people into thinking they can go 160 km/h when they see speed limit 100 and think that is miles per hour. It would be called a "very American mess" (tip of the hat to the UKMA report). Ireland metricated its speed limit signs in 2005 via a carefully coordinated national plan. Before '05, Ireland had metric distance signs but imperial speed limit signs. See story in attached copy of Metric Today. Paul ----- Original Message ----- From: br...@bjwhite.net To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association Sent: 10 June, 2010 23:31 Subject: [USMA:47689] RE: Are metric speed limit and/or distance signs permitted by US Federal law or regulation? They are legal...but states have chosen not to use them...except in certain circumstances. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [USMA:47688] Are metric speed limit and/or distance signs permitted by US Federal law or regulation? From: ezra.steinb...@comcast.net Date: Thu, June 10, 2010 9:18 pm To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> All: I just realized I am not clear about the legal status of metric distance and speed limit signs in the USA. Do Federal laws and regulations permit them in all circumstances? Only some? What role do state, county, and local laws and regulations play in all this? I ask because I'm wondering if turns out to be the case that the UK is the only country on the planet that has officially outlawed metric distance and road signs on officially maintained roadways. Even though such signs are virtually non-existent here in the USA, I'm presuming this is so simply because the states have chosen not to use them rather than because they have been made illegal either at the Federal or the state level. Thanks, Ezra