Let Saskatchewan Government Insurance give the name of the standards body and the number of the 'industry standard' that decrees that the foot and the inch should be used in drivers licences and car insurance! I am sure, there is none. But 'industry standard' sounds good enough to prevent people from asking more questions! It also seems that they follow American procedures, and hey presto, feet and inches! One could ask these agencies who critisized the design of the Saskatchewan drivers licence, on what grounds their objections weren based. The American one, the AAMVA, may have objected to the use of metric.
Han ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph B. Reid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, 2002-01-05 01:24 Subject: [USMA:17199] Driver's licences in Canada There has been some discussion about driver's licences in Canada. Greg has dug out the following information: In a recent survey of the provincial driver's licence issuing bodies I obtained the following information: Saskatchewan and Manitoba are the only two provinces who still use feet and inches on the driver's licences. Alberta does allow for either on their licences, at least that's how it was when I held an Alberta licence 3 years ago. British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories use metric heights. Yukon doesn't print a height on their licence but keeps a metric height in their database. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island do not ask for height and instead print hair and eye colour. I've forwarded to you a very recent exchange I had with SGI (Saskatchewan Government Insurance, the provincial Crown corporation that issues driver's licences and insures all vehicles in the province). They claim that it is the "industry standard" (my how I hate that excuse) to use feet and inches. It seems to me the driver's licence "industry" in Canada uses centimetres. greg Further information from Greg: Thank you for the inquiry Gregory. The design of Saskatchewan's new photo driver's licence was critiqued by CCMTA (Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators), AAMVA (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators), as well as various Canadian Law Enforcement Agencies. The industry standard and more publicly recognized unit of measure for a person's height is in feet and inches rather than in centimetres. This is why the decision was made to not use the metric system. Curtis S. Mead Supervisor Customer Service Centre Gregory Peterson 01/03/02 01:24am >>> I would like to know if SGI has made allowances for metric measurement of individual height (i.e. metres or centimetres of height rather than, or in addition to, feet and inches) on the new photo ID portions of driver's licences. Gregory Peterson Saskatoon SK Canada S7J 3S2 Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
