[USMA:28221] Metric road construction

[john mercer]

I have been doing     some research on the use of metric in some of the citys near me.  They all say that they do all their planning in metric only. I believe this means that they buy all the materials for city projects in metric.  This has been going on for quite a few years.  As far as metric on the roads in Canada on labour day weekend of 1977 speed signs were changed and distance signs were changed over threw the next year.  The change went smoothly drivers got used to metric speed and distance signs very quickly. I feel that if the States ever changed their signs to metric for speed and distance drivers would get used to them in the same way they did in Canada and other countrys that have changed to metric.  When the speed and distance signs changed in Canada their were no more accidents then in miles.  In Canada if you drive under a overpass the height of the overpass is in meters only.  In the U K the BWMA make a big thing about the height of over passes been in FFU.  When i asked Doreen if the height of overpasses were in FFU or meters she didn't know, so the next time she drove under one she told me it was in meters.  My point been is that i could probably walk down the street and ask 100 drivers if they know if the height of overpasses is in feet or meters maybe 5 could tell me.  It's probably the same in the U K.  If you were to walk down the streets of London or any other British city you could probably ask drivers the same question and a very large majority of them couldn't tell you. Thanks a lot for letting me ramble on. Cheers.