Those
"220 yard" and "440 yard" signs have been up for years, at least the last time I
was in Scotland in '97.
Nat
-----Original Message-----on 2005-02-02 15.16, Brenton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Pat Naughtin
Sent: Wednesday, 2005 February 02 15:17
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:32175] Re: Irish road metrication
Is Scotland next?Dear Brenton and All,
Quote from: http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=75962005
It will not stop there. I’ve now read of Ireland’s latest change in cultural behaviour - the metrification of its road speed signs. Roads signs that once said 60mph convert to the unhelpful 97 kilometres per hour - but rather than round it up to 100kph they are being rounded down to 80kph - which is 50mph. Other signs become faster and confusion abounds.
How long before a Scottish MSP says we should do the same?
There are officials in the Department of Transport who want us to make the switch to kilometres and some signs already give the game away. When you see road signs using distances of one or two thirds of a mile, it’s because they correspond to metric distances and therefore wouldn’t need to be moved if the sign is metrificated. When it’s proposed, remember, you read it here first.
I have sent this response to the 'Scotsman'.
Dear Editor,
In your article, 'Bush's partner in fight for freedom – World will benefit from Rice’s role' by BRIAN MONTEITH you make some small errors of style.
You write:
'I’ve now read of Ireland’s latest change in cultural behaviour - the metrification of its road speed signs.'
A better choice of word is 'metrication' as it is the more commonly used word all around the world; it is simpler to write, to say, and to spell; and it has the same meaning as metrification.
You write:
'Roads signs that once said 60mph convert to the unhelpful 97 kilometres per hour'
By agreement between all of the world's measuring authorities, the symbol for kilometres per hour is km/h with all letters in lowercase.
I have checked this point with the National Standards Commission in Australia, they use the correct unit, km/h. I have referred to the 'International System of Units (SI) 7th Edition 1998', and the website of the Bureau Internationale de Poids et Mesures (BIPM), and they use km/h. To make sure, I also checked with the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the USA; they use km/h. All of these sources recommend km/h as the correct international symbol for kilometres per hour.
The unit symbol, km/h, is correct because it demonstrates how the value was obtained. If I drive 120 kilometres in 2 hours, I then calculate my speed as 120 divided by 2 to get 60 km/h. The fact that I divided one number by another is included in the solidus (or slash) contained within the unit, km/h. Your abbreviation, kmh, is completely meaningless as it implies multiplying 120 km by 2 h (to get 240 kmh?), rather than the correct 60 km/h obtained by division.
You write:
'- but rather than round it up to 100kph they are being rounded down to 80kph - which is 50mph.'
A better style for writing one hundred kilometres per hour is to write 100 km/h with a small space between the 100 numeral and the km/h symbol. If this poses a problem with symbols that escape from the numeral and appear on the next line of text then use a 'non-breaking' space, as I have done in this paragraph..
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong, Australia
61 3 5241 2008
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.metricationmatters.com
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