In 1999 we were on vacation in Nova Scotia, driving from Lunenburg to Halifax on highway 103, a freeway. The large green signs had been there for awhile, because you could still see, faintly, references to miles on them, that had been painted out or otherwise obscured.
Carleton From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Pat Naughtin Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 16:16 To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: USMA Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42342] Re: metrication US roads Dear John, My response to your request is below your thorough outline for Canada. I have also sent a copy of our correspondence to the USMA. On 2009/01/14, at 9:00 PM, John Frewen-Lord wrote: Pat: I was reading the USMA site regarding conversion of the US's road signs to metric, and I noticed that an open question was passed to you on what Australia did. I know that Oz and Canada took different routes on this. Back in the late 70s when Canada converted its signs, I sat on a construction industry sector committee, and did get to learn a bit of how the roads committee was working, and of course witnessed the actual process first hand. Essentially (and going from memory - it was over 30 years ago!), the Canadian solution was to use a stick on reflective speed limit sign. These were applied right across the country in a single night! (On 1978 Labour Day - spelt with a 'u' in Canada.) I believe university students were employed as summer jobs for them. Considering the size of Canada, and the fact that - like Oz - all roads including freeways had speed limit signs at frequent intervals (every 2 km on roads with a limit of 100 km/h or more, on each side of each carriageway), this was no mean feat! Prior to that, and as a practice run, all the speed limit signs were washed so the new signs would stick properly, and (covered up until the night) small km/h plates were bolted to the posts under the main sign. This solution worked very well, and few of the stick on signs were prematurely replaced - some were still there after 15 and even 20 years later. Distance signs were replaced more gradually. Again, the miles values had stick on km values placed on top, and a small 'km' plate bolted on top above the km values. In general, small distance signs were repositioned over time to enable more accurate km values to be used. In the case of large overhead gantries on freeways, where repositioning was impractical, it was decided that inacuracies up to 200 m could be tolerated (so that 1/2 mile became 1 km rather than 800 m), although there were exceptions - such as when there were separate exits for each direction on an intersecting road (say one exit for Keele St North and another exit for Keele St South), in which case the actual m values were used, rounded to the nearest 100 m. Signs warning of a hazard etc were given to the nearest 100 m (e.g. road narrows 300 m ahead). At this time (and following standard North American practice), freeway intersections were renumbered, the number corresponding to the km point from the beginning of the freeway (e.g. for Highway 400 going north from the northern edge of Toronto, the begiining point is its intersection with Highway 401, and the first exit would be Finch Avenue, exit number 4 - i.e. 4 km north of the 401). Car instrumention was legislated from the beginning of the year (1978), with (if I remember correctly), 30 April 78 being the deadline for all new cars to be sold with metric instruments (odometers in km, speedometers with km/h predominant, and, optionally, mph secondary - as is still the case today). Existing cars were not officially converted, though most people - as I did - added stick on km/h numbers on top of the mph numbers (few cars then had dual calibrated speedometers). As virtually all cars sold in the US have had dual callibrated speedometers for many years now, conversion should require little extra work in this regard. Official forms, rental car forms, car servicing forms and the like were for a number of years printed with km and miles boxes for the odometer readings, and the appropriate one filled in. That practice has disappeared. At the same time, gasoline pumps were converted to litres, and this promoted a quick conversion to expressing fuel economy in L/100 km. Something to be considered as part of the US's conversion. Today, no Canadian even thinks of mpg (especially as there was always confusion between US gallons and Canadian (Imperial) gallons). Anyway, Pat, I hope that the above may add some pointers in how the USA could approach the conversion process - they are not the first! Regards John In response to your request, I can do no better than to quote from Kevin J Wilks, Metrication in Australia (1981). Here is the relevant section. ## Road Traffic Regulations One of the most important and publicly visible of the metric changes was the change in road speed and distance signs and the accompanying change in road traffic regulations. M-day for this change was 1 July 1974 and, by virtue of careful planning, practically every road sign in Australia was converted within one month. This involved installation of covered metric signs alongside the imperial sign prior to the change and then removal of the imperial sign and the cover from the metric during the month of conversion. Except on bridge-clearance and flood-depth signs, dual marking was avoided. Despite suggestions by people opposed to metrication that ignorance of the meaning of metric speeds would lead to slaughter on the roads, such slaughter did not occur. A Panel for Publicity on Road Travel, representing the various motoring organisations, regulatory authorities and the media, planned a campaign to publicise the change, believing that public education, not the confusion that would result from dual sign posts, would be the most effective way of ensuring public safety. The resulting publicity campaign cost $200 000 and was paid for by the Australian Government Department of Transport. In addition, the Board produced 2.5 million copies of a pamphlet, "Motoring Goes Metric", which was distributed through post offices, police stations and motor registry offices. For about a year before the change, motor car manufacturers fitted dual speedometers to their vehicles and, after 1974 all new cars were fitted with metric-only speedometers. Several kinds of speedometer conversion kits were available. As a result of all these changes, conversion on the roads occurred without incident. Coordinated with the road change, tour guides, road maps and street atlases were produced in metric and, of course, traffic regulations in each State were amended to metric measurements. The opportunity was also taken to change the design of road signs to conform to internationally recognised standards. The change to metric on the roads quickly led to changes in the units used by motor car enthusiasts and engine power in kilowatts (kW) quickly replaced horsepower and newton metres (Nm) replaced foot pounds as the unit of torque. The kilometre, though mispronounced kilom'etre more often than not, soon become the unit of distance and the 'k', as in "doing 100 k", became the jargon for kilometre. After consideration of all aspects, the litre per hundred kilometres (L/100 km) was adopted as the preferred unit of fuel consumption. This was the system most frequently used in metric countries. The arithmetical process was neither harder nor easier than that of calculating miles per gallon or kilometres per litre and was more universally meaningful. As it is a compound unit, the public has found this a more difficult conversion to which to adjust than miles to kilometres or gallons to litres. Claimed fuel consumption was stated in L/100 km by all Australian motor car manufacturers and its use as a unit was gradually established. ## Cheers, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com <http://www.metricationmatters.com/> for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
