Canada did the same, in the late 1970s (shortly after I moved from Ontario to California). They probably had more signs to change than did Ireland. However, it would be many fewer than in Britain. Of course, the story of the Canadian conversion is that kilometers stuck (so did liters), but kilograms did not. Just try asking 600 g of cherries (or any other produce) at the Granville Island Market in Vancouver. I did. The person I dealt with, there, knew approximately what 600 g was (i.e., could visualize 600 g of cherries), but only had an Imperial scale. In Britain, such a scale would not be legal for trade. In the US and Canada, they prime metric villains were Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney. Reagan defunded the effort here, and Mulroney, a Conservative prime minister who didn't last very long, canceled enforcement of all the regulations. I don't think Canada has had a long-lasting Conservative prime minister since John Diefenbaker. (In his day, they called themselves Progressive Conservatives, but have since dropped the oxymoronic pretense.) Not surprisingly, the Canadian prime minister who oversaw metrication was Pierre Elliott Trudeau. For more information on these people, I recommend Google. Bill _____
Bill Potts W <http://wfpconsulting.com/> FP Consulting Roseville, CA <http://metric1.org/> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jeremiah MacGregor Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 09:47 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42720] Fw: Re: REALLY using the SI Paul, If Ireland can do it in a single day that should be a perfect example for the rest. Don't you think? Jerry _____ From: Paul Trusten <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 12:34:17 PM Subject: Re: [USMA:42711] Re: REALLY using the SI Jerry, yes, Ireland changed its highway speed limit and distance signs to all metric in 2005, with great success. I attribute their success to widespread public education prior to the changeover. The metric signs were unveiled in a single day, 20 January 2005. Paul ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeremiah MacGregor <mailto:[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: 31 January, 2009 11:16 Subject: [USMA:42711] Re: REALLY using the SI Martin, Are you telling us that foreign drivers on UK roads get confused by the non-metric signage? So what happens when they have an accident and someone is seriously hurt? This would be a good reason to change if only to conform with the practice of your neighboring countries. Now what happens when UK drivers go to other countries and don't have English unit signs to guide them? Does it cause accidents too? Is it true that Ireland just changed their signs 4 years ago? How are the people adapting? Any problems? Jerry _____ From: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> To: Jeremiah MacGregor <[email protected]>; U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 12:07:51 PM Subject: RE: [USMA:42694] Re: REALLY using the SI Yes, most British people do, but I am not convinced that lorry drivers from abroad do. I often drive a short section (about 4 km) of the M25 (the London ring road) and almost without fail I spot at least one lorry from abroad every time that I drive on that section of road. _____ From: Jeremiah MacGregor [mailto: [email protected] ] Sent: 31 January 2009 16:41 To: [email protected]; U.S. Metric Association Subject: Re: [USMA:42694] Re: REALLY using the SI Martin, Do most people know what they mean? Jerry _____ From: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 10:28:26 AM Subject: [USMA:42694] Re: REALLY using the SI Oops - my error But for some inexplicable reason the British Department for Transport use single and double apostrophes to represent feet and inches on road signs. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Pierre Abbat Sent: 31 January 2009 11:50 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42685] Re: REALLY using the SI On Saturday 31 January 2009 03:56:26 Martin Vlietstra wrote: > The single apostrophe is the symbol for seconds of arc. No, the single prime means arc minutes. The double prime means arc seconds. Pierre
