Paul:
I can't believe what you said in your third sentence - it was tongue-in-cheek,
right?
This of course is the old argument that has been used over and over again by
opponents of converting to metric speed limits - it will be too
dangerous/confusing/hazardous, etc.
All wrong, of course. I cannot speak for Australia or other countries that
converted, but I was in Canada when it converted - and NOTHING HAPPENED. Over
the 1977 Labour Day weekend, one night (Saturday night if I recall correctly)
when we went to bed the speed limit signs were in mph. The next morning, they
were all - and I mean ALL (bar some remote back roads) - in km/h. We all
simply accepted it and adjusted accordingly and immediately - and back then our
cars didn't have dual marked speedometers like today (well, one of mine did - a
Saab 99, but that was very much the exception).
Various solutions to that were devised - little stick-on numbers over your
speedometer was the most popular solution, but I remember things like little
gearboxes that you could insert between the speedometer cable and the
speedometer head, so that when your speedometer read '60', it now meant 60
km/h, not its previous 60 mph. Screwed up the odometer reading though.....
The accident rate didn't budge - just continued on its steadily downward trend
without a blip.
The UK mess is because the road signs AREN'T in km/h - about the only aspect of
British life that is stuck in a previous century (that and buying draft beer in
a pub).
John F-L
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Trusten
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:13 AM
Subject: [USMA:47690] RE: Are metric speed limit and/or distance signs
permitted by US Federal law or regulation?
Metric is legal(1866), and metric is the federally preferred standard (1988),
but, for motor vehicle matters, we would still need one little thing to make it
a reality---metrication. We would have to metricate signs, auto equipment, and
also human minds, to make it work. The truth is that it is confusing to put up
kilometer distance signs for people who are untrained in thinking metric, and
may be downright hazardous to erect metric speed limit signs which would fool
some people into thinking they can go 160 km/h when they see speed limit 100
and think that is miles per hour. It would be called a "very American mess"
(tip of the hat to the UKMA report).
Ireland metricated its speed limit signs in 2005 via a carefully coordinated
national plan. Before '05, Ireland had metric distance signs but imperial speed
limit signs. See story in attached copy of Metric Today.
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: 10 June, 2010 23:31
Subject: [USMA:47689] RE: Are metric speed limit and/or distance signs
permitted by US Federal law or regulation?
They are legal...but states have chosen not to use them...except in certain
circumstances.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [USMA:47688] Are metric speed limit and/or distance signs
permitted by US Federal law or regulation?
From: [email protected]
Date: Thu, June 10, 2010 9:18 pm
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
All:
I just realized I am not clear about the legal status of metric distance
and speed limit signs in the USA.
Do Federal laws and regulations permit them in all circumstances? Only
some?
What role do state, county, and local laws and regulations play in all
this?
I ask because I'm wondering if turns out to be the case that the UK is
the only country on the planet that has officially outlawed metric distance and
road signs on officially maintained roadways. Even though such signs are
virtually non-existent here in the USA, I'm presuming this is so simply because
the states have chosen not to use them rather than because they have been made
illegal either at the Federal or the state level.
Thanks,
Ezra
