In the fairly recent past, yes. But unlikely today. Late last year, we toured extensively in France and Spain, and met up with a French couple for dinner in the delightful town of Anjouleme in SW France. We chatted about cars and driving (their passable English and our passable French meant we could communicate quite well), and they told us that the police were cracking down on even minor transgressions over the 130 limit (I too had assumed that 140 would be OK - but I did notice that I was usually the fastest car around at this speed!).
And no leeway at all when it's raining, when the limit reduces to 110 on the autoroute. 115 WILL get you an on-the-spot fine of EUR120. We did notice that the French were extraordinarily compliant with their laws and rules - and it has to be said that their accident rate has tumbled. Never once, for example, did we see a French car cross a solid dividing line, even on a deserted straight road on a Sunday morning, when we had a BMW come up behind us, and it was obviously safe to overtake (we were driving slowly saving fuel - it was the time of the French fuel strikes, and my computer was saying that I had only fuel left for 20 km, and the nearest fuel station was 25 km away....). The BMW stayed patiently behind us until the line turned dotted. Spain has turned in the last few months even more draconian. The motorway speed limit has been reduced from 120 to 110 in an effort to save fuel, and even as little as 2 km/h over that will garner you either an unplanned roadside stop (and an involuntary contribution to the Spanish coffers), or a nasty letter in the mail, with the same result. John F-L ----- Original Message ----- From: Martin Vlietstra To: [email protected] ; 'U.S. Metric Association' Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 8:23 AM Subject: RE: [USMA:50785] Re: Automobiles w/ metric options On the other hand, if your car is powerful enough, it would be legal in Italy (max speed is now 150 km/h for certain classes of vehicle), it would be legal on certain sections of the autobahn (no speed limit) while the French police would probably turn a blind eye (max speed on the autoroute - 130 km/h). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Frewen-Lord Sent: 30 June 2011 08:01 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:50785] Re: Automobiles w/ metric options However, 140 km/h would definitely attract the attentions of the OPP in Ontario..... John F-L ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Payne To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 2:14 AM Subject: [USMA:50783] Re: Automobiles w/ metric options I've noticed this on many GM models which have at first glance US only units, with the push of a button everything change to the correct SI, including the current odometer/trip readings. The only downside I've seen is that if the speedometer maximum speed is 140 mph, this becomes 140 km/h (the mph symbol changes to an illuminated km/h symbol in the middle of the speedometer). You can max out the speedometer before well before the vehicle reaches it's top speed. Michael Payne On 27/06/2011, at 12:24 , m. f. moon wrote: My wife's 2010 Chevy Impala changes all readouts when switched from "English" to "Metric". This includes speed which changes the label from MPH to km/h (no dual numerals!), tire pressure in kPa, economy to L/100 km, temperature to °C, range to km, and so on. It appears to be totally converted with no mixed units. I am some what surprised. marion moon ------ Original Message ------ Received: 01:12 AM PDT, 06/27/2011 From: Harry Wyeth <[email protected]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:50757] Automobiles w/ metric options I wonder if anyone knows of any vehicles sold in the US which have the capability of switching to full metric at the push of a button. I mean all of the following: speed, distance covered, outside temperature, and (if available on the vehicle) distance to empty tank, average speed, coolant temperature, oil pressure, instantaneous and overall fuel economy, and anything else (I can't think of any others). I owned a first edition Honda Insight that offered all of these by simply turning a switch. A 2004 Chevy truck offers most of these (but not speed), but you have to scroll through a computer menu to do it. My Prius offers only the speed option, sadly. I wonder about the new version of the Insight. HARRY WYETH
