Switching to km/h

squerble

squerble

squerble

Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2009
Posts
6,508
Location
UK
Hope this doesn't stir up a horrible debate but I'd certainly like to hear everyone's opinion on us switching from mph to kph. I'm very for it, and would love to see it rolled out asap, bringing us more inline with Europe. If it did happen, I know full well there would be speed reductions were possible, i.e. I think the national speed limit would be dropped to 80kph (50mph) and I reckon they'd go with 120kph or even 110kph for motorways which is a daft idea. I like the idea of going with the 50/80/130 set for the roads but I doubt it would get used.

I know the biggest factor in doing this would be cost, especially with road signs but if you take note of the road signs in use everywhere, I reckon its about 35% or less actually contain any distance or speed markers. If I were in charge I'd be putting in the new signs on the same poles as the current ones, but covered. Then you'd have a month (probably in the summer with longer days) were the changeover happened.

Also, I know there would be old fuddy-duddies who would refuse it because they're used to miles, and I understand the mindset, but you'd actually get used to it very quickly if you just forget about converting back to miles in your head.

As for car dashboards, they've been required to display (or be able to display) kph as well as mph since 1997 so a very high percentage of cars would be able to be used in the metric system, although the marking are smaller on most dashboards.


Your opinions? Considering we're officially a metric country anyway, it seems daft to have the mixture all over the place. *dons flak jacket*
 
It would save me from changing to MPH in every racing game, not sure if thats enough reason for them to do it. The speed that most roadworks is done would cause a fair amount of disruption, having trucks stopping on motorways to change the signs and what not.
 
Why bother changing it?

MPH/KPH to road users is no more complex than watching a needle or a number creep up and down and being aware of what its meant to be at.
 
It would only make sense if we changed sides as well, to match the rest of the world, which would have a fair few benefits in the long run. But mayhem and stupidly expensive in the short term.
 
I can't see any benefit from changing over either.

squerble said:
Considering we're officially a metric country anyway, it seems daft to have the mixture all over the place. *dons flak jacket*
Click to expand...

It always makes me giggle when I think of the countless number of "metric" countries around the world that still produce or use tyres sized in a crazy mixture of metric and imperial units.
 
I have embarked on my own metrification. All my satellite navigation systems are in metric and I switched the S2000 dash to km/h (digital) ages ago.

Stupid imperial. No place for it in modern Britain.
 
If we were for some reason revising all the road signs across the country then it would make sense. No real reason to absorb the cost otherwise
 
Managed to waste enough money putting 20 signs up in residential areas, and I'm sure you could recycle some of the signs which are just a number in a red circle as they don't stipulate units.
 
I really wouldnt want it. After doing 40kph in most small towns in Finland it is frustratingly slow. Your normal A road is 80kph- doing 70mph on de unrestricted A roads (we all do it on the ones we drive on every day and know can handle that speed, admit it) would be a thing of the past. Doing 70 in a 60 doesn't 'sound as bad' as doing 100 in an 80. I'm not sure about other European countries though but I agree that we'd likely see speed limit reductions

You also have the fact that roads are designed for a certain speed- changing from mph to kph will result in either people driving too fast for the highway design or more likely, the speed limit being less than whatthe road is capable of catering for, resulting in everyone getting frustrated and speeding. Plus the police won't enforce a road a change in speed limit unless the previous speed has caused 'problems', I believe.

Finally, I would assume that cars sold in Britain would be geared differently to the European versions? Well, third fourth and fifth, so That driving at 30, 40 and 70mph is not too loud or too low rpm? Anyone confirm? If we changed to kph all our gear ratios would be not quite right!
 
Last edited:
In Britain we have the stupid situation where we fill our cars up with fuel measured in litres and then measure the economy in miles per gallon. We measure the weight of our cars in kg but the pressure in our tyres in pounds per square inch.

It's absolutely bonkers. I wish we would just make the switch and stop hanging on to old imperial units that make no sense.

Even our schools don't teach imperial. How many yards in a mile guys? Feet in a yard? Why use units no one born after 1970 knows anything about?
 
Rilot said:
In Britain we have the stupid situation where we fill our cars up with fuel measured in litres and then measure the economy in miles per gallon. We measure the weight of our cars in kg but the pressure in our tyres in pounds per square inch.

It's absolutely bonkers. I wish we would just make the switch and stop hanging on to old imperial units that make no sense.

Even our schools don't teach imperial. How many yards in a mile guys? Feet in a yard? Why use units no one born after 1970 knows anything about?
Click to expand...

It makes enough sense.

All these measurements for a road user are merely references, things you can know or be told are correct, good, bad values and from there you can make your judgement of other values.

30psi in a tyre isn't asking you to make fiendish calculations, it's a very readable point on a dial or digital display. You don't have to know why, you don't need to know it in metric, you just need to know 30psi, apply pressure or release pressure until achieved.

Same applies for cost of fuel, your daily drive isn't made better or easier by the volume its sold in, you merely want to know what a good value is and be able to compare to the same volume of fuel from another place.

Only specialist areas really ask you to do calculations in imperial and that's something you work your way into.

Sure starting from scratch it might be nice but you already know the other side of that debate.
 
I agree about switching tyre pressures etc. to metric would make more sense as they don't incur a huge cost but switching to kph would surely be overly disruptive and costly unless the signs were being replaced anyway
 
Rilot said:
In Britain we have the stupid situation where we fill our cars up with fuel measured in litres and then measure the economy in miles per gallon. We measure the weight of our cars in kg but the pressure in our tyres in pounds per square inch.

It's absolutely bonkers. I wish we would just make the switch and stop hanging on to old imperial units that make no sense.

Even our schools don't teach imperial. How many yards in a mile guys? Feet in a yard? Why use units no one born after 1970 knows anything about?
Click to expand...

I know 3' is 1 yard and 1 yard is just under 1m, around 0.91/2m.

Only because for some reason zeroing scopes is done in yards.

Generally you can work it out though, 1 yard is 3', 12" is 1'. 1" is 2.5cm (ish) and so on.

Wouldn't be worth the cost though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom