Today Irelnd has switched from imperial speed limits (MPH) to metric (KPH)- Signs have been changed, Speed limits have come down as a result. Most Irish cars have cars with MPH speedos.
The leaflets they were handing out at the new year said that most new cars would be sold with km/h-dominant speedos -- but that EU single market rules prevented them making that a requirement. Dunno how true either of those bits are, but I know some folks see it as a good excuse to get a new car!
However it's not wholly true that speed limts are down -- most are unchanged (or rather very slightly up), some are down, and one is up.
I think it's a rather good mix -- higher mway limit, but lower on rural roads (many of which are pretty awful). The one thing I'm sorry about is that they didn't put the 30mph limit down to 45km/h
Here's the blurb from the Irish Dept of Transport's website, at www.gometric.ie/detailedinfo.html
The current "general speed limit" of 60 mph , which applies to roads outside built-up areas other than motorways, is being replaced by the introduction of separate speed limits on rural national roads and rural regional and local roads.
The speed limit on rural national roads, which includes most Dual Carriageways, will see a slight increase from 60 mph to 100 km/h (62 mph).
The speed limit on rural regional and local roads (sometimes referred to as non-national roads) is changing from 60 mph to 80 km/h (50 mph), a reduction of 20%.
The speed limit in built-up areas (towns and cities) will change very slightly from 30 mph to 50 km/h (31 mph)
The speed limit on motorways will change from 70 mph to 120 km/h (75 mph.)
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"The one thing I'm sorry about is that they didn't put the 30mph speed limit down to 45km/h"
Perhaps the Irish would reply that it is no one's business but their own what they set their speed limits at.
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Perhaps the Irish would reply that it is no one's business but their own what they set their speed limits at.
Nice try, Tom. My reply to that would be to point to my passport and birth certificate. (Hint: the passport used to have a green cover).
Not being resident, I rightly don't get a vote (unlike UK expats) ... but that doesn't deprive me of the right to have a view. Whether anyone in Ireland shares that view is another matter.
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Moving away from this argument slightly, and much as I would love to jump in (don't worry - I'm going to spare you all another fracas with NW!), my speedo has km/h on but do you have any idea how small it is? The MPH numbers are about size 16 (font wise) and the km/h numbers are about 6.
Let's switch to km/h here - then we can look at the speedo even more!!
Sorry - placing coat on shoulders now....
--
Adam
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my speedo has km/h on but do you have any idea how small it is? The MPH numbers are about size 16 (font wise) and the km/h numbers are about 6.
That's probably why they chose to keep their speed limits in multiples of ten, because some cars don't have 5km/h markers/dashes.
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>> my speedo has km/h on >> but do you have any idea how small it is? The >> MPH numbers are about size 16 (font wise) and the km/h >> numbers are about 6. That's probably why they chose to keep their speed limits in multiples of ten, because some cars don't have 5km/h markers/dashes.
Thinking about it, that seems a likely explanation. Mind you, they could have reduced the urban limit to 40km/h. A real missed opportunity.
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Nice try, Tom. My reply to that would be to point to my passport and birth certificate. (Hint: the passport used to have a green cover). Not being resident, I rightly don't get a vote (unlike UK expats) ... but that doesn't deprive me of the right to have a view. Whether anyone in Ireland shares that view is another matter.
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We have matching passports then, NW! I believe we DO still have a right to vote in Irish elections actually, unless things have changed in the last few years.
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So whats the betting folks. When does KMH hit the uk streets? 5? 10? 15 years? It is bound to happen just a matter of time.
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At least ten. Of all the European nations, we are probably the most resistant to change and any government would face stiff public opposition as it did with weights and measures and is still doing with the currency.
Personally, I would not be bothered if we went to metric distances as long as they did not use it as an excuse to slash speed limits.
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So whats the betting folks. When does KMH hit the uk streets? 5? 10? 15 years? It is bound to happen just a matter of time.
The sooner the better. I work in metric, my children are taught in metric, i buy them sweets by the 100 gram. but driving is imperial.
Speed limits would probably alter, as Ireland have moved from 30mph to 45kph (31mph). I wonder if the UK would be awkward and stick with a 43/44kph limit. After all, a standard internal door for a house is 782mm wide - or 2 foot 6!!
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Couldn't agree more, everything else I have to measure is a metric unit.
Sooner the better.
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Years ago a German said to me, totally deadpan
"Britain is going Metric.......Inch by Inch!"
Jim
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Couldn't agree more, everything else I have to measure is a metric unit. Sooner the better.
Doesn't make any difference to me. I can work/think equally well in either imperial or metric units ~ which, sadly, is not something that most of the younger generation can do. Younger generation mumble mumble mutter mutter......!
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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So whats the betting folks. When does KMH hit the uk streets? 5? 10? 15 years? It is bound to happen just a matter of time.
Most folks under about the age of 40 never learnt imperial units at school: they think in metric.
I reckon that the change will come until the metric-only generation are running things, which probably means another five to ten years.
As an aside, does anyone know which countries apart from the USA and the UK still do their speeds in mph?
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The sooner this country goes metric the better.
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The sooner this country goes metric the better.
The phrase "give him an inch and he'll take a mile" doesn't look the same if it was metric'ised.
"give him a cm and he'll take a km"
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Progression to full metrication appears to be inching forward...
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What we've seen here is that some imperial limits/standars lend themselves to metric conversion. Speed is one of them. Apart from the obvious problems associated with speedos etc, it is quite easy to ask people to stick to a different limit. The limit they adhered to yesterday has no bearing on what they are being asked to do today.
With building design etc there is a problem. That old imperial doorway at 2'6" will not accomodate a new 800mm or 775mm or 750mm door without serious problems, so the metric equivilent is a 'tricky' number to begin with.
Also I am surprised that no engineers have yet commented on precision measurements. Some aerospace drawings today are still dimensioned in inches or thousanths of an inch. Can anyone tell me what 0.005" (or 5 thou) relates to in new money?*
Several reasons that they still refer in inches is twofold.
1)The drawings are seldom used and believe it or not many young hands have got to grips with these measurements.
2)The customer will often not pay for or evel allow customer owned designs to be redrafted in metric.
3)The US is by far the biggest defence spender in the world!
H
*The answer is 0.127mm, but engineers often apply a 0.1mm or 100microns equivilent in the case where this indicates a tolerance - see, the converson often leads to a tightening of the tolerance.
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3)The US is by far the biggest defence spender in the world!
And freely mixes both SI and Imperial in specifications often leading to complete disaster. I beleive a space probe was lost because NASA does the same!
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Try working in the oil industry. We still measure things (salt in oil) in pounds per thousand barrels! And any temperatures are in F!
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I can see the cross-border region between the North & South being an easy target for the Plods to catch speeders.
SWMBO manages the NI area and one of her ladies over there lives in Warrenpoint NI, but her house overlooks the South. She regularly travels to Omagh, passing in and out of Kilometre country to get to her office.
Looks like she will have to learn to freely mix her measurements as well!
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i have worked in F1 for the last 19 years and the majority of my work has been done in imperial!!.i think in both and i am under 40.
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I got 7.46 miles per litre out of my last tankfull. Doesn't sound right!
11.94 kM per litre - Nah still don't like it.
8.38 litres per 100kM - even worse!
33.87 mpg - that's better!
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33.87 mpg - that's better!
Better because it's familar, but also better because it doesn't need decimal points to be meaningful. Mpg can usefully be expressed in whole numbers
Round your 33.87mpg to 34mpg, and it's still meaningfully different to 31mpg.
But try rounding the miles per litre, and the granularity gets in the way. Round your 7.46 miles per lite to 7mpl, and you have a rounded number which could also be referring to 6.54mpl, even tho it's 14% more distance for your fuel.
Litres per 100km are even worse - typical consumptions are all around 4 or 5 litres per 100km.
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>> 33.87 mpg - that's better! Better because it's familar, but also better because it doesn't need decimal points to be meaningful. Mpg can usefully be expressed in whole numbers Round your 33.87mpg to 34mpg, and it's still meaningfully different to 31mpg. But try rounding the miles per litre, and the granularity gets in the way. Round your 7.46 miles per lite to 7mpl, and you have a rounded number which could also be referring to 6.54mpl, even tho it's 14% more distance for your fuel. Litres per 100km are even worse - typical consumptions are all around 4 or 5 litres per 100km.
NW,
Agreed, I lived in Germany for many years and still converted kMs and Litres to miles and gallons to get MPG.
By the way 4 or 5 litres per 100kM equates to 70mpg to 57mpg which I suggest is not "typical consumption" - and rather proves the point.
A goal of some manufacturers in Germany is to produce a '3 litre car' by which they mean a car capable of 95mpg.
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OK, so how long before Ireland do a Sweden and switch to driving on the rh side? And how long before we do likewise....! Never.
I like metric and think metric but, the older I get (still the right side of 40) the fonder I get of miles...
Splodgeface
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Don't digital speedos have a miles/kilometres changeover switch? I came across one in a Yaris.
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Yes, the Yaris does have a mph/kph switch. Useful if you drive it abroad, but I hope not yet over here. No doubt it will come when those taugh metric in schools come to power.
Meanwhile I was delighted to discover from the handbook when my car was new that Audi let you change degrees Centigrade to Fahrenheit - both for outside and inside temperature.
I can't help thinking that if Jesus wanted us to go metric he'd have made do with 10 apostles. And if I'd been Moses, I too would have forgotten two of the 12 commandments on the way down Mount Sinai.
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A ten hour day, ten day week and a ten month year would make life simpler as well.
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Most folks under about the age of 40 never learnt imperial units at school: they think in metric.
I didn't learn metric units in school, but that doesn't prevent me from thinking in them as good as I think in imperial units when the need arises. It's not exactly rocket science, is it? In principle, it's no different to being bilingual and there thousands (probably millions) of people in that category.
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Metric has its advantages in many areas, but one problem is that a metric unit, unlike the foot, will not readily divide into halves, quarters . . . thirty-seconds, thirds, sixths etc. but only into tenths.
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I think that we should drive on the right side of the road as well.
Perhaps we should try it at weekends at first, to see how we get on.
Au revoir, Arividerci tout le monde.
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Perhaps we should try it at weekends at first, to see how we get on.
Alternate days would be better.
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Let's try it gradually.
We need another government initiative----
Lorries and buses start, say, 1st of February, cars and vans after the scheme has proved a success---
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Does that include *white* vans, or do they have their own day?
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no no - it needs to be phased in by area. Say Inside the m25 first.
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What's the M25? I'm up where the M6 becomes cobbled.
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What's the M25? I'm up where the M6 becomes cobbled.
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Our local carpark.
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No, I thought *white* vans could carry on as normal and it wouldn't make much difference.
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