Why still miles?
in [UK Drivers]
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From: NKTB on 19 Jul 2010 09:25 From watching various TV traffic cops type shows from various parts of the Commonwealth, I notice that they all now use kilometres for distances, and obviously kph for speed (and presumably km/Litre for fuel consumption hopefully not the dreadful Litres/100km used on the continent. I know the British people are a bit stick-in-the-mud, and don't like all these nasty foreign weights and measures, but British people, albeit in foreign parts (Aussies, Canucks, Enzedders etc) seem to have happily adopted these measures, no doubt with some resistance from the elder and more conservative of their number. The Irish, who are probably our closest neighbours culturally now, have long since gone metric. OK, we still buy milk in pints (multiples of 568ml), some food in pounds (multiples of 454gm) but we are, to all intents and purposes, fully metricated in the food area. We have for a long time used celsius temperatures, and anyone who works in science or engineering, as I do, will have used metric (MKS) units since I don't know when. Are the PTB scared of an almighty backlash if we go the final mile (pun intended) and chuck the antiquated measurement into the long grass? It would seem so. Is it just the expense of changing all those road signs - I guess the current economic climate won't help. How long can we go on having a hybrid, half-arsed system of distance measurement? At least the yanks have kept all the other imperial measures. I'm thinking that KPH is a just a change too far.
From: ARWadsworth on 19 Jul 2010 09:29 "NKTB" <north_korean_tourist_board(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:ff49cbf5-8f43-4cac-876e-d305ad586cff(a)l14g2000yql.googlegroups.com... > From watching various TV traffic cops type shows from various parts of > the Commonwealth, I notice that they all now use kilometres for > distances, and obviously kph for speed (and presumably km/Litre for > fuel consumption hopefully not the dreadful Litres/100km used on the > continent. > > I know the British people are a bit stick-in-the-mud, and don't like > all these nasty foreign weights and measures, but British people, > albeit in foreign parts (Aussies, Canucks, Enzedders etc) seem to have > happily adopted these measures, no doubt with some resistance from the > elder and more conservative of their number. The Irish, who are > probably our closest neighbours culturally now, have long since gone > metric. > > OK, we still buy milk in pints (multiples of 568ml), some food in > pounds (multiples of 454gm) but we are, to all intents and purposes, > fully metricated in the food area. We have for a long time used > celsius temperatures, and anyone who works in science or engineering, > as I do, will have used metric (MKS) units since I don't know when. > > Are the PTB scared of an almighty backlash if we go the final mile > (pun intended) and chuck the antiquated measurement into the long > grass? It would seem so. Is it just the expense of changing all > those road signs - I guess the current economic climate won't help. > > How long can we go on having a hybrid, half-arsed system of distance > measurement? At least the yanks have kept all the other imperial > measures. I'm thinking that KPH is a just a change too far. But the Commonwealth countries still drive on the correct side of the road even if it is in kph. Adam
From: Brimstone on 19 Jul 2010 09:32 "ARWadsworth" <adamwadsworth(a)blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message news:brY0o.31127$JM4.17830(a)newsfe21.ams2... > > "NKTB" <north_korean_tourist_board(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:ff49cbf5-8f43-4cac-876e-d305ad586cff(a)l14g2000yql.googlegroups.com... >> From watching various TV traffic cops type shows from various parts of >> the Commonwealth, I notice that they all now use kilometres for >> distances, and obviously kph for speed (and presumably km/Litre for >> fuel consumption hopefully not the dreadful Litres/100km used on the >> continent. >> >> I know the British people are a bit stick-in-the-mud, and don't like >> all these nasty foreign weights and measures, but British people, >> albeit in foreign parts (Aussies, Canucks, Enzedders etc) seem to have >> happily adopted these measures, no doubt with some resistance from the >> elder and more conservative of their number. The Irish, who are >> probably our closest neighbours culturally now, have long since gone >> metric. >> >> OK, we still buy milk in pints (multiples of 568ml), some food in >> pounds (multiples of 454gm) but we are, to all intents and purposes, >> fully metricated in the food area. We have for a long time used >> celsius temperatures, and anyone who works in science or engineering, >> as I do, will have used metric (MKS) units since I don't know when. >> >> Are the PTB scared of an almighty backlash if we go the final mile >> (pun intended) and chuck the antiquated measurement into the long >> grass? It would seem so. Is it just the expense of changing all >> those road signs - I guess the current economic climate won't help. >> >> How long can we go on having a hybrid, half-arsed system of distance >> measurement? At least the yanks have kept all the other imperial >> measures. I'm thinking that KPH is a just a change too far. > > But the Commonwealth countries still drive on the correct side of the road > even if it is in kph. > Be careful which way you look when crossing the road in Canada.
From: Adrian on 19 Jul 2010 09:37 NKTB <north_korean_tourist_board(a)yahoo.com> gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying: > From watching various TV traffic cops type shows from various parts of > the Commonwealth, I notice that they all now use kilometres for > distances, and obviously kph for speed (and presumably km/Litre for fuel > consumption hopefully not the dreadful Litres/100km used on the > continent. In a way, L/100km makes a lot more sense. You don't base your journeys on the amount of fuel you're going to use - your journeys are a specific distance. I didn't travel 6 gallons worth over the weekend. I did 150 miles. With that in mind, demonstrating how much fuel you'll use per journey is more logical. > How long can we go on having a hybrid, half-arsed system of distance > measurement? <shrug> Does it matter? Really? It's not as if miles are the only hangover, either. Apart from MPG (whereas we buy fuel in litres), there's the perennial temperature confusion (it's cold it's celsius (minus sodding five last night, my poor plants...), but when it's hot it's fahrenheit (nearly 90 deg the other day!)), then there's the odd measurements for bits of wood, feet and inches for height of people, stone and lbs for weight of people. And, of course, pints for beer.
From: Mortimer on 19 Jul 2010 09:40
"NKTB" <north_korean_tourist_board(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:ff49cbf5-8f43-4cac-876e-d305ad586cff(a)l14g2000yql.googlegroups.com... > The Irish, who are > probably our closest neighbours culturally now, have long since gone > metric. When I was last in Ireland, in the mid 90s, I noticed that the cars had speedos calibrated in mph (presumably because they were right-hand drive) and the speed limit signs were in mph. However the distance signs were in km. It made it very difficult to work out how long it would take at the speed limit (eg 60 mph) to cover a certain distance (quoted in km) or how far you had travelled so far (using the odometer's reading in miles) when the total distance was in km. There was a lot of multiplying by 5/8 needed! Apparently (according to a Dubliner that I was visiting on business) the government decided not to change the speed limit signs to km/hr because they didn't want anyone to try to claim that a sign reading 80 (km/hr, equivalent to about 50 mph) meant that they were allowed to drive at 80 mph, given that the car speedo was calibrated with its more prominent numbers in mph. The situation may well have changed now with speed limit signs in km/hr and new cars fitted with km and km/hr speedos despite being RHD. Presumably the market for this combination is comparatively small compared with the UK, but also includes Australia, New Zealand, Malta and maybe Japan and India (do they measure speed in km/hr?). I do hope that if we *do* ever replace miles with km, the government also pass a law banning the perverted pronuncation "kill OM ittah" and mandating "KILL o ME tre" so as to match all other SI units and prefixes where the stress is on the first syllable of the prefix and the first syllable of the unit. Sorry - just a little pet hate of mine! I think I was King Canute in another life because I doubt I'll stem the tide of "kill OM ittah" ;-) |