Going metric-50 years later

[Moghrey Mie]

Isn't it time our road signs gave speeds in Kilometres Per Hour? It's 50 years since school started teaching the metric system. 

And it must be confusing for visitors.

[WTF]

11 minutes ago, Moghrey Mie said:

Isn't it time our road signs gave speeds in Kilometres Per Hour? It's 50 years since school started teaching the metric system. 

And it must be confusing for visitors.

when all GB vehicle speedos show KPH as the main numbers then yes.

[The Phantom]

I can well imagine the IOM Govt commissioning a method of measuring distance that is solely applicable to the Island. 

Manx Per Hour. 

 

[forestboy]

26 minutes ago, Moghrey Mie said:

Isn't it time our road signs gave speeds in Kilometres Per Hour? It's 50 years since school started teaching the metric system. 

And it must be confusing for visitors.

NO 

[John Wright]

9 minutes ago, forestboy said:

NO 

YES

36 minutes ago, Moghrey Mie said:

Isn't it time our road signs gave speeds in Kilometres Per Hour? It's 50 years since school started teaching the metric system. 

And it must be confusing for visitors.

I do more than half my annual mileage outside IoM/UK. Mainly driving vehicles with mph speedos. But I tend to think distance in km and conversion between mph/km/h is easy.

No idea why we haven’t followed through, no idea why one of the things touted as a Brexit benefit was the ability to buy champagne in pint bottles. ( does any champagne house actually do that now they have the freedom.)

[The Voice of Reason]

20 minutes ago, forestboy said:

NO 

And NO from me.

[Two-lane]

How about serving beer in litres instead of pints?

[Dr Beeching]

1 hour ago, Moghrey Mie said:

 

And it must be confusing for visitors.

It shouldn't be hard for 99% of people to understand... but then we still have people who shit the bed at the idea of a parking app. So maybe you have a point 

[Declan]

Speed is relative anyway. Experientially, no one really knows what 60 miles per hour is. So if the signs and the speedometers are calibrated the same that's all that matters. 

[war baby]

Leave it alone, please.  It will only put prices up if you change it!

[A fool and his money.....]

100% yes.

There is no compelling reason to use any other units than metric ones in the modern world.

Why we allow politics or historical stubborness to prevent us using what is an incomparably better system I'll never know.

I can only imagine bruised egos are the reason America and to a lesser extent the UK (and so by default the IoM) don't embrace it. "We can't be using something the French invented even though it's a million times better than ours." Pure nonsense.

Edited June 5, 2023 by A fool and his money.....

[A fool and his money.....]

1 hour ago, Declan said:

Speed is relative anyway. Experientially, no one really knows what 60 miles per hour is. So if the signs and the speedometers are calibrated the same that's all that matters. 

But people do know how far 60 miles is, or they have a sense of how far it is. Surely we've been failing our citizens by not encouraging them to know how far 60 km's is instead, which would be far more useful in the modern world.

[x-in-man]

23 minutes ago, A fool and his money..... said:

 

There is no compelling reason to use any other units than metric ones in the modern world.

 

Time ain't metric

Lat and Long ain't metric

Use them everyday in a modern world.

[Cambon]

23 minutes ago, A fool and his money..... said:

But people do know how far 60 miles is, or they have a sense of how far it is. Surely we've been failing our citizens by not encouraging them to know how far 60 km's is instead, which would be far more useful in the modern world.

I absolutely agree. Nautical miles is the obvious choice then. Based on logic and science, it is the only real solution. 

[A fool and his money.....]

8 minutes ago, x-in-man said:

Time ain't metric

Lat and Long ain't metric

Use them everyday in a modern world.

Time can be metric, the second is a metric unit - minutes, hours, days etc. aren't and would be difficult and perhaps unecessary to change as they are either naturally occurring time periods (days, months, years) or so ingrained into people's lives (weeks) it would be very problematic to change them. Seconds or factors of ten based multiples are invariably used in scientific and engineering calculations so time is metric when it needs to be.

Lat and Long are measured in degrees which aren't metric - there's no reason at all why they couldn't be measured in radians which are.