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[J N Winkler]

The problem is more the other way around... I do believe many Canadian cars do not have mph on the speedometer (making knowing conversions necessary). And in addition, signs on the US side making a similar announcement of "hey, our speed limits are in mph, suck it Lavoisier!" are not so common (do they even exist anywhere?).

Yup, they do--I have a photograph of one I found on US 97 in Washington state.  If I can find it, I will edit this post to insert it.  I think I may have had it online at one point but lost it when Fotopic (which I used for image hosting) went out of business.

[1995hoo]

....

The problem is more the other way around... I do believe many Canadian cars do not have mph on the speedometer (making knowing conversions necessary). And in addition, signs on the US side making a similar announcement of "hey, our speed limits are in mph, suck it Lavoisier!" are not so common (do they even exist anywhere?).

I-87 in New York has a reminder sign. I've seen pictures of some in North Dakota but I've never visited that state. 

[webfil]

Here's some eye-candy.


Boulevard Métropolitain (A-40), near Boulevard Lacordaire.
Construction detour in 1970.
Picture by Gabor Szilasi, Archives nationales du Québec.

Exit 47 = Actual exit 76 (Boulevards Pie-IX, Viau, Lacordaire)
Exit 49 = Actual exit 78 (Boulevard Langelier)

Late Google Street View. Note that the speed limit has been «raised».  


Unveiling of the new kilometre-based signage in 1974.
Picture by Adrien Hubert or Gilles Langevin, Archives nationales du Québec.


Autoroute des Laurentides (A-15), near (metric) exit 67.
Picture by Claude Gosselin, 1974, Archives nationales du Québec.
Office des autoroutes-style signage, with unusual ski area trapezoidal trailblazing. Note the old, old school tourist info sign underneath the ski areas sign.

I beleive that this location is shown on the picture.

[ghYHZ]

Classic Shots!......Thanks for posting!

[mhallack]

Here in Maine on I-95 there are a few signs with both miles and kilometers, and even bi-lingual in French. But they all mention the distance to Old Orchard Beach, a popular vacation spot for Quebecers. Whenever I travel that part of the interstate I'll get a few pics.

[Scott5114]

When measuring things for my own personal use, I will hardly ever bother with inches. Just about every ruler has cm on the other side, and I find it more convenient to just measure something as 2.9 cm or 11 mm or whatever than to stare at the inch side and try to comprehend which is the half inch mark, which is the quarter, and so on, and have to deal with the resultingly messy fraction like 2-3/8".

[1995hoo]

If I saw that Mont-Rolland sign "webfil" posted, I'd read "1/2 m" as 50 cm, though of course that's unrealistic.


(edited to fix typo)

[webfil]

If I saw that Mont-Rolland sign "webfil" posted, I'd read "1/2 m" as 500 cm, though of course that's unrealistic.

Half a metre is 50 centimetres (or 500 millimetres). I'm sure that's what you meant.

[1995hoo]

If I saw that Mont-Rolland sign "webfil" posted, I'd read "1/2 m" as 500 cm, though of course that's unrealistic.

Half a metre is 50 centimetres (or 500 millimetres). I'm sure that's what you meant.

D'oh. Yeah. Sloppy typing using mobile phone keyboard. That's exactly what I meant.

[webfil]

Here is a post-metric sign.
I think this is uncommon in Canada

Highway 101 east, leaving Yarmouth.
http://goo.gl/maps/ubVy

[Pilgrimway]

Nova Scotia has quite a few of them.  There is also a mixed mileage sign on the TCH eastbound just after the New Brunswick border.  I just passed it yesterday but didn't get a pic. 

[StogieGuy7]

I consider myself fortunate to have attended elementary and jr. high school during the 1970s when the US was in the process of converting to the metric system.   Of course, public opposition ended that, but they sure drilled it into our heads in school and - as a result - I am totally 'bilingual' as far as the English/Metric systems are concerned.

As such, I also tend to convert distances in my head from metric to English when outside of the US.  That's bad when you see these signs in Canada or the US with distances translated, as they are sometimes wrong.  "Bad" because I end up fixated on that when I should be thinking of other things!   

[averill]

I have a few pre-metric sign pictures I took in the early and mid 1970's, but I have no idea how to up-load them here.  If someone could email me on how this is done, I will post them here.  alhecht@comcast.net

[oscar]

One of the Yukon's more remote and untraveled routes, the Canol Road (YT 6) from the Alaska Highway to the YT/NT border, has several signs warning of a twisty road ahead for "1 Mile".  Other kinds of signs have been changed out to metric on that route.

Yukon also has more billboards showing distances in miles than I've seen elsewhere in Canada, though most Yukon billboards use metric.

The unofficial CAA marker at the west end of the Trans-Canada Highway, in Victoria BC, still has it as "mile 0", never updated to metric:

[agentsteel53]

this was on the Alaska Highway in March, 2010. 

[StogieGuy7]

The problem is more the other way around... I do believe many Canadian cars do not have mph on the speedometer (making knowing conversions necessary). And in addition, signs on the US side making a similar announcement of "hey, our speed limits are in mph, suck it Lavoisier!" are not so common (do they even exist anywhere?).

Yup, they do--I have a photograph of one I found on US 97 in Washington state.  If I can find it, I will edit this post to insert it.  I think I may have had it online at one point but lost it when Fotopic (which I used for image hosting) went out of business.

I've rented many cars in Canada and can assure you that their speedometers have markings for m.p.h.  However, what you see is the reverse of what speedometers in the US display: km/h are the larger numbers that are generally on the top or outside circle of the speedo while m.p.h. are the smaller numbers below or on the inside. 

Anything electronic can usually be switched between metric and English - just like in the US.   It's simply not an issue. 

[corco]

Yup, they do--I have a photograph of one I found on US 97 in Washington state.  If I can find it, I will edit this post to insert it.  I think I may have had it online at one point but lost it when Fotopic (which I used for image hosting) went out of business.

There's this one on 395

[Pete from Boston]

I don't know if they are still there, but back in '05 when I drove through Calgary on the freeway that goes N-S, there were a few bridge clearance warning signs that were still in feet and inches.  They made me feel at home.

It's a shame Canada changed; there was no reason to change to the French system.  However, the Canadian building trades flat out rejected Trudeau and his ego trip and still use Imperial measurements for building structures.

I can't speak from ever having built anything in metric, but having done a fair amount in "Imperial" I will say there's a certain amount of utility to the divisibility of a base-12 system.  Granted, since our numerical system happens to be base-10, there's a point at which it becomes cumbersome, but a foot divided into 12ths and an inch divided into 16ths does provide a lot of flexibility.

Now if I could only figure out where the phillips screws are in Canada...

[SignGeek101]

Well, time to bring this back. I'm surprised no one has posted this one yet. It's right on Wikipedia. It was found in Bolton Ontario in summer 2011. Not sure if it's still there.



NOT my pic. Image courtesy of "Kelisi"

[Bluenoser]

Nova Scotia has quite a few of them.  There is also a mixed mileage sign on the TCH eastbound just after the New Brunswick border.  I just passed it yesterday but didn't get a pic. 

Here it is:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.8463351,-64.2412935,3a,75y,195.82h,84.53t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSk0wruB-nplwwHeyq_TM8A!2e0

Just before the LaPlanche St overpass...

[SignGeek101]

I'm also posting this in "Interesting road signs". Don't really know what to think.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadagood/5532809828/sizes/l

Not my pic. Credit goes to the author. No GMSV to back it up.

[Stephane Dumas]

I spotted this sign, where it read "Maximum 45". I don't think it's for 45 km/h http://goo.gl/maps/CDI6L

[SignGeek101]

I spotted this sign, where it read "Maximum 45". I don't think it's for 45 km/h http://goo.gl/maps/CDI6L

Seeing a speed limit in Canada end in a 5 is interesting enough. There are only a handful I know of.

It does seem very slow, but there is a hill, with a quick turn. On the other end of the hill, it also shows the 45. It could definitely intend to show a limit of 70 km/h though. Hard to tell.

[webfil]

What is wrong here is that « 45 » should be shown as a recommended speed under the S-curve or steep hill warning signs. Both « Max 45 » signs look too new ― and signs surrounding them look like they have been taken care of recently ― so that it would mean 70 km/h. Speed limit is 80 km/h leaving Saint-Hugues (the next village on that road) and there is a 80 km/h speed limit sign just past this ditch. Nothing pre-metric here; more of a sign goof IMHO. Moreover, speeds ending with 5 are common recommended speeds in Québec, but unusual, nay rare in other provinces.

[SignGeek101]

I don't know if they are still there, but back in '05 when I drove through Calgary on the freeway that goes N-S, there were a few bridge clearance warning signs that were still in feet and inches.  They made me feel at home.

Here's one two:

http://goo.gl/maps/Ba9fK

http://goo.gl/maps/Jwmlt