Metric Signs

[hm insulators]

You all know the quick, dirty conversion for temperature, right? Take the Celsius, double it, and add 30. It's not exact, but it gets you close enough.

I just go by remembering that each 5 degrees of Celsius is about 9 degrees Farenheit; each 10 degreesC is 18 degreesF. Forget the fancy formulas!

[corco]

Whereas 88 is spot on.

Just for kicks, though: The sign reads 55/90.
You're doing 90, cop pulls you over.
"You know how fast you were going, son?"
"Um, 90 kmh. Why?"
"Exactly. Speed limit's 55, not 56 and a quarter. We go by the lower number in these here parts. Gonna need to see yer license, insurance and registration and I'm gonna need you step outside your ve-hic-le."

If the sign says 90 km/h is legal, the cop has to honor that number. That's an open and shut case in traffic court. Beyond that, if that arose and a Canadian were unable to go to traffic court, that'd be great because we'd be getting free foreign money. That's good for the economy! If the sign isn't legally binding, let's say the speed limit in metric is 110 km/h, so it's a big ticket but not so big that we waste domestic resources jailing the foreigner.

If that makes the Canadian government mad, well, so? That's a great excuse to finally take over their fine country and make it America as it should be. Manifest Destiny! 54 40 or fight! America and Canada as one. Wow. I'm aroused.

[agentsteel53]

Wow. I'm aroused.

I for one welcome our new Canadian overlords.

[Alps]

I haven't seen BGS's signed exclusively signed in metric, but I have seen others. 

I can't completely recall if they were exclusively metric, and don't know if it's still that way, but on our way back from our 1st Lebowskifest in Louisville, we ended up on I-265 from I-64 to I-71, and I think everything was in metric.  (Though the only border that's close to is the state of Indiana).

I just started going through my Kentucky photos. I found three metric signs on this route: 71 north, 841 north, U turn, 265 west. One was on 841N, one on 841S (both on the stub part), one for Exit 30 on 265W. Didn't see any others, so maybe they were all EB.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I haven't seen BGS's signed exclusively signed in metric, but I have seen others. 

I can't completely recall if they were exclusively metric, and don't know if it's still that way, but on our way back from our 1st Lebowskifest in Louisville, we ended up on I-265 from I-64 to I-71, and I think everything was in metric.  (Though the only border that's close to is the state of Indiana).

I just started going through my Kentucky photos. I found three metric signs on this route: 71 north, 841 north, U turn, 265 west. One was on 841N, one on 841S (both on the stub part), one for Exit 30 on 265W. Didn't see any others, so maybe they were all EB.

I have photos of signs for exits 30 & 32 along I-265 SB (CW from I-71) that show metric and standard mileage.

[CanesFan27]

Metric Sign I came across along the Osceola Parkway on June 6th.

IMG_1024 by Adam Prince, on Flickr

[freebrickproductions]

Metric Sign I came across along the Osceola Parkway on June 6th.

IMG_1024 by Adam Prince, on Flickr

Honestly, given the number of folks from other countries who are probably driving that way for Disney World, it makes sense that the sign is in dual units.

[Scott5114]

Too bad whoever made it doesn't have the self-control to lay off the horizontal stretch button.

[LilianaUwU]

If that makes the Canadian government mad, well, so? That's a great excuse to finally take over their fine country and make it America as it should be. Manifest Destiny! 54 40 or fight! America and Canada as one. Wow. I'm aroused.

This aged... well, yeah. This aged.

[mgk920]

hehehe

Also, I really do like the "800 m" part.

Mike

[TXtoNJ]

hehehe

Also, I really do like the "800 m" part.

Mike

The nicest part of metric road signs is the scalability without fractions. Especially since a 1600 m "metric mile" divides so easily that most US signs would only need decals to convert.

[pderocco]

hehehe

Also, I really do like the "800 m" part.

Mike

We use feet. I've seen lots of signs with distances like 1000 ft on them. I don't think I've seen any signs with yards, though.

The nicest part of metric road signs is the scalability without fractions. Especially since a 1600 m "metric mile" divides so easily that most US signs would only need decals to convert.

[Big John]

^^ In English units, most lengths in Civil Engineering highway plans are measured in feet and decimal feet to 2 units. The only thing measured in yards is earth excavation, which use cubic yards.

With that signs use feet, or in longer lengths miles (which is done in fractions)

[ElishaGOtis]

Where did Florida once ever post metric speed limit signs other than the ones near FGCU? I couldn't find any evidence of a mass-use of these signs other than a few older pictures and a few older speed limit signs saying MPH.

[mgk920]

hehehe

Also, I really do like the "800 m" part.

Mike

The nicest part of metric road signs is the scalability without fractions. Especially since a 1600 m "metric mile" divides so easily that most US signs would only need decals to convert.

Yea, 'fractions' are soooo old fashioned and obsolete.

Mike

[formulanone]

Where did Florida once ever post metric speed limit signs other than the ones near FGCU? I couldn't find any evidence of a mass-use of these signs other than a few older pictures and a few older speed limit signs saying MPH.

Florida went through a short phase in the mid-1980s with dual signage, usually on new construction. Two I can recall were on/near Sawgrass Expressway and its nearby access roads (completed in 1986), and so did the final stages of I-95 in Martin County (finished in 1987). I'm sure there were others since road construction and expansion was seemingly everywhere in Florida during the 1980s.



As you can see, it should have been 64 (accurate) or 65 (rounded) km/h. I think I saw one straggler hang on until 2008 or so.

This popped up on Corkscrew Road, east of Fort Myers, but likely not an FDOT install on a County Road:

[1995hoo]

^^ In English units, most lengths in Civil Engineering highway plans are measured in feet and decimal feet to 2 units. The only thing measured in yards is earth excavation, which use cubic yards.

With that signs use feet, or in longer lengths miles (which is done in fractions)

The Brits have road signs posted in yards. I assume the first one seen below is somewhere in Wales.

[kphoger]

The Brits have road signs posted in yards. I assume the first one seen below is somewhere in Wales.

Furlongs are better.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/AzzNPRQoJNzwzdge6

[pderocco]

The Brits have road signs posted in yards. I assume the first one seen below is somewhere in Wales.

Furlongs are better.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/AzzNPRQoJNzwzdge6

and the speed limits are in furlongs/fortnight.

[TXtoNJ]

hehehe

Also, I really do like the "800 m" part.

Mike

The nicest part of metric road signs is the scalability without fractions. Especially since a 1600 m "metric mile" divides so easily that most US signs would only need decals to convert.

Yea, 'fractions' are soooo old fashioned and obsolete.

Mike

Fractions are great for doing math, and horrible for estimating (which is what you're doing when driving). The classic example is when A&W tried to sell a 1/3 lb burger, and customers didn't like it because they thought they were getting less meat than a quarter-pounder.

[kphoger]

Fractions are great for doing math, and horrible for estimating (which is what you're doing when driving). The classic example is when A&W tried to sell a 1/3 lb burger, and customers didn't like it because they thought they were getting less meat than a quarter-pounder.

I can't find my older post right now, but I once attempted to track down the actual study that supposedly found all those customers thinking a third was smaller than a quarter, and I was unable.  As memory serves, the trail runs cold at hearsay in a book by Alfred Taubman.  I remain unconvinced that the guy didn't just make it up, or that the focus group wasn't a made up of a dozen high school dropouts.

[Big John]

Per a 2014 paywalled New York Times article:

One of the most vivid arithmetic failings displayed by Americans occurred in the early 1980s, when the A&W restaurant chain released a new hamburger to rival the McDonald's Quarter Pounder. With a third-pound of beef, the A&W burger had more meat than the Quarter Pounder; in taste tests, customers preferred A&W's burger. And it was less expensive. A lavish A&W television and radio marketing campaign cited these benefits. Yet instead of leaping at the great value, customers snubbed it.

Only when the company held customer focus groups did it become clear why. The Third Pounder presented the American public with a test in fractions. And we failed. Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were being overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald's. The "4" in "¼," larger than the "3" in "⅓," led them astray.

[kphoger]

I once attempted to track down the actual study

New York Times article

As I said.

All the news article did was repeat what Taubman claimed.  I've never been able to identify any such study.  The details of what I had researched are fuzzy to me now, but I seem to remember that I did read somewhere the name of the group that's purported to have conducted the study, but was never able to corroborate it as fact.

[formulanone]

Maybe they should have remarketed it as: The Five Ouncer, 'cause 5 is more than 4 and 3, you see.

Or perhaps there were just more McDonald's locations.

Heck, even in some of my high-school and college math classes, the muttered phrase "I hate fractions" was oft-repeated.

[GaryA]

The Brits have road signs posted in yards. I assume the first one seen below is somewhere in Wales.

Furlongs are better.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/AzzNPRQoJNzwzdge6

and the speed limits are in furlongs/fortnight.

I remember a computer OS parameter measured in "microfortnights" (apparently it was supposed to be seconds, but a bug messed up the timing and they found that this was close)