Metrication - the final steps?

Alun

OK, so we've now got (most) distance markers on signposts in km's, soon to have speed limits in km/h, most cars with on-board computers can be configured to do everything in km's and litres and the digital speedo on my wife's Yaris can even be changed to km/h with the press of a button ....

So, when will we make the final step and have car odometers that record km's and not miles? What about new cars that have speedos in km/h? Do they have odometers that record km's?

bp_me

All new cars (from jan 1st 2005) will have to have kms on the large outer dial and optionally mphs on the smaller inner circle.

Alun

bp_me wrote:

All new cars (from jan 1st 2005) will have to have kms on the large outer dial and optionally mphs on the smaller inner circle.

No sh!t

I was talking about odometers, you know the thingy-wotsit-gizmo that records the mileage (or should that be kilometrage!?) of your car not the speedometer.

bp_me

It is reasonable to assume that these will also change with the dials

lomb

its f*****g crazy if u ask me

Alun

lomb wrote:

its f*****g crazy if u ask me

What is? And why?

CJhaughey

At the risk of sounding like a smug 8astard, I got myself a complete Kph speedo from a breakers , cost was minimal as I suppose that they never thought that anyone would want Metric speedos.
The Odo reads in Kms too.
Japanese imports are usually Kph anyway and there are plenty of them around.

parsi

I have a Scenic - when the speed is in MPH the trip and odometer are in Miles. When I switch to KMH (eg when in France) the trip and odometer read in KMs.

The mechanical odometers will stay in miles - I can imagine the arguments in years to come "ah sure thats not 74,000 miles thats 74,00 kilometers and thats notbad for a 4 year old car..."

lomb

metrification. its just some stupid burocrat or eurocrat with nothing better to do. how the hell is it going to improve anything.

weve had mph for decades, and what now they want kph, who wants it. some idiotic moron in brussels. why dont they get in the real world.

parsi

lomb wrote:

. why dont they get in the real world.

They are in the real world - the metric world ! They are probably wondering why the Paddys still to an outmoded system forced on them by a colonial power ;-)

(outmoded as in; 16 oz in an lb, 14 lb in a stone, x grains in an oz, 54 furlongs in a hundredweight, 6 guineas in a league etc etc )

Blackjack

metrification. its just some stupid burocrat or eurocrat with nothing better to do. how the hell is it going to improve anything.

Standardisation, and generally ensuring that there is a standard accepted measure for all of the EU.
I can see the point that it is a nuisance, but it does make sense. Most Europeans have no notion of the Imperial measurement system, whereas most Irish people will have at worst a good idea as to how many litres in a Gallon etc.

lomb

it is nuts and who is putting it on us, europe and rubber stamped by the same politicians whove ensured charley haughey is walking around a free man and the westlink ntr which was awarded a contract most probably by haughry after a bribe and lucan is called lucan and not bawnogue/ neilstown and ....and....

ive seen how it works, they enjoy nice dinners, wining and dining with the hobnobs and couldnt give a monkeys about anything and the funny thing is joe bloggs accepts it like the guy above trawelling scrapyards for kmh dials what a joke.

CJhaughey

lomb wrote:

it is nuts and who is putting it on us, europe and rubber stamped by the same politicians whove ensured charley haughey is walking around a free man and the westlink ntr which was awarded a contract most probably by haughry after a bribe and lucan is called lucan and not bawnogue/ neilstown and ....and....

ive seen how it works, they enjoy nice dinners, wining and dining with the hobnobs and couldnt give a monkeys about anything and the funny thing is joe bloggs accepts it like the guy above trawelling scrapyards for kmh dials what a joke.

I think you have issues, unresolved issues.........
I cannot see how metrification or the long overdue adoption of it has anything to do with the endemic corruption(allegedly) present in Irish Politics.

The Metric system is an easy choice for Ireland to make.
1.It brings us into line with the rest of Europe bar one former Imperial power.
2.It makes the rest of the road signage system make a little more sense.
3. It further separates us from the former.

And to set matters straight I did not award any contracts after any bribes.
nor did I trawell(sic) scrapyards searching for a kmh Dial I used the very thing that you are looking at now.
CJ

lomb

what has anyone got against britain? this is the 21st century. the past is the past.

britain is our biggest trading partner.

why is there not a run on left hand drive dashboards, sure we need them so we can drive on the same side as europe, what a load of cobblers. pure BS. if no one can see that they are the ones with problems.

ireland exports way more to britain than the rest of europe combined. it is total BS no doubt about it.

Blackjack

the UK is going Metric too.

lomb

then there is something seriously wrong. id will be a sad day when and if mph are ever abandoned a sad day indeed.

maybe hitler really did lose the battle but he won the war?

lomb

just checked mph are here to stay in the uk thank god

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3934353.stm

Blackjack

lomb wrote:

then there is something seriously wrong. id will be a sad day when and if mph are ever abandoned a sad day indeed.

maybe hitler really did lose the battle but he won the war?

Okey dokey then.....

CJhaughey

Look at what happened to Nasa when they were monkeying around with converting imperial to metric , they lost a space probe.
Metric is standard in scientific measurements.
The US military use Kilometres.
The problem is that here and the UK have a halfway house neither one or the other.
That is the problem.
Nobody would seriously argue that Britain could revert to exclusive use of imperial measurements.
The International System of Units (the metric system), which is used by 94% of the world's population, including all the Commonwealth.

unkel

lomb wrote:

its f*****g crazy if u ask me

Go back home ya-west-brit-ya or finally say goodbye to British imperialism which has died many decades ago

Metric is the way forward for this in this respect backward country. In more modern countries it has been the standard for centuries

simu

lomb wrote:

then there is something seriously wrong. id will be a sad day when and if mph are ever abandoned a sad day indeed.

maybe hitler really did lose the battle but he won the war?

Hello! It was designed in France during the revolution.

And if you really want to stick with tradition, have a read of this: http://www.alia.ie/tirnanog/sochis/xxiii.html

Johnny Storm

Changing to metric is completely demented. Lives will be lost over this. As far as I can see there is no benefit.
The North is staying Imperial (there's a surprise) and of course the rest of the UK so the main places that Irish drivers might drive to will not be metric.
What is the point?

Blackjack

Lives will be lost over this.

How?. Distances have been signposted in KM for years, so it's not like this change is something that is being suddenly thrust upon people.
Just because the UK is not moving to this standard does not mean that Ireland must stay using an outdated system of measurement.

Stark

lomb wrote:

just checked mph are here to stay in the uk thank god

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3934353.stm

I'm glad you've had your little victory. The rest of us meanwhile have been lured over by Satan and his metric numbering system which Charlie Haughey invented so they could change the coins to decimal and all the old ladies would drop their coins while measuring them out and then he'd pick them up and get rich

lomb

the reality is the irish as a race are laid back fools whol take anything 'cause sure theres something to talk bout'

this is a crock make no mistake about it

i have no objection to distances and speed being being in both mph and kph. it is a joke to switch over. and it will kill people aswell. can anyone answer me this question why dont we switch to left hand drive cars to get away from the colonial bastards in the uk? reason: economically unviable.
but not unviable to shove everyone up the tailpipe by producing dash dials in kph, confusing everyone unnecssarily and having mph signs here kph there and people being confused-and over what some stupid bastard eurocrat who know sweet f%^ all or gives a monkey about joe public. and the irish just take this sh^- wonders never cease........

Blackjack

the reality is the irish as a race are laid back fools whol take anything 'cause sure theres something to talk bout'

and this is a quote by which clever fellow?

i have no objection to distances and speed being being in both mph and kph. it is a joke to switch over. and it will kill people aswell. can anyone answer me this question why dont we switch to left hand drive cars to get away from the colonial bastards in the uk? reason: economically unviable.

What ever mate. IMO if the driver is not clever enough to be confused by a switch from MPH to KPH then he should not be allowed to drive in the first place.

lomb

yes but whats the point of it- thats my point

it is pointless. i have zero objection to kg in weight etc but believe the imperial equiv should be present. in the case of mph, weve used this system since the beginning of the motor car, why change something that works very well - to 'appear modern' what a crock of sh£^. ur telling me the stupid german and the dodgy french eurocrats know about the real world. they dont know sh£$. they integrated a poor east german economy into their own and pulled their economy with it. gave out handouts to ireland and pulled their economys down with that. are integrating poor eastern block economies into europe to pull their economys down. the point is they dont know sh$% about the real world. they cant even look after themselves. u think those morons know what is right or wrong for ireland. HAH. THATS FUNNY.

the irish accept it cause theyl accept any crap. a waste of time, money and creation of confusion.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Stark

We have 80mph motorways in Ireland now? Cool

Well lomb, change doesn't seem to bother you when it comes to polluting English language spelling and punctuation rules

What's the point in having a dual mph/kph signage system? We introduced dual labelling of foods etc. for the purposes of transitioning to the new system and we're still stuck with them. We don't need a system where drivers are constantly bombarded with 2 numbers per sign. Like a previous poster said, if someone isn't intelligent enough to adapt to the new system, they're not intelligent enough to drive. Most experienced drivers will have memorised the speed limits in various areas both in terms of the numbers and by feel anyway. For example you'll know to go 60mph on a dual carriageway even though the sign says 95/100 whatever. Drivers do okay for example when they go to a foreign country even though they've both driving on "wrong" side of the road and kph speed limit system to contend with.

I'll bet you were one of the people who claimed the Irish wouldn't be able to adapt to Euro notes and coins.

lomb

now uve nailed it stark- the euro, a product of eurocrats. ireland is paying for that product since it was launched. because the german economy has gone down the toilet and it has if uve visited it/ talked to germans interest rates are low everywhere to stimulate the economy there.

of course ireland has to go along with low rates. what has come of this u may ask? well when joe bloggs goes to buy a house and rates are 2 or 3 % of course it becomes more affordable. this has artificially raised property prices here beyond whats reasonable. this is bad.

likewise kph are bad when people have used mph successfully for years. just because continental europe has kph doesnt mean we need them no more than we needed the euro. britain is our main partner and as such the stg-euro problem is a hugh one. if and when britain ever decided need for the euro in that case we should have joined but not singly. in the same way kph here and mph in the north is nuts. the next time u drive c how readable the inner dial is, it isnt! of course people will adapt. but my point is its a pointless adaption. it was grand until they started sticking kph speed limits on the westlink confusing everybody.

oh and finally whom may i ask is going to pay for the pointless stupid kph signs. u and me thats who!

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Zaph

I've no problem with the switch, but I do think that if the government wanted to do it they should have put in place some mechanism, a subsidy perhaps, for people to have their speedos changed over to kph at minimal expense. There'll be a major glut of people clocking up penalty points in the first couple of months until they get used to looking at the inner scale on their speedo. I know on my car it's not particularly easy to read. Even more worrying is that there may be an increase in accidents as people drive at inappropriate speeds. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about that.

lomb

price rises above inflation. gross house price rises due to low interest rates which cannot be increased due to a defective continental economy. and all this when our main trade partner isnt a member of it even.

Stephen

Keep on fighting the power there lomb. Why do we Irish always have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern world?

lomb

do you really think the french and german are in the modern world? i can assure u they arent.

as i said the proof of the pudding is they have dragged poor economys into their own and screwed there own economies up? for what? they cant look after themselves how can u trust these children to look after anyone here?

the only reason they persue these policies is they do what they are paid to do- they are diplomats. they enjoy fine dinners, wining and dining in fine surroundings having converstions about grandiose things.

i wouldnt trust the bastards with a fiver of my money. they havent got a clue.

simu

lomb wrote:

do you really think the french and german are in the modern world? i can assure u they arent.

as i said the proof of the pudding is they have dragged poor economys into their own and screwed there own economies up? for what? they cant look after themselves how can u trust these children to look after anyone here?

the only reason they persue these policies is they do what they are paid to do- they are diplomats. they enjoy fine dinners, wining and dining in fine surroundings having converstions about grandiose things.

i wouldnt trust the bastards with a fiver of my money. they havent got a clue.

Start your own anti-EU party then! You know you want to!

Johnny Storm

Does anyone know who actually decided on our behalf that Ireland would change to the metric system for roads/speeds? Was it a minister ? An unCivil servant?

I'd be interested to know how much this will cost and what the supposed benefits are.

What basis did they make this decision on ?

lomb

that is the million dollar or should i say euro question johnny storm.

daveirl

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mike65

Why is it the "innocent" looking threads that degenerate into barbarism?!

lomb this is a motoring forum, if you want to re-run old politcal arguments we have a forum for that sort of thing here.

As for the changover, who knows maybe one or two will be killed but it'll only be cos they're stupid. Not beacuse the signs say "80 km/h" rather than 50.

Anyways it a fait accomplis (whoops!).

Mike.

OfflerCrocGod

mike65

Play nice!

Mike.

Johnny Storm

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Thanks Daveirl. I think everyone would agree that its a very good idea to have speed limits in harmony with distance signs.
What I'm asking is "Is it worth the cost?" and "Who decided we were going to do this?"
IMHO the cost will include the actual cost of replacing existing signs, the cost of updating speedos in existing cars and the intangible cost of introducing confusion and danger to the roads plus the costs of adverts notifying people about the change etc


Let me share my perosnal experience with the board. My wife's car has its speedo in KPH only. I have a post-it pad with KPH to MPH figures on teh dashboard. I am a conscientous and safe driver so most of the time I am just keeping up with other traffic so no problem. For me anyway the problem does arrise when I see a potential radar cop in the doistance. The "thought" (using the word loosly)-process goes as follows:
1) What is the spped limit on this road in MPH?
2) Look at KPH speedo.
3) Look at post-it pad
4) Try to calculate current speed in MPH
@in' clue. Jam on brakes.
It may sound stupid but it is hard to do while driving and very definately distracts you from what you are supposed to be doing.
This is the same situat6ion that everyone with an MPH speedo will find thmselves in when we go metric

viking

Johnny Storm wrote:

My wife's car has its speedo in KPH only. I have a post-it pad with KPH to MPH figures on teh dashboard.....It may sound stupid but it is hard to do while driving and very definately distracts you from what you are supposed to be doing.
This is the same situat6ion that everyone with an MPH speedo will find thmselves in when we go metric

I too have a small sticker with KPH-MPH figures on the dial and for me its second nature now to automatically do the conversion in my head.

48Kph = 30Mph
64Kph = 40Mph
80Kph = 50Mph
96Kph = 60Mph
112Kph = 70Mph

In fact I can't even remember the last time I looked down at the sticker. People will get used to this quicker than they think, its the old "Holy God, my life will change completely" mentality thats blowing this out of proportion.

lomb

of course people will adapt.
but it is a costly and utterly pointless adaption.
why is it in the uk mph will live on into the 22 century and we are selling out?
the reality is the politicians here arent fit to command a kids party. what qualifies these idiots to hold office? any fool can become a politician. what qualifications that show any intelligence do they have?
the distances when in km were a minor and also needless annoyance compared to the costly and dangerous mistake thats going to occur now.

halkar

At last we know when to arrive to our destinations. It was pain trying to estimate looking at km with 60mph. Galyway 189km, doing 60mph, wtf

Change is good

lomb

it would have been cheaper to change the very few km distance signs back to mph than change the millions of speed signs to kph.

the confusion could raise the death toll by 5 or 6% conceivably. the cost could be 20+million euros. the confusion this creates will be unquantifiable but sure its something to talk 'bout..........

Zaph

Originally posted by lomb

the confusion could raise the death toll by 5 or 6% conceivably. the cost could be 20+million euros

And you're getting your figures from where exactly?

Originally posted by lomb

the reality is the politicians here arent fit to command a kids party. what qualifies these idiots to hold office? any fool can become a politician. what qualifications that show any intelligence do they have?

What qualifies any politician to hold office? Politicians in this country have demonstrated far more imaginative ways of proving they're unfit than simply changing the speed limits. I hardly think this is an issue that would disbar them from office and your reaction to the chageover is completely out of proportion.

halkar

lomb wrote:

it would have been cheaper to change the very few km distance signs back to mph than change the millions of speed signs to kph.

It probably cost more to change those signs back to mph, considering the labour involved where as they can just take the small old mph signs down and replace with the new ones.

Maybe we should change all the signs to digital in case someone decide to change again

Stark

lomb wrote:

the confusion could raise the death toll by 5 or 6% conceivably.

Darwinism at its best. Maybe you should stay off the roads yourself and give people a chance.

lomb

quote: the cost could be 20+million euros
accorting to irishtrucker website 58000 speed signs. minister says need to remove old ones and dig foundations for new ones. cost of this approx 350 euro minimum per sign= 20+mill

quote: death toll could increase 5 or 6% conceivably
this is conceivable. the speed limits are actually going to be raised by 5% hence death toll could increase. limit on crap irish national roads will be 100km/h.
motorways will be 120km/h.

also the death rate may increase due to confusion ie. some old codger thinks the speed limit is 100 mph........