# Question for UK gents



## billb2011 (Nov 17, 2014)

Im an avid watcher of Top Gear on BBC and have always wondered something. When they talk about speed they use miles per hour and distance they use feet and yards. I thought UK was all metric. Is it because the Top Gear guys are just old school, or is that used in general over there? 

Thanks.


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## stupoty (Nov 18, 2014)

It all gets a bit confussing, the speeds are all in mph , distances for signes are in yards and feet but (me personaly) people often prefer meters as a graspable distance to imagine. 

E.g. A no u turn sign means no u turns for 300ft

the slash signs for a motor way exit are at 300ft 200ft and 100ft.

Im personaly being confused by the gradient signs switching to percentage insted of gradient as a fraction , ahhhh.

stuart


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## hman (Nov 18, 2014)

stupoty said:


> Im personaly being confused by the gradient signs switching to percentage insted of gradient as a fraction



Highway gradient signs in the US are in percent.  Highway designers have guidelines for how steep a gradient they can use, especially on the Interstates.  Gradients of about 5% or 6% will have warning signs, and often "escape ramps" for trucks that lose their brakes.

Just for fun, prop up the end of an 8 foot (96") plank with a 6" spacer.  Doesn't look like much ... but that's a 6% grade.

Back on the original topic:

A web search resulted in this article,
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_countries_still_use_the_imperial_system
which talks about the "mixed" system used in the UK.

As for "official" adoption of the metric system, here's another interesting reference:
http://www.zmescience.com/other/map-of-countries-officially-not-using-the-metric-system/


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## Dranreb (Nov 18, 2014)

Jeremy Clarkson leans toward the old school, but James May's lips can't even assume the correct shape to pronounce any word associated with metric system..._.._

Bernard


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## billb2011 (Nov 18, 2014)

Wow that surprises me that UK uses such a mixed system I feel sorry for you all! 

If I  had my preference the only metric I would use would be for speed because kph sounds much faster haha! 

Jeremy Clarkson is a hoot, all three are funny guys but Jeremy makes me laugh every time!


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## Round in circles (Dec 26, 2014)

Years ago the UK's highway code ( much of it not a legal instrument for driving )  hand book had braking distances on th back cover expresses as car lengths and also the thinking distaance for the braking also given in car lengths.


 More than amusing if you were driving a BMC mini or perhaps a big converted to RHD  " Yankee tin beetle " , purchased from  some USAF guy who was going back home to the  state side of things. 

Yet if you didn't know or couldn't repeat the distances when questioned you got an automatic fail there & then  before you'd even started to drive the driving test & you were not allowed to do the driving , the test was over right there & then.  


 In truth there is not great problem working in different bases / units of measurement , once you start playing with several on a regular basis they soon become second nature .


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