"2000m" in Europe vs. "2km" in Australia and Canada

[Alex Von Königsberg]

Have you ever wondered why in Europe motorway signs use metres to indicate the distance to a local exit while in Canada and Australia they exclusively use kilometres if it is 1km or more.

For instance, this is a pic from Australia posted by a forum member:

http://img438.imageshack.us/img438/1861/m1avalon1nh.jpg

And this pic I stole from www.ceskedalnice.cz (Czech Republic):

http://mikul.net/images/motorways/dalnice.jpg

As you see, the same distance is written diffrerently. What do you think could be the reason for this?

My hypothesis is simple. Before Canada and Australia converted to metric system, the distances were indicated in miles. Since miles are not conveniently related to shorter units (feet or yards), even local distances are written in miles - ¼ miles, ¾ miles, 1½ miles, etc. I believe after conversion those countries chose to stay with a single unit - km. Europe, on the other hand, converted a very long time ago, so Europeans know how to convert between metres and kilometres quite well :)

I personally like the European signage in metres better because it gives me the sense of precision (which might or might not be the case).

[aussiescraperman]

why is exit written in english? :dunno:

[Alex Von Königsberg]

Maybe because English is an international language? For an official explanation you have to contact the Czech Ministry of Transport.

But let's not go off topic please.

[ChrisZwolle]

meters give you a somewhat better sense of distances <2km, although it is the same.
I prefer meters up to 2000m, and higher, kilometers.

why is exit written in english?
possible because the word východ doesn't make too much sense to foreigners ;)

[Metropolitan]

meters give you a somewhat better sense of distances <2km, although it is the same.
I prefer meters up to 2000m, and higher, kilometers.


possible because the word východ doesn't make too much sense to foreigners ;)Well, the same is true for uscita, ausgang or sortie but while driving in those countries it's never been a problem to adapt... Especially that in general there is an arrow pointing to the exterior leaving no doubt about it !

And by the way, I don't understand why it has to be to local Czech people to adapt rather than to foreign visitors.

[Verso]

^ Instead of the word "exit" I'd prefer some illustration, which would represent exit, like in Germany and elsewhere...

[Alex Von Königsberg]

Damn it, I should have thought about picking a different example! :bash:

[Marek.kvackaj]

I think in case of Czech republic(EU) is mean that EXIT 2000 m is very close and
using KM mean that is far away from your position

Prague 60 km/ Prague part Bohnice 2000 m
so is using as safety for drivers that they have slow down and start to be carefull

[Matthijs]

I guess it's because the 2000 m doesn't stand by itself, it's probably part of a sequence of sings.
The other distances might be like 1500 m, 1000 m, 600 m, 250 m, whatever. Then there are three options:

2 km, 1.5 km, 1 km, 0.6 km, 0.25 km
2 km, 1500 m, 1 km, 600 m, 250 m
2000 m, 1500 m, 1000, 600, 250 m

You see the point? It's probably better to use only meters OR kilometers, since mixing might be confusing. And then choosing meters is probably better then just kilometers, because kms would lead to ugly things like '0.25 km'.
So: they choose to use '2000 m'.

[Nero87]

2 km, 1.5 km, 1 km, 600 m, 250 m

Only meters OR kilometres? The possibility of using km until you reach a single kilometre and then reverting to metres really isn't THAT confusing. Especially if there's a larger gap between distance demarcations (ie. 2 km, 500m or 1 km, 200 m). If anything, I find it to be the most simple method as you avoid both decimals and extravagant digits. Suppose simplest is largely just what you're used to.

[Aokromes]

I don't see the problem of mixing meters and kilometers. A distance on meters can mean the thing is near, on kilometers more far.

[Nero87]

just a btw

I believe after conversion those countries chose to stay with a single unit - km.
Canada doesn't abide by a single unit. Smaller measurements / nearer places use metres (like 200m) but I think you know that ("if it is 1km or more") so... meh :p

[Gil]

Have you ever wondered why in Europe motorway signs use metres to indicate the distance to a local exit while in Canada and Australia they exclusively use kilometres if it is 1km or more.

As you see, the same distance is written diffrerently. What do you think could be the reason for this?

My hypothesis is simple. Before Canada and Australia converted to metric system, the distances were indicated in miles. Since miles are not conveniently related to shorter units (feet or yards), even local distances are written in miles - ¼ miles, ¾ miles, 1½ miles, etc. I believe after conversion those countries chose to stay with a single unit - km. Europe, on the other hand, converted a very long time ago, so Europeans know how to convert between metres and kilometres quite well :)

I personally like the European signage in metres better because it gives me the sense of precision (which might or might not be the case).

You've got half the answer right believing that it had something to do with Australia and Canada's metric conversion. The previous unit abbreviation for mile (mi) and the metric abbreviation for metre (m) would have caused some confusion during the changeover, so using km rather than m seemed more logical.