[bertwert]

My main experience with them is in speed limits, which are of course, in KM/hr. Cars in the US have both MPH and KPM on the speedometers, but the KPH scale is hard to read, especially at night, so driving up there always turns out to be an adventure.

Here, the cars do have both, but the MPH is tiny.

If you take the most common speeds here, it's pretty simple if you only have a speedometer in mph:
120 km/h ~ 75 mph
100 km/h ~ 60 mph
50 km/h ~ 30 mph
30 km/h ~ 20 mph

I knew a guy with a car only displaying mph, so he had little sticky with conversions for all the different speeds you see.

[reh321]

Here, the cars do have both, but the MPH is tiny.

If you take the most common speeds here, it's pretty simple if you only have a speedometer in mph:
120 km/h ~ 75 mph
100 km/h ~ 60 mph
50 km/h ~ 30 mph
30 km/h ~ 20 mph

I knew a guy with a car only displaying mph, so he had little sticky with conversions for all the different speeds you see.

I basically multiply by 0.6 and then round to the nearest 5, which gives measurements like yours, but at age 72 my computing and driving centers compete for time.

[Serkevan]

While I prefer using metric and millimetres, it's much easier to keep halving in inches rather than cm, for example:
1 inch, 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, 1/8 inch, 1/16 inch, 1/32 inch, 1/64 inch, etc.
1 cm, 5mm, 2.5mm, 1.25mm, 0.625mm, 0.3125mm, 0.15625mm, etc.

Mentally, it's much easier working with little fractions rather than little decimals.

Curious; for me it's normally the other way around . I have to ask; what application requires 1/32 or 1/64 in that isn't more easily covered by, respectively, 312 and 156 um?

---------- Post added 01-08-20 at 09:34 AM ----------

[...]Imperial vs US gallons [...]

Don't get me started on the short/long/metric ton/tonne thingy. Ew.

---------- Post added 01-08-20 at 09:37 AM ----------

Here, the cars do have both, but the MPH is tiny.

If you take the most common speeds here, it's pretty simple if you only have a speedometer in mph:
120 km/h ~ 75 mph
100 km/h ~ 60 mph
50 km/h ~ 30 mph
30 km/h ~ 20 mph

I knew a guy with a car only displaying mph, so he had little sticky with conversions for all the different speeds you see.

When I had the pleasure of driving across part of the US Midwest (Las Vegas - Zion - Bryce - Page - Grand Canyon - Phoenix), it was very weird to have the car in mph... and to find the speed sensation of 60 mph be closer to 70 km/h than to 100 km/h. I blame the sheer inmensity of the landscape and the long straight roads; in my home area driving for more than half a km in a straight line is an event in and out of itself

[aslyfox]

. . . Don't get me started on the short/long/metric ton/tonne thingy. Ew.. . .

that's a weighty topic

which I won't bother to raise

[ bad back you know ]

[fsge]

6 more months and we should know, I am not worried about this release

[reh321]

Curious; for me it's normally the other way around . I have to ask; what application requires 1/32 or 1/64 in that isn't more easily covered by, respectively, 312 and 156 um?When I had the pleasure of driving across part of the US Midwest (Las Vegas - Zion - Bryce - Page - Grand Canyon - Phoenix), it was very weird to have the car in mph... and to find the speed sensation of 60 mph be closer to 70 km/h than to 100 km/h. I blame the sheer inmensity of the landscape and the long straight roads; in my home area driving for more than half a km in a straight line is an event in and out of itself

My wife {who was born and raised in Brooklyn} says she never understood Western objections to a national 55mph speed limit until we drove and drove and drove across Wyoming.

[clickclick]

When I had the pleasure of driving across part of the US Midwest (Las Vegas - Zion - Bryce - Page - Grand Canyon - Phoenix), it was very weird to have the car in mph... and to find the speed sensation of 60 mph be closer to 70 km/h than to 100 km/h. I blame the sheer inmensity of the landscape and the long straight roads; in my home area driving for more than half a km in a straight line is an event in and out of itself

Yep! I had similar feelings driving across the midwest some years back. 80 mph felt like a pedestrian pace. Much prefer some twisty roads to play on (cars are another one of my vices).

[aslyfox]

Y. . . Much prefer some twisty roads to play on (cars are another one of my vices).

a lot of fun was lost ( and damage to small town economies ) happen when speed of travel became a priority [ as well as the need for military transport needs ] and caused the creation of the interstate highway system in the US

[reh321]

a lot of fun was lost ( and damage to small town economies ) happen when speed of travel became a priority [ as well as the need for military transport needs ] and caused the creation of the interstate highway system in the US

Yes, an example is US 31 between here and Indianapolis. They have bypassed several villages and Kokomo since we moved here, putting several restaurants and gasoline stations out of business - but they have reduced travel time between here and Indianapolis by nearly an hour - from four hours to the airport there to just over three hours. If you are the one making the trip, that time difference is really hard to ignore.

[clickclick]

a lot of fun was lost ( and damage to small town economies ) happen when speed of travel became a priority [ as well as the need for military transport needs ] and caused the creation of the interstate highway system in the US

The good side effect was freeing up some of those old roads for some play. I'm always looking for the alternate route.

[cartesio]

I basically multiply by 0.6 and then round to the nearest 5, which gives measurements like yours, but at age 72 my computing and driving centers compete for time.

72 what? I mean, which time unit are you using?

[reh321]

72 what? I mean, which time unit are you using?

Unfortunately times the earth has gone around the sun in my lifetime

[ZombieArmy]

My wife {who was born and raised in Brooklyn} says she never understood Western objections to a national 55mph speed limit until we drove and drove and drove across Wyoming.

Even just driving through Florida highways would test your patience at 55.

[SteveinSLC]

My wife {who was born and raised in Brooklyn} says she never understood Western objections to a national 55mph speed limit until we drove and drove and drove across Wyoming.

Yes, as much as it is fun to stop and investigate, across the long distances in the West, there's a significant driving time difference between going 60mph and going 80mph.

[aslyfox]

just adapt your driving accordingly please

Stopping Distances for Dry Pavement/Road 1

Speed Thinking Distance 2

Braking Distance Overall Stopping Distance

Comparisons
20 mph 20 feet 20 feet 40 feet
30 mph 30 feet 45 feet 75 feet Full length of tractor/semi-trailer or articulated wagon
40 mph 40 feet 80 feet 120 feet
50 mph 50 feet 125 feet 175 feet
60 mph 60 feet 180 feet 240 feet
70 mph 70 feet 245 feet 315 feet (USA = “Touchdown !”)
80 mph 80 feet 320 feet 400 feet About six semi-trailer or articulated wagon lengths 3

Notes

1 For non-US readers, ‘pavement’ is the American word for the road surface. We are not referring to the British meaning of the word, which is the same as the American ‘sidewalk’.

2 The ‘thinking distances’ shown allow for two-thirds of a second reaction time. This varies from one driver to another and for individuals who are ill, tired or simply not concentrating, it can be much longer.

3 The 80mph examples are not here to condone breaking any speed limits, rather to illustrate the extra dangers faced by, and caused by, those people who exceed the usual highway limits.

https://www.driveandstayalive.com/stopping-distances/

[ I hate people sitting on my bumper ]