# Note to visiting American friends: Canada uses metric **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 27, 2021, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038 "2021-11-27T23:47:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/41 "2021-11-28T21:30:45Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Upon further reflection, I _mostly_ accede to this point of view, but I still want to know what this particular road was like. On a long, flat, straight stretch of divided highway, on a clear day, in a sparsely-populated area, where there are few if any other vehicles on the road, driving 100 or even 125 mph might begin to seem reasonable. I’ve not found an image for the #1 highway near Wolsey, where the fellow was stopped, but the image of the #1 in this article is fairly typical. Note that it is a shot of the divided highway. > **[Travellers' guide to Saskatchewan](https://www.travellerspoint.com/guide/Saskatchewan/)** > > Open source, wiki travel guide to Saskatchewan with information, photos, activities, maps, travel tips and more. Created by the amazing members of Travellerspoint. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/42 "2021-11-28T21:33:10Z")
This unsafe for the conditions law is also in BC ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/43 "2021-11-28T21:35:39Z")
Looks like there are surface level intersections all over the place! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/44 "2021-11-28T21:56:09Z")
> [@tavaritz](#): > > What I know is that in rural areas the local police let things go by as long as you don’t cause accident. Interesting, because going into a rural town in the US there’s a decent chance that you will drive into a speed trap. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/45 "2021-11-28T22:33:52Z")
When I lived in Ontario (before 1987), the 401 from Kitchener to Toronto was a free-fire zone. Most traffic was doing 85-90, and faster was not unheard of. I was last there a few years ago, saw all the signs about fines/impoundment, and while it was a BIT slower, 80mph was still pretty well the going rate. YKMV. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/46 "2021-11-28T23:20:40Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I think there’s a very gradual generational shift on some of these. Yep. IME, if you’re under 60, people’s height will be in feet and inches and weight in lbs (outside of official or medical records) - and fractions of a pound will be fractions of a pound, not ounces - but most non-people things will be in metres and kilograms (meat can go either way), your oven will likely be in Fahrenheit, but your body temperature and the environment will be in Celcius, and you can work with either cups or ml, but pints, quarts and gallons will require some mental conversion to litres, and fl oz are utterly meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/47 "2021-11-28T23:39:18Z")
Even granted that there are some places in the US where drivers routinely go 20 or more MPH above the posted limit, everyone knows, or at least should know, that that’s only in some places, and that if you don’t know how zealously a jurisdiction enforces its limits, you should be a bit conservative. And in most production cars, 125 MPH would be unsafe even on the Bonneville Salt Flats. You’re running a serious risk there of things like tire blowouts. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/48 "2021-11-28T23:44:14Z")
Canadian police are often pretty reasonable at giving warnings or being much less punitive than possible. In Ontario if you are driving more than 50 km/h over the posted limit you might be considered to be street racing, and your car is automatically impounded with enormous fines and insurance consequences. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/49 "2021-11-29T00:02:25Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > In Ontario if you are driving more than 50 km/h over the posted limit you might be considered to be street racing “might” … I would hope that’s where the officers’ judgement comes in. Is this person a kid with a “chopped ‘n’ channelled” muscle car, impressing his friends? Or is it a wife in a minivan trying to get her husband to the airport on time? Sure, fine her, but don’t impound such a boring car. > [@phs3](#): > > When I lived in Ontario (before 1987), the 401 from Kitchener to Toronto was a free-fire zone. Most traffic was doing 85-90, and faster was not unheard of. Back in the 70s, we used to take the 401 from the Midwest to New England. When we figured our arrival time, we’d factor in flying across Canada. Hmmm, I wonder if that’s where I got my impression of Canada as being more enlightened than the USofA… ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/50 "2021-11-29T00:05:10Z")
I understand people wanting to throw the book at the dangerous idiot, but the RCMP probably ran his licence and plates so they have recorded this incident well. If the guy does something like this again, he is fucked. Chances are that the Mounties deemed him stupid, but that there was many factors lessening the danger flat open roads, no cars, clear skies, I dunno…they could’ve also got played. But I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/51 "2021-11-29T01:06:39Z")
Another note - in Scotland, while everything else is metric, speed limits are in MPH, not kPH. And I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who was stuck behind me on my first day driving there. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/52 "2021-11-29T01:27:47Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I wondered if there were places in North America where the speed limit legitimately is 100 mph. From what I was able to google, apparently not: the highest speed limit is apparently 85 mph. Still, the fact that I suspected there might be such a place says something. Montana shares a border with Saskatchewan, so it’s quite possible this driver was from Montana. According to [this page](https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a14511978/montana-was-once-the-last-bastion-of-hot-nasty-bad-ass-speed-feature/) and [this page](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/22/no-speed-limits-nevada-montana-last-states-full-freedom/2947782002/), the speed limit in Montana is 80 miles per hour (128 km/h), but **there was no speed limit** (∞ km/h \*) on Montana highways from 1995 until 1999. (\* All right, 1.079x10^9 km/h ) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/53 "2021-11-29T01:57:44Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > The 401 between Detroit and Toronto is a raceway. I’ll be going 90+(mph), and be blown off the road by trucks and busses. That sounds to me like either your speedometer is defective or, perhaps like @phs3, you are thinking of many years ago, when the speed limit on the 401 was 70 mph and not as rigourously enforced as today. 90 mph is about 145 km/h which is very close to the impound and automatic license suspension level. It also seems implausible that you were being “blown off the road by trucks and busses”, since few large trucks or highway buses would be able to even attain such a speed, even if they weren’t speed-limited by automatic governors, which many of them are. I think you may be misremembering. That section of the 401 is quite familiar to me, though I’ve rarely gone farther southwest than London, and it’s a perfectly ordinary divided highway with the normal flow of traffic generally going 10 to 20 km/h over the limit. I’ve passed radar setups numerous times doing around 120 km/h in a 100 zone with no issues. But anyone driving as you describe would definitely have issues pretty quickly, at least today. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/54 "2021-11-29T02:13:00Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > The 401 between Detroit and Toronto is a raceway. I’ll be going 90+(mph), and be blown off the road by trucks and busses. Are you saying that trucks and buses were going close to 100 MPH??? How long ago was this? In the last ten years, buses and trucks traveling at these speeds is going to trigger all manner of flags to fleet management. Does Canada have a bunch of wildcat bus companies with no liability concerns? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/55 "2021-11-29T02:39:36Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Looks like there are surface level intersections all over the place! There tend to be surface level intersections on divided highways in western Canada. As one who learned to drive in Ontario, on its 400-series Interstate-quality superhighways with limited access and egress, I find these at-grade intersections scary and dangerous. At least once a week, the local news reports an accident at one of these intersections; and the accident often results in one or more deaths. When I moved to Alberta, I asked why these things were allowed. The answer was that Farmer Brown didn’t want to have to drive ten miles out of his way in order to get on the highway. Well, if the Farmer Browns in Nebraska and Iowa can manage, then why can’t the Farmer Browns in Alberta and Saskatchewan? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/56 "2021-11-29T02:50:09Z")
I (from New Jersey) visited Ontario 10 years ago, and was surprised to find that the supermarket produce was priced in pounds (though kg was also on the sign in a smaller font). So I started a thread here asking about it. If anyone wants to compare the posts on this thread with the posts from ten years ago, click [here.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-produce-in-canadian-supermarkets-english-vs-metric-units/593704) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/57 "2021-11-29T02:57:59Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > Montana shares a border with Saskatchewan, so it’s quite possible this driver was from Montana. According to [this page](https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a14511978/montana-was-once-the-last-bastion-of-hot-nasty-bad-ass-speed-feature/) and [this page](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/22/no-speed-limits-nevada-montana-last-states-full-freedom/2947782002/), the speed limit in Montana is 80 miles per hour (128 km/h), but **there was no speed limit** (∞ km/h \*) on Montana highways from 1995 until 1999. Funny, I was just mentioning this in another thread: There was, in fact, a speed limit in Montana in the 90s, and this guy would surely have been ticketed for speeding in Montana. There was no set numeric limit, but there was still a requirement that the speed be “reasonable and prudent”. Which 125 MPH isn’t, in the vast majority of situations. > [@amarinth](#): > > Another note - in Scotland, while everything else is metric, speed limits are in MPH, not kPH. And I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who was stuck behind me on my first day driving there. Ireland is KPH now, I’ve heard, but when I visited (2003, I think it was?), it was still MPH, too. And the signs just had a number, like “Speed Limit 60”, no units specified. We did see a car crawling along on one of the motorways, and as we passed it, I saw German plates on it. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/58 "2021-11-29T03:02:03Z")
Yes, but this definitely increases the danger of an idiot/asshole driving at 125 mph, because the idea that there is perfect visibility on a straight road goes right out of the window when you have to worry about crossing merging/crossing traffic at intervals a lot more frequent than highway exits would be. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/59 "2021-11-29T03:06:56Z")
I’m pretty sure most of the highway signs here specify km/h. Is that not the case everywhere in Canada? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/60 "2021-11-29T03:10:15Z")
Not Saskatchewan, as set out in the SGI driving manual: > **[Regulatory signs - SGI - SGI - Liferay DXP prd01](https://sgi.sk.ca/handbook/-/knowledge_base/drivers/regulatory-signs)** > > The Saskatchewan Driver's Handbook - A guide to safe driving is a helpful resource for becoming a knowledgeable and good driver. It's great for people who are working towards getting their driver's licence. It's also a handy reference tool for... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038.md?page=4)