# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/61 "2021-11-29T03:10:38Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Interesting, because going into a rural town in the US there’s a decent chance that you will drive into a speed trap. In Canada, small towns mostly don’t have their own police forces. They primarily rely on either the Provincial police, or the RCMP\*. So funding small town cops doesn’t rely on nailing out-of-towners with speed traps like so many places in the US. For further information you can consult [this series of documentaries about small town life in Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corner_Gas). \*The RCMP is really quite interesting. Before the creation of [CSIS](https://www.canada.ca/en/security-intelligence-service.html), they literally covered the whole gamut of “law enforcement” from small town traffic cops, to equivalents of the FBI and CIA. And pretty much every member started as that regular beat cop. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/62 "2021-11-29T03:12:07Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > but pints, quarts and gallons will require some mental conversion to litres, and fl oz are utterly meaningless Pints are still used in pubs, but that’s literally the only place I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/63 "2021-11-29T03:15:03Z")
> [@digs](#): > > “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. Yeah, they do use their judgement. In my first road trip after we started opening up last year, I got nailed doing 140 in a 100 zone the last stretch before home. But because I didn’t make him chase me, he wrote me up for 115, which saved me a lot of money. ---
**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, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/64 "2021-11-29T03:18:00Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > In Canada, small towns mostly don’t have their own police forces. They primarily rely on either the Provincial police, or the RCMP\*. So funding small town cops doesn’t rely on nailing out-of-towners with speed traps like so many places in the US. Plus, municipalities here don’t have the power to set the speed limit on highways going through the town. Provincial road, province sets the speed limits, so no speed traps set by the municipality. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/65 "2021-11-29T03:18:06Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Are you saying that trucks and buses were going close to 100 MPH??? That’s an exaggeration, but other vehicles doing 140 on the 401 through Toronto is pretty typical in my experience. Traffic permitting, of course, you’d never hit that at any time even close to rush hour. ---
**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, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/66 "2021-11-29T03:20:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. As evidence of this I had to go to Montana to bail out a coworker who was in jail for driving well over 100mph on I-90 just over the border from Wyoming. He had driven 16 hours non-stop to this point in order to put his new Dodge Viper (I think) through its paces. I had to drive the same 16 hours to bail him out. Actually I had to drive longer because the jail and courthouse was more than an hour from where he got arrested. There was no easy way to fly to that point from Kansas City. He was a massive LEO groupie and seemed to be actually enjoying his experience. Incredibly, he did not get fired even though his license was suspended and he had to drive for work. Worse yet, he later became an LEO himself though his criminal record (he had more than this one issue) should have disqualified him. His job was selling some products to law enforcement agencies! So he was driving to police stations, state police barracks, jails, courthouses and prisons without a license for six months. ---
**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, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/67 "2021-11-29T03:23:34Z")
That’s under 90 mph. It’s simply unbelievable that buses and trucks are blowing past anyone going over 90. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/68 "2021-11-29T03:25:55Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > It’s simply unbelievable that buses and trucks are blowing past anyone going over 90. Yes, that’s why I said it’s an exaggeration. But driving quite a bit over the limit is pretty common for the 401. ---
**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, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/69 "2021-11-29T03:27:40Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > 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. I don’t remember hearing that sort of accident rate and fatality rate. Maybe Farmer Brown in Saskatchewan is a better sort of driver than his Albertan cousin? 😉 Several years ago a friend from down east came out on a business trip. She’d never been in Saskatchewan so I met her at the airport and took her for a drive in the country. Her first words off the plane: “Mon Dieu, c’est plat!” We were driving along a highway in the country and there was a fast moving cloud of dust some ways ahead. She asked what it was. I said it was someone on the grid road, likely a farm truck. I took a look at the dashboard clock, the speedometer and the angles and said “We’ll meet him in about 7 minutes.” As it happened I was right on the money: 7 minutes later, he was waiting at the intersection for us to pass, then crossed the highway and kicked up his dust again. The grid roads are so regularly spaced out here that it’s pretty easy to do that sort of calculation. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/70 "2021-11-29T04:59:46Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I took a look at the dashboard clock, the speedometer and the angles [snip] Were those regular angles or metric angles? If you mix up the two, planes run out of fuel in mid-air. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/71 "2021-11-29T07:17:51Z")
There _are_ a few highways in Canada with speed limits greater than 100 km/h. I believe some places in rural Ontario are trying 110 km/h on a few freeways, and I believe that in BC, the Coquihalla Highway, a four-lane freeway over the mountains east of Hope, was signed for 120 km/h. So if that driver had set the speed control to 120 mph rather than 120 km/h, I could see how that speeding might happen. (Of course, the Coquihalla is now badly damaged by the floods and landslides, and may not reopen for _months_, so its effective speed limit is now zero. If you’re driving over the mountains to BC, I recommend taking an alternate route, like Mexico.) Re: Saskatchewan… one year we drove west. When we got to Regina, I sent my mom a postcard that said, “It’s flat. Not bad, but flat.” (She spent time in Regina as a girl.) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/72 "2021-11-29T07:40:56Z")
I remember doing 120 km/h on the 407 through the northern suburbs of Toronto, and being _the second slowest thing on the road_. Only a concrete-mixer truck was slower. Frankly, I wasn’t confident that my car could _go_ any faster safely. ---
**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, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/73 "2021-11-29T15:07:16Z")
I know a few cops who patrol 400 series highways. Most said they would not bother pulling over anyone doing under 120 km/h. Plenty of cars do 130 km/h but above this you are going faster than most others. I once overtook an officer doing 110 km/h. He pulled me over. No ticket. Just a lecture on never driving faster than the police. ---
**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, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/74 "2021-11-29T15:08:21Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I’m pretty sure most of the highway signs here specify km/h. Is that not the case everywhere in Canada? No. Not in Ontario, anyway. When the change to metric was made many years ago, every speed limit sign had a smaller sign tacked on underneath that specified “km/h” in white-on-black lettering. They were eventually removed and I haven’t seen them in years. ---
**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, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/75 "2021-11-29T15:15:28Z")
I present to you Saskatchewan folks. [Drink it all in](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.8655873,-105.1425585,3a,75y,111.32h,86.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXoRJM_JMc_qSqDgrnk2hhQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) Tastes a bit like corn… (and road sign to the right) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/76 "2021-11-29T15:32:49Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > No. Not in Ontario, anyway. When the change to metric was made many years ago, every speed limit sign had a smaller sign tacked on underneath that specified “km/h” in white-on-black lettering. They were eventually removed and I haven’t seen them in years. You must be in a very weird part of Ontario, then. While it’s not universal, in my experience, the vast majority of signs specify km/hr. [An image search seems to confirm that](https://www.google.com/search?q=ontario+speed+limit+signs&rlz=1C1SQJL_enCA918CA919&sxsrf=AOaemvLINHC4oCtxAJ24u0e0dqMrv1zwtw:1638199664359&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwinocKo8b30AhVBZ80KHf11CuYQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1793&bih=891&dpr=1). And in [the text of the law on such signs](https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/900615#:~:text=A%20speed%20limit%20sign%20shall%20be%20erected%20on%20the%20right,the%20level%20of%20the%20roadway.), almost all of the examples show the km/hr sections. ---
**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, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/77 "2021-11-29T15:54:04Z")
I know a few cops who patrol 400 series highways. Most said they would not bother pulling over anyone doing under 120 km/h. Plenty of cars do 130 km/h but above this you are going faster than most others. The f you are spotted, your risk of being pulled over is high. I once overtook an officer who was doing 110 km/h. He pulled me over. No ticket. Just a lecture on ._never_ driving faster than the police. Since then, I never have. ---
**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, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/78 "2021-11-29T16:17:57Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > You must be in a very weird part of Ontario, then. The “weird part of Ontario” I’m in is within the Greater Toronto Area. 😉 Just to make sure I wasn’t going crazy, I did a quick Google street view of a busy section of Yonge Street, near Sheppard, and got this: [![](https://i.imgur.com/XncEl52.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/XncEl52.jpg) No “km/h” anywhere in sight. Random speed limit sign from a Globe and Mail article discussing speed limits: [![](https://i.imgur.com/YJqpt2W.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/YJqpt2W.jpg) > [@Horatius](#): > > And in [the text of the law on such signs](https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/900615#:~:text=A%20speed%20limit%20sign%20shall%20be%20erected%20on%20the%20right,the%20level%20of%20the%20roadway.), almost all of the examples show the km/hr sections. Read the actual text. The law describes speed limit signs in terms of “shall be” of a certain size, “shall bear the word ‘maximum’”, “shall display in black letters …”. Then it adds “_ **may** _ display” (optional) the “km/h” tab sign. Now, this isn’t something I pay a lot of attention to and the km/h tabs were around for so long that they may just have faded into the background of my consciousness so that I don’t see them even when they’re there, but as you can see they are most often actually not there any more. It’s possible that they still exist on major freeways like the 401 that get a lot of American drivers. I’ll have to check more carefully next time I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/79 "2021-11-29T22:18:15Z")
It’s flat. Not bad, but flat. 😀 ---
**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, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038/80 "2021-11-29T22:34:08Z")
I’ve been to Saskatchewan many times, but that flatness and “big sky” is just awesome. Incidentally, further to my earlier point, that sign cites the speed limit as “100” with no further qualification. “Km/h” is of course always assumed, and nowadays only occasionally spelled out. To my knowledge, there are no 100 km/h two-lane highways in Ontario; they are always either 80 or, often, 70 km/h. 100 is really too low for most of our limited-access divided freeways, but police and public alike seem to have adapted to over-enthusiastic do-gooder lawmakers. The public speeds in moderation, and the police ignore it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-visiting-american-friends-canada-uses-metric/955038.md?page=5)