# Quebec road signs: why 230 meters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2022, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916 "2022-08-01T11:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/21 "2022-08-03T11:03:57Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > I question the OP’s notion, however, of signs announcing _school bus stops on the highway_. This was Route 132 in the Gaspe peninsula which passes through many villages and small towns. ---
**Author:** ![CardboardBoxx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardboardboxx/32/7079_2.png) [@CardboardBoxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CardboardBoxx)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/22 "2022-08-03T11:27:18Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Maybe 50 years ago You mean 1.57 Gigaseconds? ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/23 "2022-08-04T00:35:13Z")
Quite often you see a newspaper/tv article where a reporter quotes something like ‘Onlookers say the temperature at the centre of the warehouse fire must have been about 537.78 degrees’ and you know they’ve just done a farenheit/centigrade conversion. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/24 "2022-08-07T05:05:14Z")
There may be a bracket isse. Were the 230 metre signs in 100 km/h zones ? To conform to standards they should put the signs at least 235 metres from the bus stop, if its a 100 km/h zone… so yes it seems its a function of speed zone… maybe to reduce the number of signs designed, they put the 230 metre ones in 90 AND 100 zones… see … > **[trans-school-bus-stop-ahead-sign-2009-06.pdf](https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/9d95c6ea-ee15-4f01-bba0-e5f4dc11e41c/resource/65c7ad42-86a2-490f-a571-0d27deff0d55/download/trans-school-bus-stop-ahead-sign-2009-06.pdf)** ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/25 "2022-08-07T08:09:55Z")
Interesting; the stopping distance at 90 km/h (the usual speed on Route 132) as listed in that document is 190-265 m and the average of those two figures is 227.5 m. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/26 "2022-08-07T09:58:51Z")
Ontario’s 401 highway originally had exits numbered consecutively increasing from west to east…i think 128 was near the Quebec border this led to some A, B, etc exits around Toronto as new ones were inserted. Then they changed them to mileage based exit numbets, with exit 5xx near the Quebec border, but vety soon after to km based exits, with exit 8xx near the Quebec border. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/27 "2022-08-07T11:45:26Z")
The UK sensibly decided to leave the roads designated in miles when we became metric. I believe that changing over the huge number of road signs was considered not to be cost-effective. Footpath signs are mostly metric these days, but all speed limit and distance signs for vehicles are in miles. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/28 "2022-08-08T04:05:30Z")
Or is it five decayears? ---
**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:** [August 10, 2022, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/29 "2022-08-10T04:57:06Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > The UK sensibly decided to leave the roads designated in miles when we became metric. I believe that changing over the huge number of road signs was considered not to be cost-effective. …and meanwhile Canada was able to change all of its road signs to metric? I don’t understand why the UK couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/30 "2022-08-10T07:56:22Z")
We could have but (in my view wisely) decided not to. It’s not the only anomaly: milk and beer are still sold by the pint for example. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2022, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/31 "2022-08-10T08:23:21Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > …and meanwhile Canada was able to change all of its road signs to metric? I don’t understand why the UK couldn’t. Because Canada went nuts over metric, until it realized it was stupid. Nobody in Europe cared at what speed Canadians drove. Nobody in Australia cared what the temperature in Toronto was today. Nobody in Asia cared how heavy was a Canadian box. Metric in Canada was useless, and unnecessary, and a waste of tax dollars in the changeover. I like the US’s approach, which is to basically to tell metric to shove off. Canada can make metric parts, and we can do science in metric, but you’re not going to see signs telling you that it’s 98 kilometers to Kansas City, nor will it ever be 32 degrees in Los Angeles. It’ll be 60 kilometers or thirty-something respectively, thanks to metric. Of course, it can be in Toronto or Montreal, but you’ll never hear about it in Miles or Fahrenheit, respectively. Metric sucks. There, I said it. I had to learn a whole new language when I was 17, and I hated it. Suddenly, all I knew was upended, when driving, speed limits, distances, weights, measures, heights (what the fuck is “4.7m” in feet and inches?). And those of us who hated it were drowned out by the, “Oh, metric is so much easier” explainers. Screw metric, screw the explainers, and let’s get back to feet and inches, as the US has never given up. We share a continent with them, we do not share a continent with Europe or Asia or Australia or Africa. We should use the US’s units of measurement–hell, they’re bigger and more important–not Europe’s. Metric sucks. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/32 "2022-08-10T08:42:18Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Screw metric Screwing metric is easy, but don’t mix up British and American screws! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/33 "2022-08-10T10:41:46Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > We should use the US’s units of measurement–hell, they’re bigger and more important–not Europe’s. I suspect if you tried to convince one of today’s youth on the glory of gallons, quarts, pints and fluid ounces, you would get a reply along the lines of “OK boomer”. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2022, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/34 "2022-08-12T03:14:49Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Metric sucks. 'Nuff said. I’m going to have to totally disagree with you here, **Spoons**. Metric does not suck. I can talk to people worldwide in metric, but only people from a few places in Imperial or US Customary. I don’t have to worry about which litre or which kilometre to use. Canada has been stuck in a horrible state between metric and Imperial for over a generation thanks to the Mulroney Conservatives’ decision to stop converting to metric partway through. There’s enough non-metric remaining that people who have emotional allegiance to non-metric units will never give them up. I wonder whether even reverting to Imperial would ultimately have been better than where we are now. Completing the change to metric, as Australia did, would have been the best of the three choices. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/35 "2022-08-21T20:12:15Z")
The Irish Republic changed all their road signs to kilometres a few years ago - it’s one of the few evidences that you’ve crossed the border. ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916/36 "2022-08-22T12:30:30Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > In the UK, we have striped “countdown marker” signs which mark the distance to the next exit. Three stripes is 300 yards, two stripes is 200 yards and one stripe is 100 yards. All nice and straightforward. > > When I learned to drive in the mid 90s, the Highway Code gave those same distances in metres, which meant they weren’t nicely intuitive, and you had to learn them. > > Having just looked at the online Highway Code, it seems they’re back to quoting the distance in yards. Just to add an extra layer of confusion, it seems that the more recently-fitted motorway exit countdown markers are spaced 100 metres apart, although the Highway Code still lists them as 100 yards. [https://metricviews.uk/2008/01/31/mtres-yards-interchangeable/](https://metricviews.uk/2008/01/31/mtres-yards-interchangeable/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebec-road-signs-why-230-meters/968916.md?page=1)