Chugging tractors and herds of sheep will still occasionally block narrow country lanes, but another quirky challenge of navigating rural Ireland disappeared on Tuesday night as the country switched its speed limits from miles per hour to kilometers per hour.
For the last week, amused commuters along major roads watched as workers replaced 35,000 old signs and hammered in 23,000 new ones. The change ended a decades-old discrepancy between speed limits, which have been posted in miles per hour, and distances, which are usually -- but far from always -- posted in kilometers.
PHOTO: EPA
EU rules require that all distance signs be converted to kilometers by the end of the year, and Ireland is finally putting into place many of the standards it pledged to adopt when it joined the bloc in 1973.
As part of Ireland's embracing of the metric system, the Parliament ordered the change for speed limits. The government spent US$15 million on the changeover, of which US$3.3 million went to broadcast advertising, ubiquitous billboards and fliers delivered to every household in the country, so few people expect much difficulty adjusting.
Ireland is familiar with broad changes in national systems. Its original currency, the punt, was converted from Britain's base-12 shilling system to decimals in 1971, and politicians were surprised at how seamlessly the country switched to the euro three years ago.
The EU requires weights and volumes of saleable goods to be displayed in metric units, although one exception in the British Isles -- a pint of beer -- is unlikely to be sold in 568-milliliter glasses anytime soon.
For drivers in Ireland, "the appearance of more signs on our roads has increased their awareness of speed limits generally," Transportation Minister Martin Cullen said. "If motorists are more aware of their driving environment, our roads will be safer places."
Cullen also lowered the speed limit on local roads, which make up 90 percent of the road network, from 60 to 48 miles per hour, or 100km to 80km, while the top limit on highways rose to 120km, or about 75 miles, per hour.
"I knew it was going to happen eventually," said Tom Carroll, a 69-year-old taxi driver, who suggested that the government harmonize with the European standard on a slightly bigger issue.
"I'd prefer if we switched to driving on the right-hand side of the road," he said.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS