Speed limits are going metric at midnight. Are you ready? Daniel Attwood has some questions - and some answers.
Q: I understand something major is happening on our roads?
A: My, the €2.5 million the government has spent trying to educate Ireland's two million or so motorists hasn't all been wasted. Yes, from midnight tonight all speed limits will be in kilometres-per-hour rather than imperial miles-per-hour.
Q: Why, I'm happy with mph?
A: It's down to a EU directive designed to bring member states into the metric world.
Q: Oh, so our neighbour, the UK, is also going metric?
A: No.
Q: So why is Ireland changing?
A: According to Fleishman-Hillard Saunders, the company given the €2.5 million public awareness contract, speed limits are going metric to "bring consistency on to (sic) our public roads. We display distances in kilometres on most of our national roads, so it makes sense to have our speed also measured in kilometres."
Q: That's it?
A: Seems to be. Although it's hoped that the changeover will also improve road safety.
Q: How?
A: Well, an extra 23,000 signs should raise awareness. And limits have also been changed, some up and some down.
Q: But we're always being told that speed kills, surely increasing speed limits is a retrograde step?
A: Speed limits have only been increased by any significant amount on motorways - Ireland's safest roads - to the equivalent of 74mph (120km/h). On our most dangerous roads - non-national regional and local roads which make up over 90 per cent of the network - the limit has been reduced by 20 per cent to 50mph (80km/h).
In addition, some recognised danger areas such as outside schools will eventually have 19mph (30kph) limits. There will also be a few roads that have a 60km/h (37mph) limit.
Oh, and on some dual carriageways, one lane may have a different speed to the other. Look out for that one!
Q: It all sounds very complicated?
A: Just remember to do no more than 50mph on non-national roads, 37mph in those few interim areas and 19mph in the new danger areas (which will be established only after public consultation). Everywhere else, if you stick to the old limits you'll stay on the right side of the law.
Q: So every road will now have a limit assigned to it?
A: Correct, the default national limit sign has gone to the recycling centre. Now every time you drive into a new speed limit area you will pass a sign detailing the maximum permitted speed.
Q: If they are reducing the speed on the most dangerous roads, will we now see the Gardai on these roads enforcing the new limit?
A: The Department of Transport says yes. The Gardai, on the other hand, have only said they will vigorously enforce the new limits, although they haven't said where.
Q: But I fail to see why we had to change to km/h. Why didn't they just lower the limits?
A: Like I said, it's also about brining us in line with Europe.
Q: But our closest neighbour isn't changing. Won't that cause confusion for motorists crossing the border and those thousands of us who get the ferry over to Britain?
A: Yes. In fact, it will cause the biggest headaches for Irish motorists driving new cars that display only km/h on the speedo. They will have to use the formula - divide by eight and times by five - to convert their speed back into mph whenever they cross the border. UK motorists will still have dual display speedos on their vehicles.
Q: Wait a minute . . . so all new Irish cars have only kilometres on their speedos?
A: That's right. The vast majority display only km/h. This is because car manufacturers wouldn't produce speedos with dominant km/h readings and smaller mph readings just for our tiny Irish market.
Q: So wouldn't it have made more sense to work with the British authorities and have a dual changeover?
A: Yes. But there was a similar situation in 1976 when Canada went metric and the US stayed imperial. There was no tangible negative impact on road safety there.
Q: OK, give us the bottom-line. How much will it all cost me?
A: Well, apart from the €9 million of taxpayers' money already spent on 58,000 new signs, there's the €2.5 million spent telling us all about it. Oh, and don't forget that it will eventually impact on residual values of second-hand cars.
Q: What? So the 04 car I bought six months ago with mph as its main reading is going to be worth less?
A: The motor industry is divided on this, but most agree that in three or four years' time a car with the old-style dual speedo, such as yours, will be worth less than a car with similar mileage and in similar condition that has a km/h speedo.
Q: Damn! I want a new speedo fitted. Can my garage do it?
A: Technically yes, but it means changing the entire sealed binnacle and ensuring it's recalibrated correctly. This is very expensive - for a normal family saloon expect to pay upwards of €750. And some garages won't do the work because of the legal and warranty implications of recalibrating a factory-fitted speedometer.
Q: So, can I put a km/h sticker over the existing speedo?
A: No. The unit is sealed. If you put a sticker over the clear plastic cover, the readout will not be accurate. If you need to know what the new limits are in mph, drop the zero and multiply by 6 - this will get you very near the new speeds.
Q: So, I should have waited to buy my 04 car?
A: Yes. Or ordered it with the new speedo.
Q: I could have done that?
A: Yes, although very few people did. From the middle of 2004, cars were becoming available with km/h speedos because, originally, the changeover was to take place last autumn.
Q: So why didn't it?
A: The usual excuses: signs not ready, time not right, cabinet reshuffle, delays getting the Road Traffic Act through Dáil.
Q: That may answer this: why is it being done at the wettest, darkest and most dangerous time of the year for driving. Wouldn't it have made more sense to do this in the summer?
A: Yes.
Q: I think I'd better find out more.
A: Go to www.gometric.ie