Unnecessarily Accurate Distances on Signs

[Chris Bertram]

This is a little off topic, but it doesn't seem worth starting a new one for this unnecessarily accurate speeding conviction.

I was researching my family history and searching through newspaper reports for anything mentioning an ancestor's name when I found a report in the West Sussex County Times dated 13 June 1925 that bore his name. It stated that he exceeded a 10mph limit in Crawley by driving at 33 miles 344 yards per hour. 344 yards doesn't quite equate to 0.2 of a mile, as that would be 352 yards. I assume the police would use stopwatches to time the car over a given distance, so I can't see how they could be that accurate, so why didn't they just say he was driving at 33 mph?

I would say that they were monkeys with calculators. Assuming that he was clocked over a 100 metre stretch of road travelling at about 15 m/s (which approximates to 34 mph), it would have taken about 7 seconds to cover the distance. Assuming that their stopwatches worked to 0.1, then ait best they could approximate his speed to the nearest 1.5% or avout 0.5 mph.

Calculators? In 1925? Clive Sinclair must have been older than he looked.

[FosseWay]

What was the outcome for driving at over three times the posted limit?

[wallmeerkat]

This is a little off topic, but it doesn't seem worth starting a new one for this unnecessarily accurate speeding conviction.

I was researching my family history and searching through newspaper reports for anything mentioning an ancestor's name when I found a report in the West Sussex County Times dated 13 June 1925 that bore his name. It stated that he exceeded a 10mph limit in Crawley by driving at 33 miles 344 yards per hour. 344 yards doesn't quite equate to 0.2 of a mile, as that would be 352 yards. I assume the police would use stopwatches to time the car over a given distance, so I can't see how they could be that accurate, so why didn't they just say he was driving at 33 mph?

I would say that they were monkeys with calculators. Assuming that he was clocked over a 100 metre stretch of road travelling at about 15 m/s (which approximates to 34 mph), it would have taken about 7 seconds to cover the distance. Assuming that their stopwatches worked to 0.1, then ait best they could approximate his speed to the nearest 1.5% or avout 0.5 mph.

Calculators? In 1925? Clive Sinclair must have been older than he looked.

There were pre-microprocessor calculators (the old mechanical tills are an example of one with a specific application), presumably the police/courts would've had access to, if only to calculate income from fines

[jnty]

I would say that they were monkeys with calculators. Assuming that he was clocked over a 100 metre stretch of road travelling at about 15 m/s (which approximates to 34 mph), it would have taken about 7 seconds to cover the distance. Assuming that their stopwatches worked to 0.1, then ait best they could approximate his speed to the nearest 1.5% or avout 0.5 mph.

Calculators? In 1925? Clive Sinclair must have been older than he looked.

There were pre-microprocessor calculators (the old mechanical tills are an example of one with a specific application), presumably the police/courts would've had access to, if only to calculate income from fines

Would it not be more likely that there would be a pre-computed table for the police to reference over a given distance?

That speed is almost exactly 13sec over 211 yards - is there some obvious distance in Crawley that's 211 yards?! Or perhaps 13.5s over a furlong..?

[wallmeerkat]

Calculators? In 1925? Clive Sinclair must have been older than he looked.

There were pre-microprocessor calculators (the old mechanical tills are an example of one with a specific application), presumably the police/courts would've had access to, if only to calculate income from fines

Would it not be more likely that there would be a pre-computed table for the police to reference over a given distance?

That speed is almost exactly 13sec over 211 yards - is there some obvious distance in Crawley that's 211 yards?! Or perhaps 13.5s over a furlong..?

An old fashioned speed camera, just hold the pose

[Octaviadriver]

What was the outcome for driving at over three times the posted limit?

The outcome was a fine of £3, plus 1s costs (that's 5p in this new Mickey Mouse money for anyone not around in 1971).

[FosseWay]

What was the outcome for driving at over three times the posted limit?

The outcome was a fine of £3, plus 1s costs (that's 5p in this new Mickey Mouse money for anyone not around in 1971).

According to the BoE's inflation calculator, £3 in 1925 is £150 today.

Today, I'd imagine you'd get a bit more of a fine than that for doing, say, 60 in a 20. The fine here is 4000 kr (~£350) for speeds up to 10 km/h over the limit in 30 and 40 km/h limits.

[Vierwielen]

This is a little off topic, but it doesn't seem worth starting a new one for this unnecessarily accurate speeding conviction.

I was researching my family history and searching through newspaper reports for anything mentioning an ancestor's name when I found a report in the West Sussex County Times dated 13 June 1925 that bore his name. It stated that he exceeded a 10mph limit in Crawley by driving at 33 miles 344 yards per hour. 344 yards doesn't quite equate to 0.2 of a mile, as that would be 352 yards. I assume the police would use stopwatches to time the car over a given distance, so I can't see how they could be that accurate, so why didn't they just say he was driving at 33 mph?

I would say that they were monkeys with calculators. Assuming that he was clocked over a 100 metre stretch of road travelling at about 15 m/s (which approximates to 34 mph), it would have taken about 7 seconds to cover the distance. Assuming that their stopwatches worked to 0.1, then ait best they could approximate his speed to the nearest 1.5% or avout 0.5 mph.

Calculators? In 1925? Clive Sinclair must have been older than he looked.

I actually used mechanical calculators in the 1960's.

[Ruperts Trooper]

I would say that they were monkeys with calculators. Assuming that he was clocked over a 100 metre stretch of road travelling at about 15 m/s (which approximates to 34 mph), it would have taken about 7 seconds to cover the distance. Assuming that their stopwatches worked to 0.1, then ait best they could approximate his speed to the nearest 1.5% or avout 0.5 mph.

Calculators? In 1925? Clive Sinclair must have been older than he looked.

I actually used mechanical calculators in the 1960's.

I was using computers in the '60s - and, as an apprentice, was given the job of de-wiring the plug boards from the old mechanical/electrical accounting machines the computers replaced.

[Vierwielen]

Calculators? In 1925? Clive Sinclair must have been older than he looked.

I actually used mechanical calculators in the 1960's.

I was using computers in the '60s - and, as an apprentice, was given the job of de-wiring the plug boards from the old mechanical/electrical accounting machines the computers replaced.

Not these machines?

[Ruperts Trooper]

I actually used mechanical calculators in the 1960's.

I was using computers in the '60s - and, as an apprentice, was given the job of de-wiring the plug boards from the old mechanical/electrical accounting machines the computers replaced.

Not these machines?

Not quite - IBM S/360 - but I never looked what make the accounting machines were - at college I did programme the 1951 Harwell computer donated to Wolverhampton College of Advanced Technology (now Wolverhampton University) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harwell_computer

[Vierwielen]

I was using computers in the '60s - and, as an apprentice, was given the job of de-wiring the plug boards from the old mechanical/electrical accounting machines the computers replaced.

Not these machines?

Not quite - IBM S/360 - but I never looked what make the accounting machines were - at college I did programme the 1951 Harwell computer donated to Wolverhampton College of Advanced Technology (now Wolverhampton University) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harwell_computer

I cut my teeth on an IBM 1130 (similar vintage to the IBM 360), but I think that my ultimate was a Teletype stream editor! Both the input and output "files" were held on paper tape. I would copy the appropriate text from the input tape to the output tape and watch it being typed out on the console. If I wished to delete a character, I would stop the copying, open the tape reader, advance it a character and then restart the copying. If I wish to insert a character, I would stop the read operation and enter the character on the keyboard which would then be transferred to the paper tape before resrting the transfer of information from the input tape. Who says that files have to be on magnetic media?

[Chris Bertram]

Oh god, we're into "I remember punched cards" territory now. Actually, I do too, from as late as 1983 at West Midlands County Council where we had ICL 2900 Series kit, some of which ran 1900 series emulation where certain jobs were run using punched cards.

I do vaguely remember paper tape from school, I think our school computer room had a terminal linked to Bristol University which was active at certain times. But this is an awfully long time ago.