Tonka is a brand of toy trucks in the US (not sure about the UK). My son is an adult now, but when he was little, he had Tonka trucks bigger than are allowed in the tunnel. :)
It certainly drives a stake in the argument that Imperial units are natural, intuitive, and well understood. To your point of doing a better job, we are currently headed down a worse path. The metric sign content that had existed on par with Customary in the MUTCD has been removed or moved to an appendix in the 2009 edition. Had we actually reached a point of it recommending (rather than allowing) dual signing, I don't think it would have been left as a recommendation for 20 years. It would have become a requirement more quickly, with older signs grandfathered until they had to be replaced. DfT seems to lack commitment to their recommendation. TfL seems quite nonchalant about ignoring the best practice recommendation. In the litigious US, that would get them sued. ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, March 26, 2010 8:48:52 PM Subject: [USMA:46978] Where's the common sense in this?? Let's hope when the USA finally converts to metric that we do a more sensible job than these folks are: http://metricviews.org.uk/2010/03/imperial-confusion-on-new-tunnel-signs/ They'll be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century eventually, but in the meantime, money and time will be needlessly wasted dragging their feet ... -- Ezra
