Yes we have 'Tonka' over here - I remember having one! John - I would have thought you would recognise a mistake like this (33")? And the fact that most - if not all - people would recognise what they really meant? Of all the signs on our roads one measure mistake is not bad going (and just a little ' to boot!). A worse mistake is in Wales - where someone from the signs department emailed a Welsh clerk who's job it was to offer back the Welsh translation. Unfortunately this Welsh clerk was on holiday and had a 'out of office' message in Welsh - a translation of which was something like 'In my absence please email .... etc'. That message ended up on the road sign!! (I believe I am accurate in the story - its on the BBC news website somewhere). Anyway - back to the topic - it was a mistake - and I would immediately understand that they meant 33 feet knowing instinctively that 33 inches would be a very small vehicle. I think they should have thought harder before presenting the story the way they did.
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:08:55 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:46981] Re: Where's the common sense in this?? To: [email protected] 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 _________________________________________________________________ Send us your Hotmail stories and be featured in our newsletter http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/
