The sign shown above

You see, it seems to me that rather than putting up a sign to warn the keen handwasher that they face a difficult choice between a potential scalding, or the rather unsatisfactory experience of washing their hands in cold water, the proprietor of the washroom has a couple of more sensible options.

The first option is something to which we Brits seem curiously opposed, particularly in public toilets. I am of course referring to the modern, new-fangled device of a mixer tap. Yes, it's true, you know. There are taps where hot water is mixed with a variable amount of cold (or vice versa), leaving the basin-user with a configurable water-temperature solution which will allow them to wash their hands in the greatest of comfort.

The second option would be to make use of another well-known temperature regulating device: a thermostat. Amazingly, this device allows the proprietor of a hot water supply to set a maximum temperature above and beyond which the water would not be raised.

Am I missing a vital point here? Do we persist in the separate tap régime simply to annoy foreigners or something?

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* where n is a positive integer