Why is speed not expressed as metres per second on the speedometer of a car?

Question

I think 70mph is 12 m/s which gives more of an idea of how fast car is going. Maybe it would make people think since people can imagine a metre, not a mile

okay, most people say mph, is need to know how long it will take to get somewhere. thats understandable.how about both?

Answer 1

Mile per hour is what we and the Americans understand and kilometres per hour is what the Europeans understand why change it?

Answer 2

Well its a speed o meter

how fast and how far measured in distance.

now 60 miles per hour means 1 mile per minute
so its easy to see at 60 mph the distance or number of miles tells you the number of minutes it will take to get there.

This also happens to work well for kilomeers or kph with the exception that it measures the hours in decimal so that every 100 k = 1 hour and more is the measure of 1/100ths of an hour so that 175 kilometers is 1.75 hours or 1 and 3/4 hours.

So you can tell at a glance by the m or k signs for distance of a reasonable estimation how long till you are there.

Ob1 knows the road.

Answer 3

Does your car go that fast then
a speedo is only accredited to within 10% by law,ie 70mph could be 77
that's why to get a sure fired prosecution it as to be 10% plus 2
a tachograph in a truck as to be within 1/2 miles per hour,ie70 mph=71/72
another point of interest, most modern vehicles have dual readings on the odometers ie mph/kph, ie 80 kph=50mph
driving a truck, you are required to observe the speed limit in mph
when filling out your daily driving record the distance travelled as to be recorded in ks
Ex lorry driver incase you hadnt guessed lol

Answer 4

well, with vehicles, since most people use them to travell significantly longer distnaces, they want to be able to estimate driving time until point of destination.
It is easier to think..."okay, 360 miles until Los Angeles, and at 60 mph, I'll get there in 6 hours." Try doing that as 360 miles until Los Angeles, and at 12 meters per second....ummmm.

I guess you'll just have to settle for the kilometer readings on our speedometers. From there, you can make the conversion to meters...if you still wish.

Answer 5

It is all a matter of expressing the speed in a manner to which we can relate.

Metres per second is rarely used, and the only example I can think of is that French Air Traffic control used to use it to describe the wind speed on the runway. The correction given by another of your respondents is quite correct!

Here in the UK we still use MPH.

Any time you change a method of expressing weights, speed, size etc, you have difficulties, and that is why we stick to what we know.

For example, in the US, gas mileage is expressed in miles per US gallon (which is different from an Imperial gallon, as used in the UK). On the European continent they use litres per 100km, which is meaningless to us.

If you want a figure to remember, try this: at 90 mph a vehicle covers 132 ft in one second.

Answer 6

Excellent idea and when you are going that fast it also gives you some indication of how fast you can stop especially if the car in front of you is too close. Why not submit this idea to the car companies and see what they think. Can a speedometer indicate this using the conventional set ups of today? Good luck!

Answer 7

Far too difficult,miles per hour kilometres per hour but metres per second ? I can see in your stars that you would have been going on a long journey but you spent so much time checking your speed that you did not see the traffic jam ahead and......

Answer 8

Maid Angela has got part of the answer. But if you ask someone how far is it from Springfield to Smallville they will tell you in miles or kilometres, not yards or metres. Easier to remember 90 miles than 158,400 yards. Easier to work out the approximate e.t.a. as well.

Answer 9

Because it's easier to count the travel time with km/h or m/h. Would be quite hard to calculate how long it would take to drive 70 miles at 12 m/ s.

Answer 10

Nice try but no cigar.if that was the case then why not feet per second.doesnt really add up.what is good though are those new signs which tell you how fast you are going as you drive into built up areas.they make me slow down

Answer 11

We have kilometers per hour in Canada. Both on most cars.