Why do the signs posted on roadways list SPEED limits instead of VELOCITY limits?

Answer 1

It's all about govt. spending. Speed is less letters and saves money. Heh heh... Plus those govt. types cannot spell velocity!

Answer 2

Several reasons:

As others have pointed out, velocity is a vector and includes both speed and direction. The gauge in a car is a SPEEDometer, as it does not measure direction. So a speed limit is technically correct. There are separate signs for direction.

But what's more:

"Speed" is a shorter word, so you can write it in bigger letters.

And more people know what the word "speed" means than what "velocity" means.

I'll finish this with a quote from Strunk & White's Elements of Style, a book that I should have been taught in school but did not discover until I was in my late twenties. "Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready, and able."

Answer 3

Just as distance and displacement have distinctly different meanings (despite their similarities), so do speed and velocity. Speed is a scalar quantity which refers to "how fast an object is moving." A fast-moving object has a high speed while a slow-moving object has a low speed. An object with no movement at all has a zero speed.

Velocity is a vector quantity which refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position." Imagine a person moving rapidly - one step forward and one step back - always returning to the original starting position. While this might result in a frenzy of activity, it would result in a zero velocity. Because the person always returns to the original position, the motion would never result in a change in position. Since velocity is defined as the rate at which the position changes, this motion results in zero velocity. If a person in motion wishes to maximize their velocity, then that person must make every effort to maximize the amount that they are displaced from their original position. Every step must go into moving that person further from where he/she started. For certain, the person should never change directions and begin to return to where he/she started from.

Velocity is a vector quantity. As such, velocity is "direction-aware." When evaluating the velocity of an object, one must keep track of direction. It would not be enough to say that an object has a velocity of 55 mi/hr. One must include direction information in order to fully describe the velocity of the object. For instance, you must describe an object's velocity as being 55 mi/hr, east. This is one of the essential differences between speed and velocity. Speed is a scalar and does not keep track of direction; velocity is a vector and is direction-aware.

Answer 4

very sturdy question. often there's a serious warning call down the line somewhat asserting that there is a speed zone forward or something like that. it rather is meant to supply you with a warning so which you would be able to decelerate till now you attain the recent sign, because of the fact the instant you bypass the decrease speed minimize sign the recent speed minimize is in result. this is the comparable on the different end of city the place you notice the better speed minimize on an indication up forward, yet you are able to no longer speed up till you rather bypass the sign. this isn't unheard of for some police to establish their radar to clock automobiles in elementary terms some ft after the recent minimize takes result, exceedingly while you're entering right into a school zone. Cheers!!

Answer 5

The speed posted is maximum velocity in the forward direction. There isn't room on the sign to indicate the maximum speed going backwards or sideways. Velocity has a direction component, which is omitted for the sake of brevity. Avoid prolix obfuscation with verbose ponderosity. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Answer 6

Because Speed is a scalar quantity measuring the rate at which you are traveling in any particular direction (given lane changes and curves etc you travel in multiple directions even on the north bound highway for instance), whereas Velocity is a vector quantitiy measuring the rate of change in position in one direction.

Road signs in velocity would have to indicate direction in addition to the speed to be accurate.

Answer 7

Mathematically, speed is a scalar value and velocity is a vector value. That means velocity includes speed and direction. If you were driving due north at 50 MPH, then your speed would be 50 MPH. Your velocity would be 50 MPH, North.

Answer 8

in the olden days if you said velocity people would of laughed at you for making up a word.

Answer 9

I think that they're actually called MPH right? Which is miles per hour. Hmm.