why do speedometers go as high as 140 – 160 mph but some average cars can’t go faster than 100 -120?
In: Technology
The main reasons are probably marketing and readability, but there’s another issue I haven’t seen mentioned yet: It makes sure that you’ll always know when you’re breaking the law, and by how much.
Imagine all speedometers maxed out at 80, but then they open a road where the speed limit is 85. You want to go 85 on this road, but…the thing maxes out at 80, so there’s no way to know if you’re *actually* traveling 80 or 85 or 90. So if you get pulled over you can honestly claim “I didn’t know how fast I was going!”
So it helps to make the max on the speedometer *much* higher than the current maximum speed limit. That way cautious drivers will always be able to go exactly the speed limit even if speed limits increase, and dangerous drivers won’t be able to pretend that they had no idea that they were driving at insane speeds.
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