Comments on: Please Touch That Dial

By: Bob Davis

Bob Davis — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:12:00 +0000

My current “daily driver” is a 2001 Honda Accord that does have the speedometer that reads up to 140 mph. It also has kM for our Canadian friends/amis. My previous car was a 1988 Dodge Aries, and (as I recall) it only went to 85. Ironically, this the car I had when I received my only speeding ticket in the last 30 years–doing 70 in a 55 zone on I-5 in San Diego County. An earlier rig was a 1960 Ford pickup; it also read up to 80, but around 60, “the pistons started a-swappin’ holes” and 55 was its practical upper limit. And, yes, I think anything over 90 is a waste of numbers.

I come from a railroading background, and there we have “restricted speed”, which means a speed in congested areas or work zones where a train is kept as a speed that allows a safe stop “short of any obstruction”. For drivers it should apply when passing areas where workers may be getting out of trucks, or where there’s foot traffic, or any place where one might need to stop quickly.

By: Ed Heath

Ed Heath — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:12:15 +0000

I purchased a device called a ScanGauge II that gives you real time information about your fuel economy and much more (which I don’t use). It plugs into the OBD port, and definately influences my driving. It runs around $160, so it is not likely to pay for itself (with my limited driving), but I still appreciate the MPG information. It is somewhat distracting, but since I am driving reasonably more conservatively now (at least some of the time), it seems to balance out.

By: Mike Chalkley

Mike Chalkley — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:11:31 +0000

@Jean Vincent - wouldn’t a ‘danger meter’ prove to have the same effects that current signage & road building does by implying that some parts of our journey are a lot safer (as in Tom’s book Traffic where he argues for shared space) and thus actually prove more dangerous? Unless it was completely self-referential in which case it would always say ‘max danger’!

I drive a BMW 530 (which with UK fuel taxes means Petrol is my major consideration in terms of driving costs) which has a real-time MPG meter. It scared the crap out of me when I first got the car but now I never even notice it. I have accepted the relatively high cost of driving it as a consequence of having a really nice car to drive. I suspect any such feedback to a driver will eventually fade.

Regards

Mike
UK

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:44:03 +0000

So it isn’t our fault how we drive?………… Maybe it is designed this way to make it look bigger and better then it really is. Isn’t that what corporate design is all about? I do agree that “most don’t have a clue”, but by changing the numbers on the dash (that they probably don’t even look at anyways) will not give them that clue.

By: Jean Vincent

Jean Vincent — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:19:28 +0000

I like the ideas of the cost meter, and danger meter.

The cost meter could be in dollars per mile or in miles per dollar. Which one would be best from a psychological standpoint?

The danger meter is more difficult to implement because it needs a smart-road system providing real-time feedback to the car consistent with actual driving conditions (wetness, oiliness, iciness, fatigue, visibility, measured driver reflexes, other vehicles speed ahead). It could be displayed as a color scale, such as Green, Orange, Red. Red meaning danger of course, Green meaning safety, and Orange meaning warning.

We could then tie this to an automatic speed control system that would automatically accelerate and decelerate slowly to keep us at the limit between the green and orange zones, exceptionally the system could brake if suddenly the danger would reach the red zone.

With a danger-meter we could remove the speedometer if the speed limit was dynamically implemented by such a smart system. It would be illegal to be in the red zone and recommended to stay in the green zone.

This should be complemented by an estimated time of arrival system that would remove the stress associated by not knowing one’s speed.

By: mdf

mdf — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:36:13 +0000

Just a few minutes ago, with flashlight in hand, I just went outside to check a few parked cars “at random” … and it turned out I was right: the 100km/h indication is at, or very close to, the 12 o’clock position on the dial.

This is probably not a coincidence, and would explain why even SUV’s get “180km/h” (or more) on the dial. But why 100km/h at 12? My guess is some kind of car-to-car commonality, like turn signals, which pedals are the accelerator and brake, and so on.

Basically, standardization.

Has anyone gathered any data re: speeding tendencies that included analog vs. digital speedometers?

As for smarter instrument displays:

Various car navigation systems will start making noises if you are going faster than what it thinks is legal (my TomTom does).

You can also purchase things like the ScanGuageII which will in fact display “dollars per hour” and similar fuel consumption statistics. Interesting thing about my ScanGuage is this: I installed mine right on the top of the dash, directly above the original speedometer. I configured it to display the speed … and ever since I hardly ever look at the real speedometer any more.

I think the coming age of super-efficient cars will give car manufacturers a long overdue chance to re-arrange or re-design, the interior instrumentation — maybe even allow configurability. My favorite example of this is the Aptera Typ-1e (”Local”): but for some climate control knobs, it is a pure glass cockpit. Even the rear view mirrors are video displays, an idea which I hope catches on since it would essentially solve the blind spot problem, as well offer the driver the absolute minimum check times.

The GM Volt is (sadly) less radical.

By: gecko

gecko — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:22:34 +0000

Some Ferraris from the late 70s/early 80s had the standard speedometers, but they just blacked out the numbers and markings above 85. There would just be a big black or red stripe on that section of the arc.

By: Colin

Colin — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:51:11 +0000

Some time ago I wondered about the possibility of a scheme where RFID tags inserted in the kerbs broadcast the speed limit, and car speedometers would receive it, indicate it on the speedometer, and perhaps colour the whole instrument dash in red if the speed of the car exceeded it.

Or more intrusively, sound an alarm if you exceeded it. Or delivered an electric shock through the steering wheel. Anything’s possible.

By: Pete W

Pete W — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:43:32 +0000

A dynamic speedometer is an interesting idea, but drivers I know would probably still increase their speed by 5-10 mph.

I like the idea of a stopping distance meter a lot.