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Reverse Speedometer

 How fast are you going backwards?
  (+6, -1)
(+6, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

When reversing it's difficult to know how fast you are going without turning around to look at the dashboard. The extent of the head movement required to see the speedometer would mean taking your eye off the road for too long to be safe, particularly at the higher speeds attainable in the backwards direction. On top of that I'm not even sure that current speedometers register reverse speed. The idea is for a speedometer embedded in the centre of the back seat that will give the reversing motorist an 'at a glance' reading of his or her backward velocity. The needle would move anti-clockwise through negative numbers.
—stupop, Sep 03 2011

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       Oh dear. You reverse like I do. [+]
—wagster, Sep 03 2011
   

       Would the backseat have an odometer too ?
—FlyingToaster, Sep 03 2011
   

       a deadly and pointless distraction. also the number would be meaningless because it gives a very poor gauge of the danger involved. It's either and OCD type "i must know" thing or a "I proudly drive like a fool" thing, in either case I don't like it.
—WcW, Sep 03 2011
   

       // Would the backseat have an odometer too ? //   

       Surprisingly, most odometers still do not record distance traveled backwards.
—Alterother, Sep 03 2011
   

       //a deadly and pointless distraction//   

       Good point.   

       [+]
—MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 03 2011
   

       I really don't believe the speedometer in my car tells how fast I go when I drive in reverse. Now I have to go check that. It's going to be dangerous because if it turns out it does I'll have to check how fast I can go. Thanks for that.
—zeno, Sep 04 2011
   

       That way you'll know exactly how fast you were going when you hit that pedestrian you didn't see coming because cameras don't have peripheral vision. That will be very helpful for the police officer filing the report, as well as the prosecution in the ensuing lawsuit.
—Alterother, Sep 04 2011
   

       Right, because both my '93 XJ (Cherokee to non- Jeepgeeks) and my '76 Deuce* have parking sensors.   

       * my Deuce does have a back-up cam, but one I installed myself. I use it to check the Montana-sized blind spot behind the tailgate before I start reversing, except in the winter, when it doesn't work.
—Alterother, Sep 04 2011
   

       Granted. I just wanted to point out that some of us live in parts of the world where parking sensors have yet to be invented.
—Alterother, Sep 13 2011
   

       This is excellent. My dear auld ma lives in the far west of mainland UK, in an area accessible only by boat, helicopter or +40 miles of very wind-y very narrow single track road. If, on one of my visits, I had a reverse speedometer, I might, upon encountering a car coming towards me, be more likely to race backwards to a passing place to let them past, rather than my usual policy of proceeding forward at unreduced pace, driving the other driver off the road into the loch. Croissant, then, for improving the lives of Dutch tourists in Scotland.
—calum, Sep 13 2011
   


 

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