Autos: speedometer works even in reverse

Self-tutoring about cars and driving: the tutor mentions a surprise.

For some reason, I’ve been wondering for a while now if the speedometer on a typical car works in reverse. I’ve been guessing “no,” since I can’t see a purpose why it would.

Driving my kid home from school yesterday, I went into reverse, then remembered to glance at the speedometer. Indeed, it flicked up from 0 to 1, then 2, as I reversed.

I could hardly believe what I’d seen, so I repeated the experiment, with the same results.

I drive a completely middle-of-the-road minivan, so I doubt this feature is confined to it.