Re: Laser

[Richard Beels <beels@technologist.com>]

Agreed on the technical aspects of laser at night.  

Cops are trained to shoot the license plates.  That's why there are the
laser-fooling plate covers.  The case where the defense lawyer shot the
wall going 5 mph was a big deal was because the cop could be shooting the
windshield and the move the gun down and end up shooting the grill.  This
would introduce error into the reading, most likely more than 5 mph because
I doubt the lawyer managed to jump the 5-6 feet distance...

I think it's human laziness and the fact that a lawyer would have a fun
time with a cop asking him how he was sure which set of headlights he was
shooting, etc....

At 12:04 PM 9/8/1998 ,  DeWitt Harrison was inspired to say:
>  In principle, at least, laser works even better at night (less IR
>  background noise). Practical night use would come down to
>  the design of the aiming sight, which I had always assumed was
>  similar to a telescopic gun sight, and to interference from
>  automobile lights.  Regarding aim, it would seem quite easy to
>  place an illuminated cross hair between the head or tail lights
>  of a car as you squeeze the take-reading trigger. Unless car
>  tail lights generate more IR in a interfering band than solar
>  illumination plus IR re-radiation from the daytime landscape,
>  I don't understand why night time isn't the right time for
>  laser practice.
>  
>  Nevertheless, like Steve, I too am hopeful that the natural human
>  tendancy to be lazy will limit the use of laser speed measurement.
>  In my experience, it's all most SP officers can do to leave the
>  radar switched on as they cruise. It's only when they're on
>  a planned speed busting operation or have had too much
>  coffee that they can muster the energy to push the instant-on
>  button.


Cheers,
	Richard
	88 90Q - <insert pithy witticism here>
	88 Golf GTi - PRO Rally