on laser speed detectors

[Andrei Talalaevskii <andrei@insti.physics.sunysb.edu>]

Laser in the night has no problem to identify the vehicle. The recent pic 
in Automobile Mag shows how easy it is. LIDAR cannot mix your car with the 
truck going in the different or same direction. The beam is only about 30 
cm wide on common shooting distances. It is more effective than instant-on 
because it is better focused and the dispersed light from the previous 
shots are less likely to be detected by the detector unlike in case of an  
instant-on radar.

Now some positive info about laser. Laser Jammers are legal (as far as
I've heard) because it is IR range which is not FCC regulated. If you do
not have a front plate or if you cover it with transparent plastic and you
do not have excessive chrome on your car, your detector may go off while
the cop haven't got a reliable reading yet. Laser doesn't yet have a
"judicial notice" yet. I have read that it means that it's operation
has not been proven to the courts as of today. Radar has a judicial
notice, e.g. you cannot claim in court that radar ticket should be
dismissed because radar's method of speed measurement is false. You can
only question the accuracy of particular radar, cops qualifications,
burden of proof, etc...  However, fighting based on lack of judicial
notice is tricky and should be made professionally. If you screw up, you
help laser(lidar) to get judicial notice. The professional fight based on
a lack of judicial notice resulted in laser banned in NJ. 

I do not hope that human laziness will help us. The state/town/village 
employees (including police) are rarely lazy when it's all about revenue 
enhancement. The high price may be only a temporally obstacle. Any town 
knows that this is a good investment that pays back quickly like Asian 
economies used to...

Andrei