[Superman]

Courts across the country have stipulated to Laser guns and it's a sad thing. Their algorythm is different from radar. Radar uses a doppler effect. The signal goes out at one frequency, and if it bounces off an object moving closer, the freqency of the returning signal is higher. The freqency of the returning signal betrays the object's speed.

As I said, Laser is different and I am saddened. The insurance industry bankrolled the last part of laser gun development. With a laser gun, a signal goes out and comes back almost instantly and the gun does not note differences in freqency. The only thing the gun remembers is the distance of the object. It knows the distance between the gun and the reflective object. It knows this because it knows how long it took for the signal to return. It has no ideal of the object's speed.

Then another signal is sent out and returned. A new distance is calculated. The gun knows how long between the two signals, and from this information a speed is assumed. Unfortunately, if the first signal came back from the vehicle's windshield trim and the second comes back from the vehicle's bumper, the false distances are used in the calculation and you get a ticket for going faster than you were going.

Further, if the time between these signals is quick (which it probably is), then the erroneous speed assumed by the gun in the above story (windshield and then bumper) will be very much exagggerated. Unfortunately, courts have accepted this technology and you will not be allowed to argue its inherent inaccuracies. And as an ultimate insult, you will also not be able to get detailed information about the specific algorythm assumptions in these calculations, such as time between signal pulses. Again, the insurance industry paid for this technology and its owners are holding this information as "proprietary," not to be disclosed because of patent infrigment concerns.

As usual, it's all about money. Not your traffic ticket money. Big Money. But we ordinary citizens are the only losers, so who cares, right? I know you will all sleep easier knowing that the breathtaking financial warchests of the insurance industry are well protected.