Is the laser accurate in measuring a driver’s speed?
Laser devices, also known as LIDAR (light distance and ranging), use a time/distance calculation to measure speed. The devices aim a narrow band of light at the target vehicle and measure the time it takes to receive the reflected light. Because the speed of both the original light pulse and its reflection are traveling at the same speed (the speed of light), differences in the time it takes the transmitted light to strike the target vehicle and return can be used to calculate the speed of the vehicle. Unlike radar, lasers can pinpoint specific vehicles in heavy traffic. Laser detectors are the most recent addition to the traffic officer’s arsenal of speed measuring devices. Built to look and act like a hand-‘held radar gun, a laser detector uses a lasered powered beam of laser light that bounces off the targeted vehicle and returns to a receiver in the unit. The unit then electronically calculates the speed of the targeted vehicle. Laser detectors are supposedly more accurate than rad
