Laser Atlanta rolls out "palm-sized" SpeedLaser B to catch speeders

They may be stretching the definition of "palm-sized" a bit, but the folks at Laser Atlanta sure seem confident in their new SpeedLaser B device, with them saying that it'll nail "speed demons from the palm of officer's hand." To do that, the device makes use of the ever-popular LIDAR technology to take a reading of a vehicle in a mere 0.3 seconds, and it includes some proprietary stealth features, jammer detection and inclement weather modes to ensure it always at the ready. No word on a price, but we're guessing you won't be able to just grab one of these off the shelf.

[MrFuNKy76 @ Jan 30th 2008 2:03PM]

Gotta love that pic...

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Jan 30th 2008 2:15PM]

Kinda hard imagining a cop with hair like that.

[bsimmons @ Jan 30th 2008 2:17PM]

That pic does make the device seem more like some sort of sobriety tester.

[aguiluz @ Jan 30th 2008 2:25PM]

I imagined a dumb user mistaking those two lenses as the viewfinder, then they fire the laser... OWWW! MY EYES!

(P.S: No offense, please read the manual before use.)

[trevor @ Jan 30th 2008 2:31PM]

That guy could pass as the Dell dude's older brother:

"Dude, you're getting a speeding ticket!"

[superfresh @ Jan 30th 2008 3:28PM]

Why would Guile from Street Fighter 2 need a handheld laser speed gun? He can flip upside down and kick me in the head for Christ's sake!

[jo @ Jan 30th 2008 4:41PM]

his tan looks about right tho :P

[NovaLand @ Jan 30th 2008 5:00PM]

"If I jab this in my eye like... this! I'll be able to call in sick today!"

[Insert Name Here @ Jan 30th 2008 5:12PM]

Holy crap!!!! Its Jake Busey!!!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000998/

[Blaktornado @ Jan 30th 2008 5:16PM]

Best. Facial Expression. Ever.


He looks like he's having a whale of a time.

[Shahryar @ Jan 30th 2008 2:05PM]

This better not be around the corner.. I just upgraded my valentine a few months ago.

[aeo @ Jan 30th 2008 2:07PM]

Nice job Laser Atlanta, I'm already feeling the oppression. ;-)

[eugene @ Jan 30th 2008 2:07PM]

Why not call the police something more descriptive to their actual job duties? I propose: tax collector.

[Joe @ Jan 30th 2008 2:08PM]

Father U C King the police.

[BillyBones @ Jan 30th 2008 3:03PM]

I call them REVENUERS.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 30th 2008 2:10PM]

This is a pretty oppresive device. It ranks right up there with forcing all cars to have hard drive recording Odometers/Speedometers that could be submissable in court.

[Jason @ Jan 30th 2008 3:24PM]

The thing is.. they are not. They cannot be used against you outside of an accident as part of an accident investigation. Further, you do not even have to provide the info to your insurance company, that is voluntary, for now atleast.

[Jamie @ Jan 30th 2008 2:12PM]

Looks like an Apple QuickTake, circa 1996.

[pattman247 @ Jan 30th 2008 2:27PM]

wait so this is not the apple quicktake? :P

[Fraggle.Rock @ Jan 30th 2008 3:26PM]

I was going to say that is was the Chinon ES-3000, which was the same hardware as the Kodak DC-40 and Dycam versions if I remember correctly. I used one for work, at the time it cost something like $900, had a max resolution of 640x480, and 1mb of on-board memory and a CF slot supporting 2, 4, 8 and 16mb cards :-)

Anyone remember those beauties?

[dizzy @ Jan 30th 2008 2:19PM]

heaven forbid people drive the goddamn speed limit.

Granted, I'm no saint when it comes to obeying the traffic laws, but complaining about cops doing their job?

...and now for the net populace to downvote me into oblivion.

[Zak @ Jan 30th 2008 2:24PM]

What about all the cops that will pull you over for doing 2 MPH over because they have a quota to fill? Technically the police's job is to protect and to serve. Pulling people over for speeding is a way to make revenue, it has nothing to do with my safety or anybody else's if I'm going 62 instead of 60.

[Neal @ Jan 30th 2008 2:27PM]

I agree with you, if you are obeying the law, who cares if they clock your speed? If you are breaking the law, you are taking the chance of getting caught, you know the rules and chose to roll those dice - if you lose, you have yourself to blame.

[Neal @ Jan 30th 2008 2:31PM]

In regards to going 2 over, that will get tossed out in court, there is always a margin of error on the device and calibration not to mention your own speedometer is not that accurate. Any judge will toss that, and while it might be a pain to have to go to court over it, if the officer is doing this they will get reprimanded for wasting the court and taxpayer's time and money doing this. Not a perfect system, but it will work itself out.

I have personally never seen anyone get any ticket like this, and considering how many people are out there going 5-10 over, there is really no need to target someone doing 2-4 over just to make a quota.

[Chird @ Jan 30th 2008 2:33PM]

Two things:

First, Cops don't have quotas, they DO get yelled at if they don't produce tickets, cuz they could just be out sleeping in their cars, but they don't have a set amount of tickets they need to write per month.

Second, Speed control IS used as a device for asshole cops to dick around with people because they have nothing better to do i.e. pulling you over for doing 60 in a 55 and trying to get you to admit to doing 80, or when you don't admit to it they keep you pulled over for about a half hour while they try desperately to find something to ticket you for so they can go home feeling that their penises are larger...

[DonatoM3 @ Jan 30th 2008 2:34PM]

I've driven by cops plenty of times going 10-15 mph over the speed limit. They haven't pulled me over yet in Cali for speeding. Honestly I think it's more about how you're driving and not just how fast you're driving.

[Frank Furter @ Jan 30th 2008 2:38PM]

I agree. Just drive the speed limit you toolbags. How about this - "oops, I just blew a 0.081 on my BAT - come on, I'm BARELY over!!!"

So how much is "not much over"?

How about this - drive 58. You'll save gas, and won't be such a dick.

[Frank Furter @ Jan 30th 2008 2:38PM]

I agree. Just drive the speed limit you toolbags. How about this - "oops, I just blew a 0.081 on my BAT - come on, I'm BARELY over!!!"

So how much is "not much over"?

How about this - drive 58. You'll save gas, and won't be such a dick.

[kballs @ Jan 30th 2008 2:47PM]

OMG Chird! You sound like the restaurant manager pushing flare in Office Space!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZpVPG8elv4

If an officer gets reprimanded for not meeting some invisible minimum of tickets, it's the same as a quota (it's just invisible). It means that officers will often write tickets just to avoid the "talk" at the end of the month. That means that some of these will be unreasonable. Thrown out in court or not, you still get stopped, harassed, made late, and have to waste time going to court. Then even if the officer is reprimanded for writing crap tickets, it doesn't change the system that encourages them to write crap tickets in the first place.

[Dark Light @ Jan 30th 2008 2:50PM]

>>> "...The monitoring of 65,850 vehicles traveling in one
>>> direction during a 24-hour period in 1988 indicated that
>>> the average speed on the Beltway in Virginia was 64.6 mph.
>>> These Virginia data include speeds for rush-hour traffic,
>>> when traveling faster than the posted limit is generally
>>> not possible..."

http://ntl.bts.gov/DOCS/ase.html

That is to say, essentially everyone on the Beltway would have to be stopped and ticketed at all times of the day and night if the police enforced the OBVIOUSLY erroneously-determined speed limits (the Capital Beltway is 55MPH)

[sitruc @ Jan 30th 2008 2:50PM]

@Frank Furter - Driving what can be a safe speed and driving under the influence should not be compared.

[sitruc @ Jan 30th 2008 2:54PM]

@Dark Light - Remember when some of the speed limits were reduced to 55mph supposedly because of construction that has long since been finished? I hate seeing officers in the medians in the middle of rush hour causing people to disrupt the flow of traffic and start chains of braking for miles.

[Jason @ Jan 30th 2008 3:41PM]

@dark light

Well considering.... that on the beltway, during rush hour, the odds of you being able to exceed 20mph between the hours of 6am and 10am or 3pm and 8pm is very unlikely, especially in the areas between Tysons and 270, and 270 and BW parkway.

That high avg is made up for by the fact that during non rush hours, most traffic on the beltway is between 70 and 80mph, and some people go even faster.

@sitruc...
Yeah well, the construction on the beltway will never ever end.. its a vicious circle or crappy designed roads that need constant maintenance.

In general, atleast in VA/MD, outside of the use of speed cameras, officers rarely pull people over for doing up to 10 mph over the limit, unless you are lane splitting or changing lanes aggressively (yes there are cars that lane split in moving traffic.... its nuts), tail gating, or any other reckless event. ps.. FFX county judges are hardasses.. just pay the ticket :)

[Frank Furter @ Jan 30th 2008 3:55PM]

@sitruc - obviously you shouldn't compare 2 MPH with DUI - the point I was trying to make was that where do you draw the line? The general public can't be trusted to make that call, so the law does. If the law says 60MPH, then guess what? 61MPH is illegal.

Just because YOU determine 62 MPH is safe, doesn't make it so. I'm all for it. I think people should drive 5MPH under. Everyone except me, anyway.

[Zak @ Jan 30th 2008 4:50PM]

Just FYI, I wouldn't have used the 2 MPH over example if it hadn't actually happened to me. No it was not thrown out of court. Yes I had to pay the fine and take the point on my record. What possible excuse could any cop have had (and any judge for not throwing it out) for writing a ticket like that?

Revenue. Period. Nothing to do with safety, nothing to do with anything except making money.

And for the holier-than-thous in the peanut gallery telling everybody to just drive the speed limit, I would be happy to entertain any proof you could provide that going 62 is significantly more dangerous than going 60. I would also be happy to out-drive your sorry ass on a closed track, because I've been a driving instructor at a race track and I actually know how to drive my car - not just operate it. In case you're not connecting the dots, that means that even if I'm going 2 MPH over the speed limit, I'm still a safer driver than you are. Or at any speed, for that matter.

While I realize the law doesn't make any exceptions for driver skill, I still take exception to the motivation behind handing out tickets like the one I got, because it has nothing to do with what the police are supposed to be doing. And that wasn't the only ridiculous ticket I've gotten that was supported in court either. I once got one for going 17 MPH in a 15 MPH school zone - and this is the important part - at 12:30 AM, i.e. half past midnight. Did the cop think school was in session at that time? Who knows, but again, same thing. Revenue.

[James @ Jan 30th 2008 5:10PM]

Actually Frank most people are good judges of safe speed, because most people go with the flow of traffic. It's not speeding that is dangerous, but going a significantly different speed than the others on the road. A person going 50 when everybody around them is going 70, or going 80 when everybody else is going 60; those are what are dangerous.

[Reid @ Jan 30th 2008 5:42PM]

This is one reason I love California. Drive 80-90 everywhere, no tickets!

[sitruc @ Jan 30th 2008 6:51PM]

@Jason - I won't argue that 10 over on the Beltway won't normally get a ticket, but especially in VA, 10 over will get you a ticket on any other road. I know the Beltway is under never-ending construction, but I can think of a more than a few areas that are completed(especially around the now finished Springfield Interchange) that never returned to their earlier speed.

@Frank Furter - I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on what is "safe." If you drive, I hope you at least stay in the right lane.

[Johnny @ Jan 30th 2008 2:24PM]

Yet another challenge that makes speeding more of a rush.

[DonatoM3 @ Jan 30th 2008 2:36PM]

Yeah but with the same face as Chuck Norris you don't have to worry cuz I'm sure the cops would be too scard to give you a ticket.

[Johnny @ Jan 30th 2008 10:45PM]

Hell yeah. Chuck Norris would give them a round house kick to the face!

[Carl M @ Jan 30th 2008 2:33PM]

"Okay, ha ha, the superglue was funny; now help me get this stupid thing off my face!"

[DonatoM3 @ Jan 30th 2008 2:36PM]

Yeah but with the same face as Chuck Norris you don't have to worry cuz I'm sure the cops would be too scard to give you a ticket.

[Dark Light @ Jan 30th 2008 2:42PM]

Where's my blacker-than-black nanotube paint?

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/17/scientists-create-darkest-material-ever/comments/9897194/

[tiuk @ Jan 30th 2008 2:47PM]

Was anyone else reminded of Luke Skywalker's binoculars from Star Wars?

[eugene @ Jan 30th 2008 2:48PM]

yeah, how about them doing their job, and patroling the neighborhood, helping people, solving crimes. Walking around, talking to people, instead of hiding behind the bushes and writing tickets all day. How about that?

While we're at it, I see people cruising down the 880 all the time driving twn miles BELOW the speed limit, forcing people to swerve around them, hogging up the passing lane and making it dangerous to merge onto the freeway, but hey, I don't see them getting tickets.

[ZackDanger @ Jan 30th 2008 3:42PM]

Alot of the time, the reason to stop vehicles for speeding, or tail lights out, etc. is to discover people who are intoxicated, or have warrants and what-not. If it weren't for "hiding in the bushes" many more worse offenses would go unnoticed.

And I know it sucks.. but even 1 mph over the speed limit is violating the law. (Hence the reason it's called a speed "limit"). If you have trouble not breaking the law, pretend the limit is actually 5 or 10 mpg below what the sign reads.

There is no gray area when it comes to violating the law...

$0.02

[ajwalker @ Jan 30th 2008 3:27PM]

"yeah, how about them doing their job, and patroling the neighborhood, helping people, solving crimes. Walking around, talking to people, instead of hiding behind the bushes and writing tickets all day. How about that?"

Preventing crimes instead of traffic infractions should be their first priority. And then solving the crimes of those they couldn't prevent instead of traffic infractions should be the second.

Everything else should come before hiding out trying to catch people for traffic infractions to go into the coffers of local governments. And there is a whole heap of a lot of everything else to do such that they shouldn't have time to sit around trying to catch people in traffic infractions.

Instead of getting the talk at the end of the month for not writing any tickets, the talk should be why did they waste time and the tax payer money when there are a whole host of other more serious things to be concerned about and spending their time.

This topic just peeves me. When did and why did we allow the police department to become one of the income generating streams for local government when there are far more serious things in our communities to be concerned about?

[eugene @ Jan 30th 2008 4:02PM]

@ZackDanger,

When I went to school in Pomona, there was a down hill stretch where the speed limit changed, half way down the hill from for no apparant reason, guess where the traffic cops sat around all day?

When I lived in Irvine California, I saw cops driving around all the time, they cruised through strip mall parking lots, drove around neighborhoods at all hours. I appreciated them, I knew that they were doing their jobs and that me and my property were safe because of them.

Then I moved to the Bay Area... I see people jaywalking in the middle of the night, there's crime everywhere, kids getting murdered left and right and what are the cops doing? Passing out tickets for making a left hand turn at the signal without signaling.

Now, no one is saying that speeders aren't breaking the law and the fact that people keep suggesting that we are, is just a red herring. What we're saying is, given all the other things wrong with our neighborhoods, given the amount of crime and violence going on... are polic officers really doing a public service, or are they simply revenue generators for greedy city officials?

[Nipponese @ Jan 30th 2008 3:14PM]

Damn, so they can beat the laser jammer too? That sucks.