Oww my eyes! US army uses lasers to coax slow drivers out of the way
Herat (Afghanistan) – The United States Army is dazzling Afghani drivers with laser light in a bid to prevent accidents with its convoys. Convoy crews have been testing out the GLARE weapon-mounted laser by shinning the beams into the windshields of slow and dangerous cars. So far the makers of the laser system, B.E. Meyers and Company, say the tests are a resounding success.
Soldiers mounted the laser on the .50 caliber gun on top of their Humvees. The GLARE laser has two blink speeds along with a solid green mode and is effective at up to 150 meters.
The green laser beams “dazzle” the target and neutralize aggressive behavior, according to B.E. Meyers. In the above video, you can see soldiers shining the beams at slow drivers and bicyclists. You can also see the beams hit cars that are about to pull into the convoy’s path. The affected drivers usually stop and the company claims two accidents were prevented in one hour of testing.
Military convoys typically use a combination of fast driving, warning shoots and suppression fire to get out of tricky situations. However, shooting up the town obviously isn’t the best thing to do when you are trying to win the hearts and minds of the population. Laser warning systems, like the GLARE, seem to give soldiers a non-lethal option of getting people out of the way.
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and this does what to your eyes? and i can forsee a lot of accidents CAUSED by this....
"bicyclists", surely Cyclists would have been the better word?
That made me chuckle on a boring Wednesday morning!
yeah i thought this would dazzle the drivers therefore causing an accident as they panic..
I'm pretty sure it's also illegal by international convention -
http://www.un.org/millennium/law/xxvi-18-19.htm
OK, this bans lasers whose purpose is 'to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision' but as someone who has screwed around with plenty of lasers as spectroscopic tools, I fairly confident that anylaser (especialy green) capable of causing temporary blindness at 160 metres is going to cause some permanent damage if used at shorter ranges....
still better than shooting people with a bullet. IMO
i had another thought about this, and a few questions...
i was told a little while back that the army will drive on the wrong side of the road and try to avoid bridges incase of boobytraps, and now where pointing lasers in peoples eyes....................doesnt really give support to places like irac where we are meant to be promoting PEACE.
I think the point has been missed. It may cause an eye sight problem on the target but it can be used to protect the user. If it stops more of our lads getting hit then its worth it. I would much prefer to shoot a laser at someone than open up with .50cal. I think you will find driving in some of these places is not what I would call safe (most drive like loonies) so a little warning could save a life. In point, if you drive like a nutter at a military convoy expect the worse. If you just get a laser in your eye, you are a lucky git.