Quote:
Originally Posted by BinaryLife
I do not agree that shining a laser at a moving car warrants any prison term at all. An airplane, certainly. A car however, not. Having seen the effects first hand and not experiencing it the way described. (with a strong green laser pointer by the way) my reaction was simply to slow down. Not swerve or jam on my breaks or freak out. In fact, I saw a green beam and figured, hey some dude shops think geek, or http://www.dragonlasers.com/
Maybe people need to control themselves so that jamming on their breaks in an attempt to insta-stop every time something surprising happens instead of blaming anything they can.
I will say this, however, while I don't think it warrants a prison sentence; the act itself is still malicious. In fact, I can't think of a non-malicious reason to shine a laser pointer at a car. It clearly warrants some kind of disciplinary act. |
When a person get shot in the eye with any laser beam, his natural instinct is to look away. There isn't much he can do about it, since it's a reflex reaction.
Losing sight of the road, even for a split second, can be fatal. As a driver merges in or out of a lane at 65 to 70 mph, he simply cannot afford to be surprised. This is especially true when traffic is heavy and the space available for manuvering is small.
As the price of laser toys fall, more people will own them, and more idiots will abuse them. The government really shouldn't wait for fatal car wrecks to start acting.
Chances are, most idiots who do this kind of malicious acts are teenagers. The punishment for them should be
1st offense: high school diploma deferred for one year, which means that kids will be spending one year to cultivate respect for other people's lives.
2nd offense: excessive fines and possibly prison
3rd offense: This teenager will grow up to be a murdere. In California, three felonies = life in prison.