ovenmit331
03-11-2005, 10:17 AM
I'm gonna get toasted with this... Does a v1 detect this kinda stuff? it seems like one of those, if its detected, it's already too late, kinda things...
Laser may burn drivers with lead feet
Web Posted: 03/11/2005 12:00 AM CST
Mary Moreno
Express-News Staff Writer
Most of the drivers on Interstate 10 who zoomed past San Antonio Police Officer Rex Zabava on a recent sunny and cool morning probably didn't notice him.
Unlike most speeders, who slam on the brakes at the first sight of anything indicating a police presence, drivers doing 80 mph in a 60-mph construction zone continued unfettered.
It wasn't difficult to miss Zabava. He stood off to the side of the road, behind a construction barricade as heavy machinery pushed earth around. But down the road, several of the drivers felt his presence.
Zabava had clocked them exceeding the posted speed limit, and radioed their identifying information to a cadre of officers waiting to pull them over about a quarter of a mile away.
Police call it "shoot and catch," and the program involves a recently acquired speed detection device — a stationary laser mounted on a tripod that singles out vehicles and spits out their speed in the blink of an eye.
The Police Department acquired four of the laser speed detectors in late January, said Sgt. Bill Morales of the traffic division. LIDAR, an acronym for light detection and ranging, differs from standard radars in that it zeroes in on one vehicle, where a standard radar gun picks up a wider range.
Morales said that it should make it more difficult for people to contest a traffic ticket by arguing police clocked someone else. Still, it won't close the door to legal challenges of the unit.
"No machine or instrument is going to be perfect," said Jimmy Parks Jr., a San Antonio criminal defense lawyer. "When you apply human beings to the equation, there are always going to be problems."
Traffic officers have used the laser at different locations around town. Police will use up to 10 chase cars and pull over between 60 and 100 cars in a two-hour period.
During the recent shoot and catch, the officers set up on the southbound lanes of Loop 410 near Culebra Road a few minutes before 11 a.m. Zabava had just propped the LIDAR on the tripod when a silver Honda came over the hill, whisking by other cars. Zabava pointed the gun in the Honda's direction and aimed a red dot on to its license plate.
The LIDAR squealed, its digital readout showing 77. A van in the fast lane went by at 79 mph, followed by a dark green Ford Ranger doing 78 in the slow lane. Later, a woman in a small Chevy car was clocked at 85.
"I can sit out here by myself and catch cars doing 80 all day," he said. "Nobody ever drives 60 out here. Most of the cars are doing 65, but then you see one passing them like they're standing still."
Zabava called in only the drivers exceeding the speed limit by at least 15 mph. Still, the seven police cars waiting to chase down the violators had a steady stream of work.
Just past the onramp on the other side of Culebra, officer Chris Upton waited for Zabava to call out another violator. After sending out a brief description of the car, Zabava continued with updates about its location, alerting Upton when the car he had captured with the LIDAR was about to drive past him.
With lights flashing, Upton pulled the offender over, wrote a citation, which carried a double penalty because of the construction zone, and circled back to the starting position to do it all over again.
Even with the chasing officers working at a fast clip, the traffic coming at Zabava had so many flagrant speeders, he had to take breaks to allow the chasing officers to prepare to give chase again.
One Mitsubishi, doing 80, got away scot-free and its driver probably never knew what a break he'd just received.
Laser may burn drivers with lead feet
Web Posted: 03/11/2005 12:00 AM CST
Mary Moreno
Express-News Staff Writer
Most of the drivers on Interstate 10 who zoomed past San Antonio Police Officer Rex Zabava on a recent sunny and cool morning probably didn't notice him.
Unlike most speeders, who slam on the brakes at the first sight of anything indicating a police presence, drivers doing 80 mph in a 60-mph construction zone continued unfettered.
It wasn't difficult to miss Zabava. He stood off to the side of the road, behind a construction barricade as heavy machinery pushed earth around. But down the road, several of the drivers felt his presence.
Zabava had clocked them exceeding the posted speed limit, and radioed their identifying information to a cadre of officers waiting to pull them over about a quarter of a mile away.
Police call it "shoot and catch," and the program involves a recently acquired speed detection device — a stationary laser mounted on a tripod that singles out vehicles and spits out their speed in the blink of an eye.
The Police Department acquired four of the laser speed detectors in late January, said Sgt. Bill Morales of the traffic division. LIDAR, an acronym for light detection and ranging, differs from standard radars in that it zeroes in on one vehicle, where a standard radar gun picks up a wider range.
Morales said that it should make it more difficult for people to contest a traffic ticket by arguing police clocked someone else. Still, it won't close the door to legal challenges of the unit.
"No machine or instrument is going to be perfect," said Jimmy Parks Jr., a San Antonio criminal defense lawyer. "When you apply human beings to the equation, there are always going to be problems."
Traffic officers have used the laser at different locations around town. Police will use up to 10 chase cars and pull over between 60 and 100 cars in a two-hour period.
During the recent shoot and catch, the officers set up on the southbound lanes of Loop 410 near Culebra Road a few minutes before 11 a.m. Zabava had just propped the LIDAR on the tripod when a silver Honda came over the hill, whisking by other cars. Zabava pointed the gun in the Honda's direction and aimed a red dot on to its license plate.
The LIDAR squealed, its digital readout showing 77. A van in the fast lane went by at 79 mph, followed by a dark green Ford Ranger doing 78 in the slow lane. Later, a woman in a small Chevy car was clocked at 85.
"I can sit out here by myself and catch cars doing 80 all day," he said. "Nobody ever drives 60 out here. Most of the cars are doing 65, but then you see one passing them like they're standing still."
Zabava called in only the drivers exceeding the speed limit by at least 15 mph. Still, the seven police cars waiting to chase down the violators had a steady stream of work.
Just past the onramp on the other side of Culebra, officer Chris Upton waited for Zabava to call out another violator. After sending out a brief description of the car, Zabava continued with updates about its location, alerting Upton when the car he had captured with the LIDAR was about to drive past him.
With lights flashing, Upton pulled the offender over, wrote a citation, which carried a double penalty because of the construction zone, and circled back to the starting position to do it all over again.
Even with the chasing officers working at a fast clip, the traffic coming at Zabava had so many flagrant speeders, he had to take breaks to allow the chasing officers to prepare to give chase again.
One Mitsubishi, doing 80, got away scot-free and its driver probably never knew what a break he'd just received.