Bus driver sustains permanent eye damage form laser.

[Agent Provocateur]

Why does the media continually refer to these as "toy lasers". They are not "toy lasers" they are real lasers.

 

[Lux Nitida]

What I'm curious about after reading this is what was the toy? I would like to see the specs on this toy and what laser was in this thing.

 

[Benm]

Why does the media continually refer to these as "toy lasers". They are not "toy lasers" they are real lasers.

As i said, most lasers really are not toys at all. You could consider a <1 mW laser a toy, as in it being fairly harmless under most circumstances.

I think what the media portray has more to do with the cost of the units. Something you can buy for $20 or so would be a 'toy'. Given that same price figure i could go into the local hardware store and buy a 'toy hammer' for $19.99 and bash someone's head in with that. Since it's so cheap it's only a toy right, how much damage could it possibly do?

Low price and high availability don't make something a toy, which the media should rapidly start to understand. I'm sure most dollar stores carry $1 'toy box cutter knives' - which could be used to effortlessly mortally would someone if you wanted to. I've yet to see a law proposal banning those, though i wouldn't be surprised

 

[hakzaw1]

'... about the driver looking into the laser.

Since the first ever battery powered flashlights were invented man has looked into it when it did not want to work-
we flick the switch
bang the side
and point the light point blank into our eyes..


its a habit that can have bad result.

To fall below MPE one needs to be 53 or more feet away for a true 5mW 532 1mrad-- & the eye' s own lens can magnify even a .05mW 1000 times or more-
laser and 'toy'
do not go together

 

[kilter]

You're right Alex, but unfortunately things will get worse before they get better. It is your generation, and maybe your children too that will have to make things better. A better and more peaceful civilization will rise from the ashes of the post world war 3 environment. You will live to see it.



I worry about my laser falling, I never thought about me falling.

Alan

yo TRUUUUUUUUUUUU Now i have a new fear when playing with lasers :crackup:

 

[Pman]

All this just falls into the category of if there's any possibility of anything hurting someone we need a law. All it takes is one person having their kid do something stupid, easily finding a lawyer that wants attention by being the lead and the media will be all over it creating a law. People are the issue not things. Choose to live in fear or dont.
If you look at the actual statistics concerning most fringe issues you will find out that the accident or death rates for them are ridiculously low compared to normal things such as driving a car. The media and Lawyers love to push us around with fear which turns fear into policy just like our politics and president do.

 

[Benm]

'... about the driver looking into the laser.

Since the first ever battery powered flashlights were invented man has looked into it when it did not want to work-
we flick the switch
bang the side
and point the light point blank into our eyes..


its a habit that can have bad result.

To fall below MPE one needs to be 53 or more feet away for a true 5mW 532 1mrad-- & the eye' s own lens can magnify even a .05mW 1000 times or more-
laser and 'toy'
do not go together

This is stupidity comparable with yanking on the trigger of a gun whilst looking down the barrel to see if the bullet gets stuck somewhere

As far as dangerous consumer goods go, we have things like motorcycles that are freely available, but have a fair chance of killing the operator and possibly others. Chance of death on a motorcycle is 30 to 40 times that of driving a car, both per mile and per trip.

Then again that's fairly safe compared to the ways people manage to injure themselves with chainsaws, ladders and.. well, marbles

 

[APEX1]

wow!!!!

 

[Marco Polo]

Meanwhile, Celebrex is still killing people. I think the god damned doctors ought to be more worried about that. Oh, and cigarettes and alcohol.

Yes, lasers are SATAN INCARNATE. I hope the doctor in this gets run over by a bus.

 

[Benm]

People tend to mis-judge risks, and there is little to be done about that.

One statistic i really like is the comparison to the chances of death from a cocunut falling onto you, globally averaged including all area's where no cocunuts grow at all.

This may seem fairly idiotic, but on average about 100 people die because of a coconut falling from a tree onto them. While 100 in about 7 billion seems like a very small number, it exceeds the number of people that were permanently injured from lasers used outside of medical context. It also exceeds things like the number of people killed from living close to nuclear power plants or bitten to death by sharks.

In reality, on a global average, you are about as likely from death by falling coconut as you are by death cause of getting struck by lightning. Now i don't want to encourage anyone to use a lightning-rod shaped umbrella in a thunderstorm, but you should consider that seeking shade under a fruit bearing coconut tree is a comparable risk