Train driver blinded by a laser

Original translation by SimonXML

From 20min.Ch

The driver of an Intercity train from Geneva to St. Gallen was the victim of a laser attack on Sunday evening. The train had to stop in Wil (SG) to change drivers.

The train driver was hit in the eyes and blinded by a laser while the train was travelling near Aadorf (TG), said Lea Meyer on Monday, SBB spokesman, who confirmed information broadcast by Radio FM1. The train continued to Wil where it was stopped.

Laser attacks have increased over the past two years, Lea Meyer said in a Radio FM1 programme. People who do this are ‘dangerous and cowardly’, she added. SBB reports every incident to the police.

Train drivers and helicopter pilots are increasingly more often victims of laser attacks, according to Hanspeter Krusi, spokesman for the St-Galloise cantonal police. Rega has equipped its pilots with protective goggles, he told ATS.

The police are also being exposed to such attacks, especially during sporting events. “We are looking at the possibility of taking protective measures”, said Mr. Krusi.

In Switzerland, only class 1 and 2 laser pointers up to a power of 1 milliwatt (mW) are allowed. But pointers up to 2000 mW are available, primarily on the Internet. A 1 milliwatt beam can permanently damage the retina.

 

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Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

6 Replies to “Train driver blinded by a laser”

  1. I wonder how long it will be before a plane crashes or a car or truck wrecks because of a laser attack?

  2. I was wondering when the new, cheap, powerful, hand-held, Luke Skywalker lasers were going to start showing up in the criminal world. They sell lasers online that look just like light sabers and can actually blind you in a matter of seconds. By blind, I mean joining the CNIB, getting a white cane, starting to learn braille, and putting your name on the guide dog list. Criminy.

    One of these days we are going to have to start thinking about beginning to start fighting back – don’t you think?

  3. Richard – We have got to start asking ourselves “Why”??? ,why are we not being informed about ALL the muslim attacts on our society?? and lets start calling a spade a spade here, – because it is in the economic interests of the people we put in power, to appease the powers that be(E.U.), well that’s no good to the people who cast their vote and don’t see anything happening that they voted for developing, over a period of Office every Government should be made to be more accountable, they should be forced to honour their claims & promises, and if they don’t then they shouldn’t be in a position to say, “Yes, we WILL represent the people, because clearly they DON’T”, they are only interested in lining their own pockets,……..now why am I thinking of Italy here.??

  4. Chris I agree, government should be accountable to the voters. The US Constitution was written to make them accountable but in the last 60 years both major parties have moved away from that idea and the politicians have started thinking of themselves as being elites that must tell the commons how to live their lives. The TEA party was a reaction to that attitude and is once again reforming to try one more time to take the Republican part away from the power elite. I don’t know if they can or if it will do any good if they do, Obama has driven the US so deeply in debt that the collapse of the dollar, the US economy and then the worlds economy is inevitable. What will happen after the collapse is the big question as is what will the governments that take over from the current governments be like?