If anyone in the 70s could see into the future, they would probably have been deeply disappointed by how few laser swords, laser pistols, and other laser things we have in 2024. We have since the first one, of all things Star Wars had almost 50 years… Fortunately, there is Rijkswaterstaat: they are working on a huge red laser beam in the town of Lith (which looks suspiciously like Sith).
For the time being, this is an invention for shipping. Rijkswaterstaat calls it a laser barrier. A red laser shines over the waterway when it is not accessible. So it is actually a large traffic light that shines straight across the passage. Especially in the dark it looks cool – and a bit evil, because in movies the good guys always use blue or green lasers.
The laser barrier as a traffic light for cars?
If the captain does not listen and the ship still passes through the laser barrier, the laser will cut the ship in half. Okay, that's a joke, but it would be a nice solution for traffic lights on the road; no one would ever run a red light again. Or at least not more than once. Unfortunately, there are no plans for the time being to use the barrier for road traffic.
That might also be a difficult story. The beam of light is especially visible during fog, and there is more fog above water than above the road. The laser can be seen at Lith from January 22 to February 29. Every day it will be switched on around 5:00 PM; around 8:00 in the morning it is turned off again. You should be able to see the laser barrier at a distance of 800 meters.
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