CANADIANS seem to love playing with lasers, but rather than tease cats for hours on end, more than a few are pointing them at aeroplanes and causing serious safety issues. The number of aircraft getting "hit" with lasers jumped 25% to 229 last year and there have already been more than 100 incidents this year, reports Transport Canada. This is despite the fact that anyone convicted of pointing a laser into an aircraft cockpit could get up to a C$100,000 ($98,000) fine and/or up to five years in prison under the Aeronautics Act.

At Calgary airport alone dozens of pilots report being temporarily blinded. "We do tend to see it more in the warmer months," said a WestJet Airlines spokesman. "It's stupid, it's dangerous." Even police helicopters have been hit. "Some will even shine it at a plane and then shine it at us," said one policewoman. "It really startles you... some of these criminals are not the smartest."

That's putting it mildly. Lasers are distracting, but like a camera flash they can also cause temporary blindness, and the glare can prevent a pilot from seeing past the light, all of which could lead to an accident. Concern about the longer-lasting damage they can do to the eyes has led Calgary-based WestJet to contract a local ophthalmologist to examine pilots who have been hit.

Laser-pointing is also a growing problem in the United States, where the number of such incidents rose from 2,836 in 2010 to 3,592 in 2011. As a result Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigators are to "pursue the toughest penalties" against the people involved. Those convicted of shining lasers at planes can now get up to five years behind bars and $250,000 in fines under a law enacted in February. That's a big jump from the maximum penalty of $11,000 for one laser strike the FAA announced last year.

One Florida man earlier this month pleaded guilty to aiming a green laser beam on at least 23 occasions at planes using Orlando airport. He said he suffered from severe anxiety because of jet noise. Here's hoping that any jail he is sent to is not on a flight path.