Why didn't I think of that

I changed it a bit

Code:
keyListener.onKeyUp = function() {
	start_timer = 0;
};
keyListener.onKeyDown = function() {
	if (Key.isDown(Key.RIGHT) || Key.isDown(Key.LEFT)) {
		if (start_timer == 0 || start_timer == undefined) {
			start_timer = getTimer()/1000;
		}
		timer = getTimer()/1000;
		trace(timer-start_timer);
	}
	if (timer-start_timer>0.2) {
                  do etc...
Thanx for that and happy holidays!

Cheers