Cats eyes...

[[XAP]Bob]

Recently driving along and noticed that the cats yes we're wrong...

Apparently this is now normal:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -eyes.html
http://www.clearviewtraffic.com/our-blo ... se-economy

Yet on the relatively short stretch of road I observed a significant number which had failed, and many more which weren't properly visible (as if they were stuck 'down')

Do we really need active cats eyes, should we not be maintaining the passive safety aspect? Or should we ditch the rear reflectors for cyclists and motorists as well?

[pwa]

You mean to test the alertness of a driver after doing his or her eight hour shift at work? I'd rather stick with the reflectives, thanks.

[SA_SA_SA]

And surely overuse of any form of cats eyes is a safety minus:

IMO they encourage people to drive faster than the range of their headlamps allows, thus endangering pedestrians and anyone whose rear lamp(s) has failed etc etc...


Perhaps they should be limited to corners, giving warning but just enough of a scare to discourage people from exceeding the range of their illumination?

But I think we should stick to passive ones for simplicity and reliability and to avoid cluttering roads with electronic junk (WEEE).

[661-Pete]

I'd do away with them thanks, detest the things. Not the reflective nature of them of course, but the fact that the metal/rubber studs can be a hazard to cyclists. I've never come off through hitting a catseye, but I've had some close calls.

Moreover, they are rarely if at all seen in other parts of the world, and I don't have a problem if they're not there. Do they make Britain's roads any safer? I'm a bit bothered by this remark:

"It is much less stressful driving when the road studs are used because drivers can see further ahead."

See the catseyes further ahead, yes - but does that guarantee that they can also see the cyclist further ahead? Or, worse still, the pedestrian (who's far less likely to be carrying a light).

[mercalia]

catseys are a wonderful (British) invention - if u are so daft as to ride over them then expect the worst! dont know why the need to replace the reflective kind as the old type work well enough? and have no circuitry to get damaged by buffeting? The reflective ones work beyond the range of my m/c beam and it is almost magical to see the road outlined ahead. if the rest of the world don't use them its their loss!

"They cost £30 and last for between eight and 10 years. By contrast cats eyes cost around £10 and last for between two and three years before they need replacing"

hmm that sounds like sales talk? why do the reflective type need replacing every 3 years? I bet due to road bufffeting, in which case the led type will be very expensive as the same will apply to them!

[old_windbag]

As someone who is involved with applying technology to solve problems I think electronic catseyes may have some positive attributes but on the whole I'm an advocate of the age old design that has evolved to be one of the best pieces of road furniture. The principle of them filling with rain water and having the rubber moulding act to clean the two glass lenses when driving over is excellent. As long as councils/highways agencies keep on top of checking for dislodged/damaged ones ( they last a very long time ) then I feel they are an optimal product and much less resource intensive than the electronic items and their disposal requirements as previous poster points to.

Simply a good design thats hard to better. The carriageway lane indicators ( reflectives ) on motorways seem to work well too. The only negative of catseyes from a cycling perspective is being careful if you should cycle over one, as sometimes happens when going through roadworks with closed off lanes and being pushed by the impatient car behind .

PS: sorry just posted after connection problems and saw the criticism of riding over catseyes.... but clearly I'm not alone.

[SA_SA_SA]

I think the Americans prefer reflective road marking paint (I think they think its longer lasting, though that seems unexpected to me).

Again I would limit its use to just enough warning before corners, to leave a reminder to the errant driver to stay within their visible illuminated range.

[drossall]

IMO they encourage people to drive faster than the range of their headlamps allows, thus endangering pedestrians and anyone whose rear lamp(s) has failed etc etc...

I remember reading in New Scientist about a Scandinavian study that showed an increase in the number of accidents in the presence of road-side marker posts. It appeared that drivers went faster when they could see easily where the road was, and so hit more moose or whatever.

It is a worry that we have not fully addressed whether making driving easier improves or reduces safety.

[661-Pete]

catseys are a wonderful (British) invention - if u are so daft as to ride over them then expect the worst!

Are you implying that I deliberately set out to ride over catseyes? No cyclist in their right mind (apart from those doing stunts) would deliberately ride over a pothole, nevertheless cyclists clamour incessantly for potholes to be removed. So it is for catseyes. Even a slowcoach like me sometimes has the need to overtake another road user, and doing so brings me on an intersection path with the catseye line. I do my best to avoid, of course...

[axel_knutt]

The RSPCA never did find out what Percy Shaw was doing with all the blind cats.

[loch eck steve]

The RSPCA never did find out what Percy Shaw was doing with all the blind cats.

They reckon if the cat had being facing the other way he would have invented pencil sharpeners !!! I'll get my coat )

[Bmblbzzz]

This looks to me like the next step in the lighting arms race and even more normalisation of driving without being able to see where you're actually going.

I think the Americans prefer reflective road marking paint (I think they think its longer lasting, though that seems unexpected to me).

Again I would limit its use to just enough warning before corners, to leave a reminder to the errant driver to stay within their visible illuminated range.

I've seen that in other countries. There are two methods I've seen: one is simply sprinkling ground glass on top of the still-wet paint, the other is that the road markings are made of a special reflective, textured tape.

[Tonyf33]

Having recently spoken to some road repairmen who were relaying a section of the A600 near Bedford I can state that the 2-3 year lifespan (of the old catseyes) quoted is twaddle, we were talking about the use of the 'stuck on' variant as opposed to the older iron catseyes that are sunk into the road properly, they reckoned easily 20+years, given how little iron costs these days I can't see how it's going to be cheaper for these new types.
I'm all for new tech if it has a proven benefit however I wholeheartedly agree it's also going to allow drivers to go faster in certain conditions and won't be a benefit overall, much like many other 'life saving' devices

[[XAP]Bob]

Indeed - the 2-3 years must be twaddle, based on how few time you see them having failed, and how frequently they don't dig up and relay the road...

[MikeF]

The DfT website recently had questionnaire/survey about them - can't remember exactly what - except I replied disagreeing with their introduction.