When you’re driving on dark, unfamiliar roads at night, what can guide you to safe driving? One of the unsung heroes of road safety are the humble road spikes, often referred to as “cat eyes.”
Cat eye road studs, also known as reflective pavement markings or delineators, are small reflective markings embedded in the road surface. It is an important part of road safety infrastructure. They are installed on the road and play a vital role in guiding drivers, especially in situations of low visibility such as darkness, fog or heavy rain. Their function is to provide road guidance to drivers to avoid safety accidents.
The History of Cat Eye Road Studs
The cat eye road studs story begins with its inventor, Percy Shaw, a British inventor who invented the cat’s eye spike in 1934. There are two different versions of its invention. The first was when he saw tram lines removed from local roads and realized that he was using their reflectivity to determine the position of the sides of the road at night.
In a more fairytale version, Xiao saw a cat blinking at him from across the street after a foggy night, its eyes glowing when caught in the beam of a car’s headlights. This observation sparked his creativity, leading to the invention of the cat’s eye reflector.
Whatever the reason, the invention of the cat eye road stud revolutionized road safety.
How Do Cat Eye Road Studs Work?
Cat’s Eye Road Reflectors work by a combination of retroreflection and total internal reflection.
Reflective Properties: Cat eye road studs are designed with a reflective surface that reflects light back to the light source. This property can be achieved in a variety of ways, including using glass beads or prisms. When headlights or other light sources hit the cat-eye surface, the light reflects back to the driver’s eyes, making the earrings highly visible.
Retroreflection: The key principle behind cat eye spikes is retroreflection. Unlike regular reflection, which scatters light in different directions, retroreflection redirects light precisely back to the source. This is accomplished by placing reflective material within the stud in such a way that incoming light undergoes multiple internal reflections before exiting in the direction it came from.
How Do Cat Eye Road Studs Ensure Driver Safety?
Enhanced visibility: Cat eye road studs are designed to be highly reflective, ensuring drivers can easily see them on the road, especially in low-light conditions such as darkness, fog or rain. By providing clear visual cues, these studs help drivers maintain lane position and drive safely.
Guidance and Navigation: Cat eye road studs are installed along the centerline or edge of the road and act as guidance markers to help drivers maintain proper lane discipline. They help delineate lanes, curves and intersections, reducing the likelihood of lane drift or unintentional lane changes, thereby improving overall road safety.
Different colors have different meanings, and in the UK they represent:
- A white cat’s eye indicates the lane’s centerline and lane markings.
- Amber and red cat eyes are installed at the edges of lanes to remind drivers not to cross those lines.
- A green cat’s eye is often used to indicate a branch road on a highway, indicating an area that can be crossed.
The meaning of the cat’s eye colors in different places may be slightly different, but the main purpose is to guide drivers to drive safely. In addition to the visual effect, cat-eye road studs also provide audible and tactile effects to alert drivers who may be driving too far out of their lane.
Do you need to buy cat eye road spikes to improve road visibility and safety? Longlow is a company that specializes in providing road spikes. If you want us to help you install cat eyes or road marking projects, you can click to contact us at any time.
